Bessie Perri

★★★ Behind every smart man is a smarter woman ★★★ Rocco Perri was the Al Capone of Canada. Without him, the American market of alcohol would be a little...dry. Rocco is frequently cited as the most successful bootlegger of Canada, however, for one important reason: his wife, Bessie Perri. If Rocco was the King of Bootlegging, Bessie was the obvious queen. With page-turning suspense, this gritty book looks at the brains behind Canadian bootlegging and how her cutthroat ways forever changed the landscape of both prohibitions.

The Hamiltonians is a collection of stories about the most interesting and influential people who made Hamilton their home. These tales are told by some of the city's most expert writers.

This book is a classic of its kind -- a no-holds-barred portrait of Hamilton civic life in the 1970s. The focus is on power -- and the powerful. On the surface, power was wielded by the city's businessman-mayor, a business-oriented city council, and a Liberal Party machine fronted by prominent cabinet minister John Munro. Behind the scenes Bill Freeman and Marsha Hewitt found a fascinating set of characters and organizations. They offer a history of organized crime in Hamilton from its rum-running heyday of Rocco Perri to Johnny Papalia and his associates in the 1970s. Freeman and Hewitt provide a critical analysis of The Hamilton Spectator's often unquestioning support of the business agenda for the city, which produced the ruinous demolition of the downtown core and its replacement with Jackson Square. They also examine the labour movement's role in civic life. A chapter on the John Munro political machine, written by Henry Jacek, shows how politics is integrated into the power structure of the city. The book tells the story of key development projects of the 1960s and 1970s that were supposed to transform the central city. The account of the notorious contracts for dredging Hamilton Harbour is compelling reading. The authors look closely at the winners and losers in these projects. Today, Hamiltonians can make their own judgments about the long-term impact of these projects on their city.

During the Roaring Twenties, Ben Kerr was known as the "King of the Rumrunners." The U.S. Coast Guard put him at the top of the most-wanted list and offered a reward of $5,000. But ending up in Club Fed was not Kerr’s only worry - he had to contend with Hamilton crime lords Rocco and Bessie Perri. Whisky and Ice takes the reader back to the Prohibition era, when Canada and the United States were obsessed with "demon liquor" (not to mention the endless posturing by politicians). As Hunt aptly writes, the U.S. during Porhibition "was about as dry as the mud flats of the Mississippi at high tide."

A fresh, new look at gangs in every part of the world which deliberately avoids the stories that have been done to death - about Capone, Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde - and focuses on less well-known gangs such as 'Ma' Barker's Boys; the Smaldones of Denver; Scotland Yard's 1960s' Flying Squad, the so-called Firm within a Firm; Dr Death, the Melbourne drug dealer and Andre Stander, the former South African police officer who led a gang of bank robbers before being shot dead in Fort Lauderdale having fled a 17-year sentence.

A revised, updated and even more Canadian edition of the classic bestseller. In 1977, The Book of Lists, the first and best compendium of facts weirder than fiction, was published. Filled with intriguing information and must-talk-about trivia it has spawned many imitators--but none as satisfying or successful. In 2005, Ira Basen and Jane Farrow brought together the most entertaining and informative of these original lists and augmented them with homegrown material in the first Canadian edition. Now, more than a decade later, this refreshed and expanded edition gives us even more highly addictive lists, including · Margaret Atwood’s 10 Annoying Things to Say to Writers · 6 Cases of People Killed by God · Jesse Wente’s 8 Films You Should Watch to Prepare for the End of the World · First Sexual Encounters of 17 Prominent Canadians · Cathal Kelly’s 9 Most Compelling Players in Soccer History · 10 People Who Died Laughing Fun, revealing and full of facts you didn’t know you needed to know, The Book of Lists will inspire the list-maker in every reader.

Canada’s past is rich with high-flying adventures — whether it’s pilots fighting in the skies or the King of the Rumrunners fleeing the feds! Read their stories in this two-book collection. Dancing in the Sky: The Royal Flying Corps in Canada Dancing in the Sky is the first complete telling of the First World War fighter pilot training initiative established by the British in response to losses occurring in European skies in 1916. A valuable addition to Canada’s military history, this book will appeal to all who enjoy an exceptional adventure story embedded in Canada's past. Whisky and Ice: The Saga of Ben Kerr, Canada’s Most Daring Rumrunner During the 1920s, Ben Kerr was known as the King of the Rumrunners and was put at the top of the most wanted list by the U.S. Coast Guard. Whisky and Ice takes the reader back to the Prohibition era, when Canada and the United States were obsessed with “demon liquor.”

Rocco Perri came to Canada almost a century ago from Calabria, Italy. Even today his name is well known to historians, police and organized crime—and especially to the people of the city he called home—Hamilton, Ontario. A poor immigrant, Perri along with his common-law wife, Bessie Starkman, built an unequalled crime empire for the time. During the Prohibition years, Perri provided alcohol to a thirsty clientele in Canada and the United States—a business that was very illegal and highly lucrative. Al Capone and Joseph Kennedy were among Perri’s customers. The Perris also ran gambling, loan-sharking, extortion and prostitution rackets. ROCCO PERRI: King of the Bootleggers is more than the biography of a man and his empire; it is a riveting portrait of a time when corruption was rampant, murder a business necessity, and discrimination against newcomers forced many to turn to crime as a means of survival. This book also solves a half-century-long mystery about the fate of Rocco Perri.