
Murder in the Garment District
The Grip of Organized Crime and the Decline of Labor in the United States
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Murder in the Garment District
The Grip of Organized Crime and the Decline of Labor in the United States
About this book
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 80 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.
Deeply researched and grounded in the street-level events that put people's lives and livelihoods at stake, Murder in the Garment District is destined to become a classic work of history—one that also explains the current troubled state of unions in America.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1. A Murder in the Garment District: Power and Pressure
- 2. Shots in the Dark: Violence and Apathy
- 3. The Workings of Racketeering: Blood and Profit
- 4. An Organizer’s Fight for Justice: Rage and Dignity
- 5. A Pattern of Accommodation: Allies and Enemies
- 6. The Uses of Fear: Ambition and Manipulation
- 7. The Congressional Hearings: Revelation and Rhetoric
- 8. The 1958 Dress Strike and the Ethical Practices Committee: Resistance and Resignation
- Afterword: The Enemy Within
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
- About the Authors
- Publishing in the Public Interest
- Copyright