- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Picador; New Ed edition (7 Mar 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 033048446X
- ISBN-13: 978-0330484466
- Product Dimensions: 13 x 1.8 x 19.7 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 346,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Dead Men's Wages
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Product Description
Product Description
Part biography, part literary memoir, Dead Men's Wages is, like Lorna Sage's Bad Blood, a stunning book to inspire, haunt and move you.
Book Description
'Scratch the surface of any family and you will find stories of intrigue, abuse and illegitimacy. It is just that, because of the nature of my grandfather's business, our secrets are more sinister' Lilian Pizzichini's grandfather was a conman who worked with some of London's most notorious gangsters. Within the pages of this haunting and revealing account of his life, she re-creates, in vivid detail and with remarkable detachment, the world of criminals and corrupt policemen that he dominated until his death in 1978.This is a book to set the mind reeling with thoughts of cunning and intrigue, corruption, hardship and secrecy. Above all, it conveys beautifully the glamour and seduction of a London shrouded in mystery and this charismatic criminal who rose from its war-torn ashes.
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1 review
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Plastic Gangster
24 Dec 2003
Format:Paperback
My interest in both con artistry and the postwar British crime scene led me to think I would rise above my general dislike of biographies to enjoy this history of one London underworld figure from the past century. Regrettably, although Pizzichini's retracing of her grandfather's criminal enterprises is thorough and at times engaging, it failed to captivate me. Part of the fault for this lies in her style, which at times is overly florid and part of the fault lies in the fact that for all her research and recreation, her grandfather Charlie never really comes to life as anything more than a cipher. From a poor background, he rises in life thanks largely to a series of postwar insurance and building trade scams. And although he moved with the big name gangsters (Billy Hill and The Krays appear frequently in the narrative), he's strictly a middleman spiv with a love for the racket, not the money or power. Actually, what he really loves is the ladies-as he had affairs of various lengths with a wide array of women. But other than that, and a penchant for having fingers in many greasy pies, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to him.
To keep things interesting, Pizzichini makes sure to mention every last famous or semi-famous person who moved in the same circles, including the famous fascist Oswald Mosley, the alleged spy and JFK boinker Mariella Novotny, Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton, and a variety of politicians, lords and ladies. At times, this gets rather overwhelming, and even within the family, relationships can be hard to keep straight. It would have helped a great deal to include photos and a family tree to keep track of the four generations covered. The final part of the story is notable for its illuminating portrayal of the widespread extent of police corruption. The ultimate irony is not that her grandfather's downfall is engineered by that most cliché of agents (betrayal by his right-hand man), but that the crime he was prosecuted for was a frame-up job for which he was posthumously acquitted.
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