authorings in the near future. on booktv andbooktv.org. next on booktv richard zachs recounts new york city in the 1890. the hub of manufacturing and financial world. as well as the home of alternate economy marked by casinos and brothels and crime rates. they cohabited until 1895. this is about an hour and ten minutes. good evening and welcome to the best little museum in new york. sorry about the heat, those are no doubts the fire of hell we are feeling. we have a most sill lashes panel for you today. we welcome book talk and c-span

here tonight. our speaker is rich offered zachs. and he is the author of island of vice which is appropriate because i can tell you from firsthand experience that he is undoubt belie the most wicked man in new york. much as the good reverend parker in the book deployed private detectives to take him to the broth les in new york. rich around has taken me to places that i can't mention today. we spent the evening of the 40th birthday taking me to play blackjack.

and was nearly banned by the georgia state legislature. [laughter] the underground education was characterized on amazon the suppressed and the bizarre and the only book that explained the birth of motion pictures using photos of naked baseball players . during a recount of the u.s. marines basherring pilots and the pirate untd her the biography ofest steamed new yorker captain william kid who was named one of the five best non-fiction books in 2002 by "time magazine." now richard combines all the passions an obsessions to give us an amusing and enthralling accounted of new york when it was depraved and a young teddy roosevelt's attempt to clean it up. island of vice a delicious

piece. described island of vice as a fascinating story with zeal. he founded a nuance remarkable recreation of thy claims that writing with a poetic slant unveils a colorful portrait of a roosevelt towering over the city. just yesterday on fresh air marine corps. called it a fascinating narrative. what cothey know? forget it. kevin bacon wrote it is thrilling.

he does a great job as a historian and story teller. richard grew up in new york he saw mickey mantle play baseball and illegal casinos and was mugged seven times. over the years his travels have taken him to cairo he worked as a card shark and claimed he specialized in ripping off the members of certain middle eastern royal family that shall remain nameless. it's not been overthrown yet. educated at the university of michigan and the colombia university school of journalism. he lives in new york with his wife and family. he occasionally flies the radiologier from the spike.

among many other publications. ladies and gentlemen, lock up your fathers and keep a firm hand upon your wallets. i present to you rick around disax. [applause] >> can you hear me? is it coming through? because kevin was so nice in the introduction, i won't tell the story of the nights we have shared. okay. a lot of what he said was true. so can we turn the house lights down a little bit for the slides ? they don't need to see me. they are more important than i

am. yeah? okay. there we go. beautiful. okay. teddy was seemly competent. if he encounters a stone wall he will bang his head against it until he folks it con. his niece recalled laying a game walking a straight line even it meant climbing other a barn. here we go a police scandal hits new york and they elect a mayor who appoints roosevelt as police commissioner. tr admits he knows nothing about police administration. he was 36 years old, and coming off six years as a civil service commissioner in d.c. which not exactly the limelight. he feared he might have to spend

his life writing books. he had blown half the fortunate on failed cattle ranches. ice storms have a way of doing that. okay. roosevelt is a strict, law and order republican and a holler than how to municipal reform. he believed that bridegroom should be virgins. he was against striptease shows on. he hated racy entertainment and this man wants to wipe out vice and corruption in new york city which was then one of the debatched city in the world. most new yorkers thought he was crazy or jocking. within three months of the appointment this is how a major newspaper portrayed roosevelt. [laughter] it's almost the premises for a sitcom or at least a dark comedy. harvard educate reformer in to the brothels and gamblings

joints, stir slightly with tough irish cop and wait for the explosion. manhattan in the 1890s inspect is time square. still called long ache scare. no traffic lights or stbs. no overnight parking. streets seem wider. they can ride in any direction up and down the streets. thieves stole more horses in new york city than the entire state of texas. [laughter] and they raised to outlaw stables where they painted the horses a different color. i'm telling you, these are chop shops for horses. [laughter] look at the sanitation man in the middle of the street. you don't think about it there were 60,000 horses in new york city. at least thirty pounds of manure per day per house. 1.8 million pounds of manure in new york city. that poor guy had to stand in the middle of traffic and shovel it up.

