Review of "Al Capone's Beer Wars" by John J. Binder

Publish Date: June 5, 2017
Pages: 400
Publisher: Prometheus Books

Buy the book from Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Capones-Beer-Wars-Organized-Prohibition/dp/1633882853

“a wide-ranging and comprehensive interpretation of how mobsters like Al Capone and his associates came to control the criminal rackets . . .”

The City of Chicago during Prohibition and the Roaring ’20s was the apex of excesses, extreme contrasts, and extra ordinary violence. The Windy City was a place where men of questionable morals became extremely wealthy from the sale and smuggling of illegal alcohol, as well as other vices such as prostitution and gambling. Chief among these rising mob personalities was Al Capone.

“Chicago’s Prohibition Beer Wars were a complicated series of conflicts over more than ten years in which the Capone mob was the greatest winner. By the end of the 1930s it dominated the battlefield, leading to the creation of the Chicago Outfit, which controlled Cook County’s underworld . . .”

With few exceptions other than perhaps Jack the Ripper, no historical crime figure has garnered more morbid fascination than mobster Alphonse Gabriel Capone. One of the best-known gangsters of the Prohibition era, Al Capone is still a household name in Chicago and around the world. Although “Scarface” has been dead for over 70 years, his legend still endures mainly because of his bigger-than-life persona. He was a flashy, extremely wealthy, and an outspoken quasi-celebrity who had the audacity to shake-up Chicago’s criminal underworld during the Roaring ’20s.

Why do so many people glamorize mobsters and violent crime? No one holds the Son of Sam or Charles Manson in high regard. So why are Capone and his crime minded cronies seen as mythic figures by the general public? Why are members of the mafia treated more like celebrities than unsavory criminals?

Part of the answer is historical: The glamorization of the mob started with Prohibition. In the early years of the 20th century, mobsters were just small-time hoodlums. Then came the Volstead Act, which outlawed alcohol. One of the side effects was to solidify organized crime and create a real, international organization out of what was, in essence, small criminal groups.

Because Prohibition was hugely unpopular, the men who stood up to it were heralded as heroes, not criminals. It was the start of their image as people who thumbed their noses at bad laws and at the establishment. Even when Prohibition was repealed and the services of the bootleggers were no longer required, that initial positive image stuck.

Books and movies such as Mario Puzo’s The Godfather helped glamorize and communicate the notion that mobsters were men who cared about the happiness of their communities and who lived by their own codes of honor and conduct, impervious to the political whims of the establishment.
In Al Capone's Beer Wars: A Complete History of Organized Crime in Chicago During Prohibition, author John J. Binder examines the turbulent and complete history of organized crime in Chicago. The author of two other books on organized crime, Binder pulls from his vast knowledge of the subject matter for this in-depth study.

A major focus of the book is how the Capone gang—one of 12 major bootlegging mobs in Chicago at the start of Prohibition—gained a virtual monopoly over organized crime in northern Illinois and beyond. The author also describes the fight by federal and local authorities, as well as citizen’s groups against organized crime. In the process, Binder refutes numerous myths and misconceptions related to the Capone gang, other criminal groups, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and other gangland killings.

The end result of Al Capone’s Beer Wars is a wide-ranging and comprehensive interpretation of how mobsters like Al Capone and his associates came to control the criminal rackets during the period. Overall, it is well researched and expertly interprets one of our country’s bloodiest and most colorful time periods. This book will most definitely appeal to true-crime enthusiasts and historians of Prohibition-era crime. It is a fascinating and informative read that would make an excellent addition to any library.

Michael Thomas Barry's most recent book is In the Company of Evil: Thirty Years of California Crime, 1950–1980. He is the author of six other nonfiction books and is a columnist for CrimeMagazine.com.

The review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on June 5, 2017 - http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/al-capones-beer-wars

Review of "Convicting Avery" by Michael D, Cicchini

The review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on April 3, 2017 - http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/convicting-avery-bizarre-laws-and-broken-system-behind-making-murderer

Buy the book from Amazon through the following link - https://www.amazon.com/Convicting-Avery-Bizarre-Broken-Murderer/dp/1633882551/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491347433&sr=8-1&keywords=convicting+avery

In 2015 Netflix released the controversial documentary Making a Murderer, which explored the story of Steven Avery, a man from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who spent nearly two decades in jail for the rape of Penny Beerntsen, before being cleared by DNA evidence in 2003. After his release he sued the Manitowoc County sheriff’s department for wrongful conviction but was arrested in 2005 on charges of murdering Teresa Halbach, a local photographer.

“For every piece of evidence that initially pointed to guilt. Avery’s defense team presented conflicting evidence and also exposed law enforcement’s motives, inconsistent stories, and, at the very minimum, incredibly shoddy investigative work.”

In 2007, Steven Avery was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In Convicting Avery: The Bizarre Laws and Broken System Behind “Making a Murderer,” author Michael D. Cicchini dissects the tangled legal procedures and sketchy evidence that was used to convict Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey. The author himself is a criminal defense attorney in Wisconsin, blogger, and author of several legal books that includes Tried and Convicted: How Police, Prosecutors, and Judges Destroy Our Constitutional Rights (2012). He is also a contributing columnist for the Wisconsin Law Journal.

At the beginning of Chapter two Cicchini writes, “When I first opened my criminal defense practice . . . I started with a naïve belief that trial judges would be wary of wrongfully convicting an innocent defendant . . . but after a few months of practicing law, I completely abandoned my unfounded beliefs and stood corrected.”

By scrutinizing key evidence in the Avery case such as tainted physical evidence, dubious witness testimony, and illegal police searches, Cicchini skillfully examines and explains the legal how’s and why’s of these controversial convictions. He successfully uses the Avery case to highlight police misconduct and the obviously broken Wisconsin legal system while convincingly demonstrating that the injustices perpetrated against Avery and others were not an unusual occurrence. Cicchini writes, “Wisconsin loves its massive, draconian, ever-expanding, and increasingly irrational criminal justice industrial complex.”

Convicting Avery will most definitely captivate fans of the documentary, and while Cicchini had no direct involvement in the Avery case, this book adds expert legal depth to the key procedural and evidentiary issues that were raised in the original documentary. It provides a rare glimpse inside the complex American criminal justice system.

Although this book certainly assumes that the reader is acquainted with the Making a Murderer documentary, the author’s writing style and concise analysis allows those not familiar with legal terminology to easily comprehend the complexities of the case.

Overall, Convicting Avery is a revealing and fascinating read that will interest readers of true crime, criminal law, or American legal procedures. It will most certainly stimulate further discussions of how someone can be railroaded and falsely convicted of a crime. But regardless of your position on Steven Avery's guilt or innocence, the content of this book raises important concerns about a clearly broken legal system.

Michael Thomas Barry's most recent book is In the Company of Evil: Thirty Years of California Crime, 1950–1980. He is the author of six other nonfiction books and is a columnist for CrimeMagazine.com.