CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 11/7/2020

Love Weegee, crime fiction and film noir? Have we got a book for you . . .

Not long ago, Chicago curator and gallerist John Corbett was poking around at a local junk shop's going-out-of-business sale, when he came across an old, hand-typed, anonymously-authored manuscript filled with detailed first-hand descriptions of all the key players in the 1930s Chicago mob. He brought the dossier to our friends at Soberscove Press, and the gorgeous facsimile from which this entry on "(West Side) Frankie Pope" is reproduced is the result. It begins: "If anything rotten goes on in the west side, this Pope (and don't let the North Side one ever hear you confuse the two) either has his fingers in it, or knows all about it. Mike De Pike Heitler gave him his tutelage. Jack Zuta and Jack Gusick polished it off. Now at 36, there isn't a lousier whore monger or cheap chiseler in the city limits." This is both an historic document and an easy read—the perfect gift for the crime reader on your list!