Murder in the Garment District, Catherine Rios
Murder in the Garment District, Catherine Rios
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Murder in the Garment District
The Grip of Organized Crime and the Decline of Labor in the United States

Author: Catherine Rios, David Witwer

Narrator: Jonathan Yen

Unabridged: 10 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/30/2020


Synopsis

The thrilling and true account of racketeering and union corruption in mid-century New York, when unions and the mob were locked in a power struggle that reverberates to this day

In 1949, in New York City's crowded Garment District, a union organizer named William Lurye was stabbed to death by a mob assassin. Through the lens of this murder case, prize-winning authors David Witwer and Catherine Rios explore American labor history at its critical turning point, drawing on FBI case files and the private papers of investigative journalists who first broke the story. A narrative that originates in the garment industry of mid-century New York, which produced over eighty percent of the nation's dresses at the time, Murder in the Garment District quickly moves to a national stage, where congressional anti-corruption hearings gripped the nation and forever tainted the reputation of American unions.

Replete with elements of a true-crime thriller, Murder in the Garment District includes a riveting cast of characters, from wheeling and dealing union president David Dubinsky to the notorious gangster Abe Chait and the crusading Robert F. Kennedy, whose public duel with Jimmy Hoffa became front-page news.

About Catherine Rios

Catherine Rios is an award-winning filmmaker and writer, an associate professor of humanities and communications at Penn State Harrisburg, and the author (with David Witwer) of Murder in the Garment District.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Greg on May 15, 2020

Noir Exit in the Garment District: The sudden death of my grandfather, patriarch on my mother’s side, has been a nagging question since it shook the family tree in early 1953. Less than a year before, he had been a successful manufacturer of women’s clothing in New York’s thriving garment district.......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on June 10, 2024

Murder in The Garment District refers to the murder of Wiliam Lurye, brother of union organizer Min Matheson, and an organizer himself in the ILGWU, who was stabbed to death in a Manhattan phone booth by two anti union mob criminals, Ben Macri, associate of crime boss Albert Anastasia, and Johnny Gi......more

Goodreads review by Stewart on March 02, 2020

David Witwer and Catherine Rios: Murder in the Garment District: The grip of organized crime and the decline of labor in the United States. 2020. The New Press The authors provide a deep probe into the economic and political forces that affected the influence of labor unions through the 1950s. Althou......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on January 12, 2023

Well written, thorough, and very informative book on the garment industry from the 1940's - 1960''s, with an emphasis on the relationship between unions, organized crime, business owners, law enforcement and laborers, and the effort to put an end to corruption in labor. The book demonstrates that th......more

Goodreads review by Maria-Anne on May 02, 2020

Lot of research went into this book. It gives back the true history of the Unions in the US and probably will be an eye opener for many of us who only have a minor understanding of the struggle. I had to smile when at the beginning of the book the author described some company tactics these days how......more