this is downtown. cities crowded, noisy a population of around 2 million people. housed more irish than dublin. more germans than any city than berlin. it was defiantly international. it was not an apple pie kind of place. defiantly international. democracy political club, dominated politics winning seven 69 lars nine elections. the arch enemy were reformers and republicans. teddy has has happened to be both. he was unapp getically corrupt. they a swabbinger. here is a quick story. they accused of delivering 1 tented of the thousand pounds of sponges she's supposed to deliver. he's in court under oath did you do this? one tenth of the amount of

sponges hell, did you way them dry? [laughter] new york fractured along class lines a so called robber baa ron and often ran rough shot over the law. these were the day of the varnd built and of course i know morgan here he is trying to attack a photographer. [laughter] his nose was portrayed in cartoons as a size of a hot air balloon. he wasn't happy about that. the flip side was a city of unimaginal poverty especially in the wake of the panic 1893. high unemployment. this is the lodging house street. the women's police lodging house. making the bed in such a place meant turning the plank. they slept on planks on the floor. in the cops in the morning often fume gaited the stink by smoking cigars.

new york new ty of the financial coop toll. 144 piers piers in new york. 12,000 factories. 100 theaters with regular 40-week programs. nation prepremier residence rnl address. they were the vice capital of the new york city was the open secret that was the vice capital. it dangled more opportunities for prostitution, gambling and all-night drinking than any other city. 40,000 prostitutes worked in new york. some in brothels some on the street. there were illegal casinos, dance halls and this was the town that fear less high strung teddy was going clean up. visitors could immediately sense the wicked possibility of the place. nied had a nude weather vein.

at the highest point at madison scare. you can see it clearly from the found. ground. they called it the hood ornament. near mad southern -- and there was a forgotten hoaght near there called the hoffman house. this house and another one of the city great landmarks. this is a bit of a tame picture, obviously, you have have a sense of an art gallery-type before. but here's a better reason why thousand upon thousands of tourists came. [laughter] william the former manager called the painting unquestionably the single advertisement any hotel in the country probably in the world

ever had. they could charge triple or quadruple for drinks because of the painting. the massive eight foot tall canvass seemed to invite viewers. the backside been viewed so adoreingly than this backside. new york in the 1890 had three main brolt l districts. and no one could walk far at night without being propositioned by a prostitute. one reformer doing the matt summited about four clients a day. one out of every six adult males in new york city visited a prostitute. staggering, right. and so you realize that the night life of that era was difltd. respectable women did not enter

bars and so loons. there was no flirt and get lucky. men paid. as many as 200 streetwalkers walked on 13th street between third and fifth. they took hotels to register as mr. and mrs. smith. a magazine illustrated ask what he would see from his studio overlooking 13*9. he replied, fornication, three windowed at the time. [laughter] and the men -- he admitted to staying up late at night looking down. the police captain lawyer tries to discredit him. was it not offensive to see the couples going in there and fornicated. sometimes but sometimes very amusing. [laughter] the cheapest brothel were located in what was then the east side. we're in the section where the cheapest brothels. it is the lower east side of new york city in that era the 1890.

the area pickles, driving jewish immigrants. more than 150 discount disorderly houses operated around here. including six, eight, ten, 12 streets inspect is an image of he'ser street. documented evident of at least half a dozens brothels near the particular picture. foul odors, simple mother hoover dresses the standard rate was a bargain fifty cents. a sweat shop miker might learn that much in week. while a prostitute could earn it in a couple of hours. it was down the block from the police station on the back of synagogue. sometimes they complained the chanting was interrupted by sounds of a very different

character. [laughter] the second major brothel district was just out so of washington square park. it was basically the nyu campus. you can see french on one side. english on the other. it was framed for french prostitution who were willing to do a certain i don't know how do it put. certain things -- ask me later about what they were willing to do. reverend, the area was known for circuses. and it was not a circus you saw clowns. you saw several women performing sex acts together basically. and reverend parker, i'm going get to teddy roosevelt. i prompts all right he pull bullies his way on the stage. keep him to the side for a few more more thans. reverend parkers was started reform movement that lead to teddy roosevelt. he was a french circus, and the

women performed nude high kicking and also a game of nude leap frog. they are a detective who was asked in court what his role was in the part of the investigation. and he replied, i was the frog. [laughter] the third main brothel district was tenderloin which stretched from 23rd and 46th street. engulfing two-block path. high energy, goty, dance houses, bribe taking police captain alexander williams said he had been living on rump steak until 8 transfer there. host excited to taste tenderer loin. that name tough for half a century. they have dance halls. steven crane was a hot new yorker. and william raldolf hurst who

was the hot new newspaper man vied hired to write a piece discuss the tender lyon with an old-timer who told him, always somebody blowing champagne for the house. diamonds, lights, girls music. fights all over sixth avenue. it was great. [laughter] so what were the dream girls of the 1890s like? this is lillian ruse l star of the stage. now any engineer will tell you that a balcony like that needs support. the bra had not been dispended. women depended on course set. the instruments ever torture compaqed the waist and lifted the bo some. what were the ideal measurements? this surprised me.

