Traces the history of crime in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1920 to 1936, describing specific incidents, profiling criminals, victims, and law enforcement officials, and looking at places where criminal activity occurred.

“Karlen offers a colorful and impressively researched account of the Minneapolis underworld and his fascinating relative that feels right out of Damon Runyon’s Guys and Dolls.” Star Tribune “Deliciously snappy.” American Jewish World “Karlen brings back the days when Peggy Lee walked into Augie’s straight off the bus from North Dakota, when mid-century celebrities like Frank Sinatra visited Hennepin Avenue, and when the most powerful crime lords in the land checked their guns at the door when they visited Augie’s.” MinnPost “Augie’s Secrets is filled with stunning, stylish prose that captures the flavor of the Jewish underworld of downtown Minneapolis down to its last rubout and pastrami sandwich.” Paul Maccabee, author of John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks’ Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul, 1920–1936

From the phantom pig at the Minnesota State Fair to the ghostly gangsters of the Wabasha Street Caves, St. Paul bristles with haunted history. Let the spectral usher of the Mounds Theatre show you to your seat as Chad Lewis reveals why the bits of St. Paul's past that insist on intruding on the present deserve to have their stories told. By the time the lights come back on, you will be convinced that sometimes the strangest things have happened in the dorm room upstairs...or the table next to you at your favorite restaurant...or even in your own backyard.

“The St. Paul of the gangster era springs vividly to life again . . . A captivating glimpse into a shadowy era in the city’s history.” —Community Reporter From their home base in Minnesota, the Karpis-Barker Gang cut a swath of crime and terror across the Midwest in the early 1930s. They kidnapped two important businessmen and held them for exorbitant ransoms. They stole payrolls and robbed banks as the bullets flew. Corrupt police and wily crime bosses helped Alvin Karpis and the Barker brothers Freddie and Doc every step of the way. Who were these men and women? What made them into killers and kidnappers? How did their reckless lifestyles lead to their downfall? From Ma Barker to Volney Davis to Edna Murray the Kissing Bandit, authors Deborah Frethem and Cynthia Schreiner Smith delve into the crimes, personalities and motivations of one of the most successful and infamous gangs in American history.

“A compelling tale that looks at the turbulent year of 1933, and the narrative reads like the most nail-biting thriller imaginable—yet it’s all true.” —Salon It’s 1933 and Prohibition has given rise to the American gangster—now infamous names like Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger. Bank robberies at gunpoint are commonplace and kidnapping for ransom is the scourge of a lawless nation. With local cops unauthorized to cross state lines in pursuit and no national police force, safety for kidnappers is just a short trip on back roads they know well from their bootlegging days. Gangster George “Machine Gun” Kelly and his wife, Kathryn, are some of the most celebrated criminals of the Great Depression. With gin-running operations facing extinction and bank vaults with dwindling stores of cash, Kelly sets his sights on the easy-money racket of kidnapping. His target: rich oilman, Charles Urschel. Enter J. Edgar Hoover, a desperate Justice Department bureaucrat who badly needs a successful prosecution to save his job. Hoover’s agents are given the sole authority to chase kidnappers across state lines. What follows is a thrilling 20,000 mile chase over the back roads of Depression-era America, crossing 16 state lines. Joe Urschel’s The Year of Fear is a thrilling true crime story of gangsters and lawmen and how an obscure federal bureaucrat used this now legendary kidnapping case to launch the FBI. “A good, fast read. . . . The Year of Fear takes off—and shatters the lore.” —The Washington Post “A swift narrative and strong sense of place.” —USA Today “Many true-crime books claim to shine a light on their chosen eras. This one is the real deal.” —Booklist starred review

On September 27, 1839, the battered body of a middle-aged Irishman was found by some Dakota Indian boys. The corpse washed up along the Mississippi River shore, about seven miles downstream from Fort Snelling near the ancient Indian landmark the non-Indians called Carver's Cave. It was the body of Sgt. John Hays, a popular former soldier, who, prior to his disappearance twenty-one days earlier, had been sharing a log shanty a few miles upriver from the cave with his friend and business partner, Edward Phelan (or Phalen). Before the year was over, Phelan was arrested and charged with the murder of his friend. This is the first book to focus on this historic murder and the first thorough biography of Phelan, a notorious pioneer intimately involved in the making of St. Paul and founding of Minnesota. Was he guilty? All investigative reports and records of Phelan's trial were mysteriously lost and no newspapers covered the story. However, in 1994, St. Paul historian Gary Brueggemann made an amazing discovery in the Minnesota Historical Society archives: hidden in the papers of Joseph R. Brown was Brown's original Justice of the Peace casebook which included his handwritten transcription of the Hay's murder hearing. Using this record, other primary sources, and drawing from decades of studying Minnesota and St. Paul history, the author theorizes a logical solution to Minnesota's oldest unsolved murder. Book jacket.

Sex, money, and politics—no, it’s not a thriller novel. Minneapolis Madams is the surprising and riveting account of the Minneapolis red-light district and the powerful madams who ran it. Penny Petersen brings to life this nearly forgotten chapter of Minneapolis history, tracing the story of how these “houses of ill fame” rose to prominence in the late nineteenth century and then were finally shut down in the early twentieth century. In their heyday Minneapolis brothels were not only open for business but constituted a substantial economic and political force in the city. Women of independent means, madams built custom bordellos to suit their tastes and exerted influence over leading figures and politicians. Petersen digs deep into city archives, period newspapers, and other primary sources to illuminate the Minneapolis sex trade and its opponents, bringing into focus the ideologies and economic concerns that shaped the lives of prostitutes, the men who used their services, and the social-purity reformers who sought to eradicate their trade altogether. Usually written off as deviants, madams were actually crucial components of a larger system of social control and regulation. These entrepreneurial women bought real estate, hired well-known architects and interior decorators to design their bordellos, and played an important part in the politics of the developing city. Petersen argues that we cannot understand Minneapolis unless we can grasp the scope and significance of its sex trade. She also provides intriguing glimpses into racial interactions within the vice economy, investigating an African American madam who possibly married into one of the city’s most prestigious families. Fascinating and rigorously researched, Minneapolis Madams is a true detective story and a key resource for anyone interested in the history of women, sexuality, and urban life in Minneapolis.