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Deadly Valentines
Deadly Valentines

Deadly Valentines

The Story of Capone's Henchman "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn and Louise Rolfe, His Blonde Alibi

TRUE CRIME

368 Pages, 6 x 9

Formats: PDF, Mobipocket, EPUB, Trade Paper

Trade Paper, $16.95 (CA $19.95) (US $16.95)

Publication Date: February 2016

ISBN 9781613733752

Rights: WOR

Chicago Review Press (Feb 2016)

eBook

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Overview

The unforgettable story of the duo who exemplified the gangland world of 1920s Chicago

Capturing one of the most outrageous stories of the Capone era, this is the twin biography of a couple who defined the extremes and excesses of the Prohibition Era in America. “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn, a babyfaced Sicilian immigrant and Al Capone’s chief assassin, and Louise May Rolfe, a beautiful blonde dancer and libertine, paired to represent the epitome of fashion, rebellion, and wild abandon in a decade that shocked and roared. Detailing McGurn's suspected role in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and his sensational alibi, this biography shows how the couple captured the headlines in every newspaper in the country, had their hipster speech copied by Hollywood, and were the spellbinding poster children of the new jazz subculture. More than a look at the joie de vivre of two lovers caught in history’s spotlight, this work examines the continuing allure of the Roaring Twenties and the characters who inspired America's love affair with gangster literature and crime cinema.

Reviews

"[Gusfield] vividly tells the twisted, yet somehow moving love story of an iconic American gangster and his sexy, nutty gun moll. Told with a driving, you-are-there narrative, it's a rigorous, sometimes astonishing, and consistently entertaining performance."  —Douglas Perry, author of The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago


 "Authoritative, fast-moving, and affecting,  Deadly Valentines tells a compelling true-life gangland saga that is loaded with action and, not least, the ache of romance. "  —Howard Blum, author of  American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century

"Skilled researcher and empathetic writer Gusfield steers us into the private world of Al Capone and the pugilist-turned-killer, Jack McGurn – their clannish roots and gangland alliances – and explores the Machiavellian power that Capone directs toward McGurn and his failed dream of ringside glory.  If the underworld ever produced an American tragedy, this is it."  —Ellen Poulsen, author of Don't Call Us Molls: Women of the John Dillinger Gang and The Case Against Lucky Luciano:  New York's Most Sensational Vice Trial

"Jeffrey Gusfield's Deadly Valentines is an encyclopedic love letter to the Roaring Twenties as embodied in its title characters, Jack McGurn and Louise Rolfe, each of whom succumbed to the seductive flash and drunken abandon of each other and the dark side of the American Dream. "  Paula Uruburu, author of American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White: The Birth of the "It" Girl and the Crime of the Century


"[Deadly Valentines is] a masterful attempt to find the facts about [McGurn], his second wife and alibi Louise Rolfe, and the events related to them. Gusfield is an engaging storyteller."  —John Binder, author of The Chicago Outfit

 

 "Deadly Valentines is not just a story of gangsters and guns, but of a love story that still captivates to this very day."  —Dan Waugh, author of Egan's Rats and Gangs of St. Louis: Men of Respect

"A thoroughly researched and colorful account." —Publishers Weekly

"[Deadly Valentines] is an engrossing look inside Al Capone's murderous ranks [and] a lively, detailed history of gangland Chicago." —Kirkus Reviews

Author Biography

Jeffrey Gusfield researched the history of Jack McGurn, Louise Rolfe, and the Capone years for more than four decades. He lives in Lake Zurich, Illinois.