this woman posed a american venus and 5'5" tall, weighed 151 pound. and the tablet announces on the side there announces her bust was 35, waist 32, hips 38. in other words the dream girl was 35, 32, 38. which is not like playboy or anything. yesterday's goddest is going to weight watchers today. nude 32 inches. corp. sets 20 inches. it's fashions insane. it's insane. [laughter] besides sex, new york city offered gambling. here's a gambling raid. new yorkers placed illegal bets at places called pool halls which had dog in with billiards. they usually hit over a bar or

hotel. stuff like closing on the inside. gamble was more posh. chandeliers, ivory chips and the key point of all that i showed you up to the point is illegal gambling and illegal prostitution could not exist in new york city without the look the other way con nines of the new york police department. it's not possible. i'm not saying that every police was corrupt. [laughter] but there was an attitude back then that it was okay to take some bribes and overlook vice. since most new yorkers wanted vice. veteran detective summed it up. there are some cops that didn't take a $1. i heard about them.

if they exist -- cops took bribes over all aspects of new york life. bribes to let overnight wagon parking. you couldn't leave your wagon on the street. bribes, bribes, bribes. so what was the police officer of the 1890 like? the man taking bribes? you look at the guy, they eight for free. they did. they walked beat and knew everyone in the precinct. it was two-thirds irish and the principal nationallalty was irish. more than half of the arrest were drunk and disorderly. one of the biggest differences from today the police police officers slept together. 1,000 men or one quarter of the force was on reserve duty. they slept in the precinct

house. if you do the matt between reserve duty and regular duty. they were putting in 110 hours a week. it was a dog life said one reporter. and they pulled pranks on each other. they had an irish fraternity. one guide said he couldn't sit on the newspaper toilet and read the newspaper because they would start them on fire. they had each other's back it was the blue wall of silence in the 1890. the next image i'm going show you is a corrupt police officer. regetting closer to roosevelt. he despised the man. he was not on the police force because he had now closed more than 50 brothels in the exact area. the man was fighting in the court to get reinstated. the next man represent everything i work against. this is captain william.

who was born in new york in to an eye irish family. bartender and briefly a boxer. he was was funny. he said have you seen any stray -- [inaudible] he called cross dresses dejerntd rant. he ordered the patrol not to be in the bar in uniform. standing up to a bar with the butt toms on don't look nice. when he took over the east side. they ordered there would be no loud music. you have to understand characters like tammy and do do

gooders like the society charles parkhurst. he went after for not closing brothels. lead to the committee and we heard have heard of these places. there was the grandfather of them all. the final report concluded ever citizens was dominated by an overshadowing dread of the police. new york's finers they had the nickname of being new york's philyest. enter roosevelt on may 61895 after they won another election. the board of police commission and roosevelt was elected. he was dressed as president roosevelt during the period. on the left that's tr main booster. bicycling enthusiast.

next to him is the wily lawyer andrew d. parker who fought roosevelt on the right is son of exlate president. roosevelt would calm him a mutton head. anyhow roosevelt hit the ground running. they were unified at first. within days roosevelt vowed to have more honest police department and change the culture from bullying to politeness. his energy was staggering. they had better retire or be prosecuted. he set up new civil service guidelines for hiring. he forced out -- i love all of roosevelt's -- he was a nant hurry. i was at the harvard club to give a speech like this and they have a thing called the roosevelt cup. twice the size of a regular size the regular one.

