Wicked Pittsburgh

Join author Richard Gazarik as he reveals the wicked history of the Steel City.

Muckraking journalist Walter Liggett dubbed Pittsburgh the "Metropolis of Corruption" in 1930 when he reported the city had more vice per square foot than New York, Detroit, Cleveland, or Boston. Decades earlier, the Magee-Flinn political machine ruled public officials, and crooked police helped racketeers protect brothels and gambling dens. Mayor (later Governor) David Lawrence was indicted several times for graft but acquitted each time. Even Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney Sr. colluded with gangsters, according to FBI reports.

©2018 Richard Gazarik (P)2022 Tantor

Good topic poorly executed

Many details of early Pittsburg vice but very repetitive language, poorly organized, no
chronological order, jumped between eras and villains without explanation, frequently quoted other histories and newspaper stories without much analysis.