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Rating: 
Summary: Some interesting stuff but errors and superficial
Review: Having read Gangster City, there are good things to say about it, especially for the reader who is unfamiliar with gangs in New York. For them, this is a good buy. It includes characters and events that have not, of late, been covered by other books. The photos are also impressive. But for the researcher, it has severe limits. There are errors over the spelling of names, for example. Also, over events like the Castellammare War (the number of victims being inflated) and persons like Buster from Chicago (who was not Frank Marco). More seriously, the author tries to tie together largely unconnected events, at key moments, by stating his opinion that they were "possibly" linked. A lot of things are possible, but evidence is needed which in many cases is absent. Jumping to conclusions is sometimes the result, and although it makes the narrative flow, it distorts the reality of underworld relationships. An over-reliance on contemporary newspaper accounts is also a danger, and doesn't take into account debates which have emerged since then, on which there is little in the book. So I would have to say that the book represents a good starting point, but cannot claim to be a more complete history of the topic. This would require a deeper and wider exploration of the available sources, within New York City and in archives away from The Big Apple, together with a better grasp of what's been said by other writers since the events themselves.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Perhaps previous writers thought that nothing more could be said about this subject after Herbert Asbury tackled (and mastered) it in his classic "Gangs of New York." But being a true crime writer myself, I know the folly of taking previous authorities and accounts for granted, and lucky for the rest of us, Pat Downey did too."Gangster City" is a riveting account of the underworld, starting with the mutually antagonistic Monk Eastman and Paul Kelly, and ending with gangsters not yet beyond living memory: Dutch Schultz, Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, Owney Madden. Although Downey's vivid writing style pays tribute to Herbert Asbury, this book contradicts large sections of Asbury's book, and offers the evidence to back it up. It's a fresh, colorful look at a vintage subject, and as if that's not exciting enough, "Gangster City" has photos that I have not seen elsewhere. A definite must-read.
Rating:
Summary: Some interesting stuff but errors and superficial
Review: Perhaps previous writers thought that nothing more could be said about this subject after Herbert Asbury tackled (and mastered) it in his classic "Gangs of New York." But being a true crime writer myself, I know the folly of taking previous authorities and accounts for granted, and lucky for the rest of us, Pat Downey did too. "Gangster City" is a riveting account of the underworld, starting with the mutually antagonistic Monk Eastman and Paul Kelly, and ending with gangsters not yet beyond living memory: Dutch Schultz, Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, Owney Madden. Although Downey's vivid writing style pays tribute to Herbert Asbury, this book contradicts large sections of Asbury's book, and offers the evidence to back it up. It's a fresh, colorful look at a vintage subject, and as if that's not exciting enough, "Gangster City" has photos that I have not seen elsewhere. A definite must-read.
Rating:
Summary: There Is Nothing Cool About Being A Gangster
Review: This book is a very detailed account with at least a murder on every page of underworld characters, both well-known and those long forgotten, but all of them infamous in New York City from 1900-1935. The murders tend to become routine after awhile, yet it is easy to overlook the pain and suffering involved for those who have been eliminated. Knowing that you had to be vigilant at all times because someone would be out to get you was the price one had to pay for the greed of ill-gotten money. Many of these mobsters got the dreaded telephone call to report somewhere for a meeting with someone. All too often this was the beginning of a trap that would lead to their demise. Most met their end at an early age (20's or 30's) either in gangland execution or in Sing Sing's deathhouse. Only a few, such as Owney Madden, lived to old age. The life of a gangster wasn't glamorous by any means, even though some such as Arnold Rothstein and "Legs" Diamond dressed the part. In the Preface the author states other books often neglect to tell the reader how, when, and where these mobsters died, and he wants to correct that with this book. He has lived up to that promise in this book. He concludes the book with a list of "Where They Lived and Died" of each of those included in the book. Other than a historical account, the lesson one can take from this book is that there is nothing cool about being a gangster. The reward for their efforts was an early grave.
Rating:
Summary: A Modern Crime Classic
Review: This is an outstanding volume of neglected underworld history. Extremely well written, entertaining, and accurate, this is the best work on the Prohibition era New York underworld since Thompson's and Raymond's "Gang Rule in New York" in 1940 and perhaps the best ever. Hopefully it won't be buried in the deluge of Mafia books currently flooding the country. Almost entirely the product of original research and contemporary records, "Gangster City" shuns such post-Prohibition luminaries as Luciano, Costello and Lansky, who've dominated every volume of Mob history since Valachi, in favor of now forgotten gangland legends such as Monk Eastman, Waxey Gordon, Owney Madden and Larry Fay. The early days of the New York Mafia are covered here right up through the 1930 Castellammarese War (in more detail than ever before), the early 1900's Chinatown tong wars, Frankie Yale, the legendary struggles of Legs Diamond, Dutch Schultz and Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, the murderous "Pretty" Amburg and his brothers, Bitz and Spitale (who figured in the Lindbergh case), and the truth about the Irish "White Hand". Finally, the career of Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Murder Inc. is covered in all their gory glory. There's a goldmine of history here. New facts emerge, popular legends are smashed, and there are many rare photos. Especially useful is the list of gangster related addresses. This is a must for students of organized crime.
Rating:
Summary: New York's gangster past revisited
Review: What especially impressed me about this book was the plethora of details about the pre World War One gangsters. Pat Downey has done his homework and for that we have a great read.
Rating: 
Summary: simply a load of facts
Review: While I think that this book has true potential, I find that it lacks pertinent background information, and reads like a listing of "who, what, when, where" facts. While the author makes connections between gangsters and mafia families, I find myself thinking, "who cares?" Instead of developing the lives of the notorious mafioso, he simply presents the reader with a synopsis of their deaths in most cases. Lots of information. Not very interesting non-fiction.
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