he couldn't stand witting to have it refilled. he was in a hurry always. he forced out williams and police chief williams said encoressed the idea of ad are light district and thomas burns was basically the here sherlock holmes of the united states and incredible reputation of the dblght. he made himself rich by taking gifts. he-- roosevelt could not tolerate the behavior. a world wind trying to swept the corrupt era out. you can't imagine the courage of the man to come in to a city that was this corrupt and this used to doing it a certain way and reckless reformers attitude

change the whole place around. it's amazing. anyhow, arthur wrote a front page item ten days in to roosevelt's tenure for the new york world, he say we have a real police commissioner his name is though door vees roosevelt. he speaking english accurately. i done it or i seen it. he talks more like a boston man or englishman than a new york police commissioner. the voice is the hardest trial. it is an campus rating voice, a raspy voice. what do you amount to anyway? in the good old days the own of a voice would have been clubbed. now the bravest policeman must listen to the voice, obey it and seem to like it.

they treated roosevelt very well in the beginning. a month in to the job he did something unusual. i think he did it out of genuine curiosity. i don't think it was a publicity stunt. they began to take midnight rambles. they were checking up on the police force. the willing to stay up all night. if he caught any cops not doing their duty he told them off. this really caught the imagination of new york city in the nation's imagination. you have to picture the irish cops were huge guys. enormous guys and roosevelt 5'8" inches or 5'9" and fearless and willing to lecture anyone. they went out and find the cop the first problem they can't find any cops nape eventually find the cop standing and chats

with a prettiy woman i had said, officer, is this the way you attempt to your duty and policeman thomas connor snapped back? what are you looking for? trouble do you see that street. run along our i'll fan your hide and roosevelt doesn't move. shall i fan him? roosevelt caught him short. i'm police commissioner roosevelt and you will report to headquarter at u9d 30 tomorrow morning. he clearly relished a sport that included hunting bullies. he earned a reputation for laying out cops. this is a kind of a little interesting. the faifortd detail i have in the tramps cheering because lincoln stepman wrote that the go cops had a guy they like to play.

can they land the perfect blow on the bottom of the feet to hit the ground running and taking off. .. they pulled the shades down, came an aside your spirit they sold more booze on sundays than any other day of the week

because there's a working man's one day off. new yorkers stuff i like to drink, too. they have corner solons, concerts, pretty women mingled popular songs. comics sold through jokes such as she's a belly dancer. first one way, then the other. between the two she makes a living. [laughter] if you bought a drink on you can enter the free lunch counter. the standard price for a is an echo, shot of whiskey with a diamond in new yorkers like to rush the growler. this cute kid to fetch, a pail of and basically new yorkers is that on their syndicate back and forth it of gag going to get drunk alone, they have a family experience on the stoop. okay, so fellow commissioner, and your abrams tours this one on monday and discovers lo and behold there up in everybody

knew that. it was no discovery. but the whole board decides to shut down the lens on sunday. when he did that come he went from popular public official to hated. 10 in a new york minute. it was astounding. six weeks into the job. ntr tried to frame it not as they proceed against liquor, but rather of enforcement against black men. over the coming months you'd say loudly and enforcing all odds, ignoring laws are strong, black and white, good and evil. but many new yorkers didn't care to think about roosevelt reunion. roosevelt was roasted for his crack down. after making -- sorry, i skipped one patch. santa claus pervade all kinds of things. you could never go to a baseball

game, football game. no boxing, no theater, no horse racing or circuses. instead of going to solons, the new york stores would have to admit that next. he said that in speeches repeatedly. desperate times call for desperate measures. a politician came up with a clever dodge. medicinal alcohol. go into a drugstore, ask for rainbow scare him. the day up three fingers of the rottenness w-whiskey decided flatbush. it will keep you watching when you get it because you're afraid if you lay down camile die. i know a man who drank some of it and didn't do a thing to say all day. he thought he was having a good time, mind you. domingos teenagers are looking for fun, his mind is failing. [laughter] server is about was drafted for his crack down and topics say we presume after mr. roosevelt made it to her at the local stolen, he took himself to the union league club and bought a drink.

and that was the problem. the crack down on sundays style online strip clubs could still serve in here service will enjoy himself at a private club like a hobbit club from the metropolitan club. the newspaper showing the contrast, emphasizing the contrast said that he sighed, which is where the tenements where, while roosevelt is at the harbor club from an eastside turn any room into a russian bath and even snatched the moisture and coolness from the overnight watermelon. i mean, they were just laying into them. who else could serve drinks on sunday suggests eating a meal in the hotel restaurant at the hotel at 10 rooms or more. roosevelt was typically defiant. he said he was merely enforcing a law and would be enforcing all the lies. he said, it is strewn i may never be heard again, but i will have kept my oval office.

