Andy Edmonds

Virginia Hill was born in Alabama in 1916, the seventh of 10 children, into a poor family. She was an early bloomer and discovered the power over men that came with it. She was beaten by her alcoholic father, but one day she discovered she could fight back. After that, she vowed that no man would have power over her or use her. She left home at a young age and got a job at an Italian restaurant at the Chicago fair in 1933, a mob meeting place. Big-time mobsters discovered the beauty and tried to make it with her, only to be rebuffed. One mobster by the name of Joe Epstein, a homosexual, offered her jobs as a money courier, bet fixer, stolen goods courier. She began to run around with Epstein, because he was undemanding and let her do as she wanted with other men. In this way, she began to be trusted and to rise in the ranks of the Chicago mob. She lived a glamorous party-girl life, and was the mistress of "Bugsy" Siegel for many years. She traveled between the West coast, the East coast, and Mexico, partying with a seemingly endless supply of cash, until she was in her 40s, when she began to lose ground. Unable to accept that she didn't command the same attention from men that she had always counted on, her life went spiralling down.

This book, while having an interesting subject, and educating the reader about the extreme power that the Mafia in New York, and the outfit in Chicago, had over a multitude of businesses in the U.S. in the 1920s until the 1950s, dragged on at times, and suffered from some rather pedestrian writing.… (más)

Organized Crime, goes Hollywood in this captivating mystery of the unsolved murder (or was it murder?) of well known comedic actress Thelma Todd. Author Andy Edmonds, does another outstanding job on this biography and true life crime. I felt as though I'd been transported back to 1930's Hollywood with gangsters, glittering gowns, and wisecracking platinum blonds. It's Hollywood nonfiction crime noir at its best. Thelma Todd, was not only known for her comic work in movies (Hal Roach productions..etc) but she was also known for her association with the darker side of Hollywood - the mob. Although she had some personal ties to gangsters in Hollywood (allegedly with Charles 'Lucky' Luciano and others), no one could call her a gangster's moll. Todd was tough as nails, and was more like a modern woman of the 21st century than a woman of her times. Not only was she a success in the entertainment business, but she was also a successful Hollywood restaurant owner too - which might have its links to her mysterious death on December 16, 1935 at the age of only 29. The author not only gives the reader her biography and filmography, but he painstakingly takes the reader through documented eyewitness accounts of Thelma's last hours of her life. Including the police investigation as well.

Edmonds lends his own personal suspicions of Thelma's last days and the people she knew or might have known. Whether you agree or not with the author's conclusion on whodunit, it's still an intriguing and engrossing read. Highly recommended for true crime/mystery readers as well as those who love to read about the golden era of Hollywood.… (más)