Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld

Cultural Arts & Book Fest closes with author Dan Slater and a look at "The Incorruptibles."

Wright Memorial Public Library and Jewish Dayton are pleased to host an author talk with Dan Slater about his book The Incorruptibles: A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld. A book signing will take place following the talk and books will be available for purchase at the event. This talk closes out the 2025-2026 season of Jewish Dayton's Cultural Arts & Book Series (CABS) - an annual series that offers outstanding programming to promote awareness, appreciation, and pride in the diversity of the Jewish people and community.

Reservations are requested at wrightlibrary.org/calendar

About The Incorruptibles:

In the early 1900s, prior to World War I, New York City was a vortex of vice and corruption. On the Lower East Side, then the most crowded ghetto on earth, Eastern European Jews formed a dense web of crime syndicates. Gangs of horse poisoners and casino owners, pimps and prostitutes, thieves and thugs, jockeyed for dominance while their family members and neighbors toiled in the unregulated garment industry.

But when the notorious murder of a gambler attracted global attention, a coterie of affluent German-Jewish uptowners decided to take matters into their own hands. Worried about the anti-immigration lobby and the uncertain future of Jewish Americans, the uptowners marshalled a strictly off-the-books vice squad led by an ambitious young reformer.

The squad, known as the Incorruptibles, took the fight to the heart of crime in the city, waging war on the sin they saw as threatening the future of their community. Their efforts, however, led to unforeseen consequences in the form of a new mobster class who realized, in the country’s burgeoning reform efforts, unprecedented opportunities to amass power.

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Wright Memorial Public Library

Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld is taking place at Wright Memorial Public Library, which is located at 1776 Far Hills Avenue in Oakwood. Wright Memorial Public Library - Books are only the beginning at Wright Memorial Public Library. So much to see, so much to do!