so he did get sent to him during this period. the newspapers dug up every forgotten law. there's a law against importing oysters in new york may to september. why didn't he arrest the shaft at the monaco? why haven't they arrested all backers? sri lankans pipeline south of 14th street. it's illegal to have a deck of playing cards in the new york concluded the average citizen has been leading a life of crime. in the newspapers just below that out. the police forces accused of being so overzealous that they were arresting innocent women and streetwalkers. [laughter] here's a cartoon of the statue of liberty arrested for being an unaccompanied female hot at night. [laughter] that's the front page. a close under roosevelt, he became so worried that he wrote

the cabot lodge. roosevelt looks worn and tired and lost much of his natural step in buoyancy. at this rate it's only a question of time when he is a breakdown. and when he does come it will be a bad one. and to make bad matters worse, republicans that state would pass the book or the, which is supposed to crack down and how personal do his job, but it allows hotels to 10 rooms serving a meal could serve alcohol and sunday. so what did the the new york san owners to? at first they think they're not going to listen on sundays. they convert more than a thousand saloons over the rain spa hotel. and steve purdy, the guy finished for jumping off the bridge that i couldn't get the tantrum, so it i to pull them in the basement. andy horne put his up in an attic instead some of the rooms only magic stand up straight. i guess he was doing inspect

them? them? her side of the her side of the spine. so, just weeks after new york world trumpets, drink all you want a 500 places sold yet or yesterday to the thirsty and they were all called hotels. most however were backward about renting a room spirit by the following week it was rumbles the city. the eastside wallowed in and now some serve the same thing much over and over again. and playwright eugene o'neill mentioned state minimum beside him and cheese sandwich. not unreasonably, was not expected the same interpretation of hotel and meal and gas. he announced the police will be vigorously for hate hotels. the judges did rule 17 beers and one pretzel equals a meal.

[laughter] the republican legislators had really fumbled the new law and last call is turning into bottoms up in another round in new york was becoming a city that never sleeps. roosevelt certainly hadn't created the range law -- groups, roosevelt certainly hadn't created the law, that these amended with the demise of herself in a splayed out like a slap in the face or the commissioner. new yorkers drinking openly and take hotels and say clubs on sundays and also at three in the morning and were not only drinking. unmarried young women, shopgirl compactor grocer might never walk to a hotel were starting to walk or stagger up as convenient a room stairs in a hotel. roosevelt is delighted to scrivens overwork and in particular families on sundays was not amused by any of it and began secretly looking for a new job. tear would eventually alienate every newspaper including the reform papers and his own

republican party. he was circuiting with fellow commissioners of fire was so police chief. you name it. it got ugly and exciting new battle rebuilt every tammany home. but ultimately i say it turned out very well for roosevelt. the job of police commissioner did as much for him as he did for the job and in this two years i watched the national stage. he honed his speaking skills, you might occasionally to silence himself or he could carry the republican banner another day. roosevelt certainly earned a national reputation as a tough law and order reformer. but some cities just refuse to be reformed. thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> already. gangster image for that, richard. i remind you to what a horse germantown new york used to be cured for instance, anybody know what the most common crime on the lower east side used to be about a hundred years ago? horse poisoning was a way that gangsters would extort money from the many peddlers around here. street peddlers. they were threatened to poison a horse and do so if they didn't come across. >> i was surprised there is a 10 minute limit. you can only stay in place unless were in the middle.

they could not move. there was no way. so there it is paid off a cop to stay in place. >> so i think we'll do a little talk here and then q&a after that. suggest you start, it strikes me that if all the marvel that because here we are in the middle of another burgeoning police scandal. one a little different from the past, wherein the police in queens recently dragged a fellow officer off to an insane asylum for six days because he dared to point out that it's become kind of common knowledge now, that the police don't accept many reports of crimes because they want to keep statistics down. you know, it's also the massive stop in for his program, which is very controversial being directed solely to minority youth and in response, commissioner ray kelley the other day went to the city council and yelled for daring to

question any of those. but it brings up a disturbing question. are the police in portugal? you mention the long list of investigative committees and commissions, the massé hearings, the current committee, and they see their investigation, on and on. by the police ultimately about any effect of civilian supervision in new york, or is it simply like something that has to be checked back every now and then? >> i don't know. i would say that it's more about human nature than just the police. i say the system offers too much power and too many temptations. if you give any of us that kind of power and you give any of us the stacks of dollar bills, crack money and all the rest of us sitting there, we're going to have a hard time with it. so instead of standing in judgment of the n.y.p.d., i just like to say otstanding judgment

in human nature. >> the police are much less corrupt than they've been in the past, probably less violent. >> there were violent in the 1890s. one day up 100 officers had an accused of beating and they brought a hundred up in a day. the nightstick was fierce. and roosevelt introduced him by the way. commander burns before roosevelt and roosevelt heard of the detective getting beaten up by a circus acrobat. he said if he only has a big nisei, remember what happens. roosevelt rushed the nightstick and i say one of the longest, most longest lived roosevelt reforms was 100 years of the nightstick. >> talk out carrying a big stick. >> the nightstick in those days, how big was that? >> one and five eighths inches in diameter was made of dollar

word and replaced the 15-inch long that went from one of three quarters down to one so it was more of a baton type thing. they stick with a weapon and roosevelt brought it back. >> so it's interesting. there is a lesson here about the limits of reforms. they would except today the police force we have been. but on the other hand they going so far overboard, by insisting on enforcing every law, particularly felons. that was one way cops made money. >> i don't often mention, but tammany hall or in their network out of the saloon, so we thought there is the secret benefit, they do a nice he had an hidden agenda is so bit. but they put her down here the markets. he posted to every fruit market, which means you limburg.

signs being post about not throwing banana peels. even in "the new york times," took him to task for the banana peel law. >> it really comes off as something which is not the way americans think of teddy roosevelt. >> no, he's a dynamic man and a respect somebody thinks about him. but he really did have a problem problem -- he was fiercely, fiercely against the and he thought that they should be whipped. he thought they should go back to puritan times and physically with them. he thought landlords cullinane brothels should be executed. he was adamant or whatever word you want to use. >> and we end up because the business guided reforms were brothels on every corner in some neighborhoods. >> kevin knows. he's just playing along, started

helping me out here. anyhow, it was just unbelievable. can you imagine any of those -- i've been married a long time, but the rest of the people going to a bar and you could have 10 bedrooms just up the stairs after your third drink. i mean, that changed. some people think they can change the reality to which in turn changed reality of the country. some people think it was quite important. >> you have a great joke in the book about the scene which used. >> pretty funny. a bartender yells to the owner, hey, we got to stop serving. the owner yells back, what, did we run out of? the bartender said no, some full hli samish and there's another one on the holy site. >> at times reported there was a brick between two pieces of bread. >> becomes a description of the

sandwich because it was so ridiculous. i sat there for years sometimes. i was going to say is that they're in the middle of the table. >> and kind of the other pole, you have great descriptions of mr. debray, including one of my favorite quotes from lincoln steffen, in which he wrote that debris was no more fit to be chief of police and the fisherman was to be director of the aquarium. what a character is a work of art, he was a masterpiece. is he going short and characters nowadays? >> yes, debray was just really something. i have to say i have 60 webpages on the first draft of the book. yeah, just didn't fit. but debray runs for mayor and he gives a whole big crowd. he was running against tammany because you voted amount. he said he thought all this money. i'm going to tell you how to get all this money. it was like a nap, i'm not going to tell you. i mean, he just had fun.

>> yet a wonderful slogan for that campaign, which was you can trust a thief, but you can't trust a lawyer. >> he also was famous for c., here, say nothing, pay nothing. >> yet, his advice was to say nothing and he told the committee of one point, touched appertaining to that matter, i just remember. he described himself as undoubtedly the most specific policeman in the history of new york city. i stand there for the fresh air from the weakest of the highest, no matter who comes along, talk to them all. >> when he gets appointed police chief, the first thing he announces is i intend to enforce all the laws, just like a roosevelt statement. it was hilarious. later they claim he is not enforcing all the laws. he picks the law because

orchestras performing lunch at fancy hotels without a license and he shuts down the waldorf and all the newspapers say, he picks this law. >> and even asked police chief, would you say its top seller was a year quick >> it is i. >> he ended up with something between -- >> rehab or $77,000 worth of real estate on the day he died, which puts him richer than roosevelt. >> is most famous acquisition was -- >> kevin knows way more about this than i do. but he is fighting against tammany hall is so tammany hall had ruled a monopoly for the new york giants for the national league baseball. so he and his partner bring in a club from baltimore in 1803 that doesn't have a name. and over time to get the name

and it's become the new york yankees. big bill dead greek, adversary with the new york yankees. >> if friedman was best tammany guy, heat island -- as the owner of the new york giants was sort of the steinbrenner of the state. he often new york giants >> if anyone wanted to put a stadium somewhere, they couldn't get any transportation there because if friedman. but here's a little story i don't even know if kevin knows. >> i'm out with the police the other night and he really knows his stuff. he tells me that the new york yankees logo is one of the most famous in sport, interlocking n. n. y. i want is the part the story is based on a louis tiffany merritt of valor award for the police in the 1870s. but here's what he tells me, the guy who got away was a guy named

dowel. he was on a bender and was drunk and sleeping it off at the tenderloin saloons and three i wish these drop through the skyline. admit dowell doesn't want to rob of the money commiserate by ss normandie cookson gets shot in the line of duty. so a batman getting shot in the tenderloin saloons is the first award for valor that led to louis tiffany designing. >> that's a great story. no red sox fans will be surprised by that. the historian david richards describes it as -- excuse me, perhaps the most successful operator camping establishments in the country before the rise of las vegas after world war ii, on into racetracks and an estimated 300. i mean, this guy was really this major-league kind of crime guy.

major league camp or lease. serious with the police chief and be on a ball team. >> three years after new york was corrupt and as police chief he found the yankees booking. >> the first race payouts, the team has to enter up to five game series with the red sox at the end of the season because they rented out hilltop park and they have to go up to boston and lose two games. >> is under contract. >> this is just how tammany operates, kind of like the flipside they would like to have all these nice prices, but it was sort of like forget about it if it ever got away with making money. so what was it like for the average police men? he mentioned how many hours. >> they knew everybody on the

block. they thought that the precinct -- the story i like with her brown center works one rank above patrolman and used to watch the oscars. so they literally made rounds watching them in the sanskrit escapes from getting out of trouble. a legendary one is a guy is inside a funeral parlor and he just talking with his pal. the kid runs in and says there's a rounds incoming. go back and say. he's been fined a lot. his wife is going to kill him if he gets more. he has to find a way out. five minutes later coming thick and a funeral parlor trying to see where the guy you in the opposite taps him on the back. he's thinking, how could the guy possibly done it? he keeps walking. turned out the undertaker will amount he walked around the block. so anyhow -- >> emission flophouses kept in the basement. >> roosevelt shut those down. he believed that a lot of the

board deserve, and fortunately brought on themselves. he shut down the police lodging houses in february, march, march of 1896 and that's a pretty bag time. he found that one of the worst blizzards ever occurred the night that he shut them down. and then they relate to charity places on either side of the aisle. i mean, the precinct houses have the virtue of being scattered around. it is about 23rd street on the east river in the hudson. >> really brutal. this is a terrible period economically. maybe as bad as the great depression out is worse. and so you out of a lot of people out of work, but you had this feeling that the appalling josephine shotwell was supposed to be a reformer, poised against even private philanthropy. >> to charity issues -- they just wanted you to have to buy a ticket to get a lodging and not

give any direct charity because they thought it would be booze, people were just drink it. so you got a ticket in the ticket to charity lodging. your clothes were fumigated. you had no money. that kind of amazes me. if you have money you could buy lodging somewhere. you had to literally empty your pockets, be searched for weapons in the following day to three hours of work. so what was a different attitude for charity. >> these people who are called progressives the time, op is a lot harder than they are now. >> absolutely. >> teddy comes up with almost encina points with the description of shoot a spanish officer on san juan hill. >> yeah, roosevelt is just so passionate. some say he spent his whole life trying to control his emotions and his energy. i give him the benefit of the doubt, but he did agree with dual during this period.

he accepted and everyone was just shocked. they didn't also a solid joke or not. finally, he recommended both men go into the city plats ideas firehoses. [laughter] >> and yet, for all that he has is probably the most remarkable rise in american history within three years. >> it's staggering. when i researched the book come i didn't allow myself to do anything past 1897. the most of you probably know more about roosevelt than i do. i hope that's not true, but i really tried to capture who he was then. today he this town, you would've thought this is a skilled bureaucrat who you're never going to hear it again, it's probably going to turn into a loudmouth crank in your title out of people. he would never have predicted the outcome for roosevelt. >> assistant secretary of navy helped set off the spanish-american war. [inaudible]

>> comes back collective governor your commitment vice president vice president and president. >> youngest president ever. >> vice presidency was about the least important job. you literally did nothing. roosevelt took a few months in office with nothing to do. and he becomes president and the whole arch of changes. >> let's switch to some questions here. >> we have to wait for the mic to get to you. were on national tv. >> in one way at lease, roosevelt was an interesting variation on being approved. shortly before he married his second wife, he wrote her a letter telling her very earnestly how much you would like sex within. a question going on through the cyberart of and how people were approaching him. where was the black sham, the mafia in all of this?

and there must have been communist walking around and telling police, were they look at the possibility of legalizing prostitution and gambling? >> on the first argument to the letter, he actually wrote to endorse things called congulat reciprocity. he did want to stop down. it was very much considered and you can read the digest in the debate. he was openly debated. some people thought it would be protected. diseases running high. there was almost no condom use. it'd been tried in 1874. in europe, most prostitution was legal. they were studying whether we

should emulate that. and as far as i know it had much emerged in the mid-1980s. it doesn't, then the police box. i think i've read elsewhere that it is just starting up stronger. but it's not important in roosevelt. >> it was still a time were politicians let the games. >> the cops organize the crime. they sat to work on this corner. they said you can have a gambling thing in the saloon. >> you couldn't be caught with a gun. >> my question was about the young people in this area, particularly the young person we all knew later -- [inaudible] he was running a protection racket to protect the people that push the street. what about the young kids and all this going on?

>> i don't have so many details, but one detail was the nickname that they were called lighthouses. they win out to get the cards for the brothels. they were also named camber merchants because they were selling matches. it is growing up pretty fast. i mean, i'm almost just looking for significant details. swimming in the east river. you have all these pictures. frankly, and maybe kevin can handle that question. >> you had groups like the baxter street -- it was a group of these young street thieves who actually organize their own theater as well. >> it was election day tradition among street gangs and setting big bonfires on election day. so the police is to go out of their way to confiscate all the wood and empty wagons so they could make them on fire on election day. the machines were certain to change as well. you talk about about bugsy seco. a tim sullivan is one of the best m&a guys reaching out he

found here any recruits a lot of these bright young guys calls me smart hubley pretty people like rock scene and all and roosevelt are going to beat the next generation of guys coming up in the machine and at least two other scandals and all during the road. new york is having to be changed by different people. >> here is somebody who wanted to ask a question. >> thank you. did he accomplish anything? and were there any long-lasting accomplishments? >> yes, he showed what a mistake to make this experiment. and he never backed down. and it astounds me the courage

that he had in the face of the entire -- it is just staggering what he went up against. leslie accomplishments he ran two of the fairest elections ever run. they took the election bureau made it a separate hero because out of fear of a guy like roosevelt running fair elections. he did reintroduce the mainstay. he showed truthfully you could make cops and the like. they like to credit him with founding the first police academy, but i was talking about it and he endorsed the first shooting range, but they are to have a school of instruction in the building were shooting range didn't directly lead to the police academy. so with that little touch of which are finger on more than just an unbelievable effort. >> it's astounding thinking about how few lessons were learned from the whole drinking

disaster and probation. >> they said they would be a little clue here that this depression doesn't work. no, not really. roosevelt didn't favor by the way. he said 1920th of the population would oppose that. >> although not much of a trigger person. >> no, he drank one or two glasses of white wine, champagne. he did not like red wine, or hard liquor. but he also said he preferred to any partners -- at dinner parties that were sober. >> who doesn't. >> you mention the south village being famous for these french specialty brothels. i'm wondering was the french tennis derived from? was it the old french voters that the washington square? >> it was called frenchtown south of washington square. and i'll talk to you afterwards about what they did had i been asked not to be too specific.

what is the euphemism, kevin? if you brush your teeth can you be using the same body part. >> all things lascivious, certainly in new york with a racy name for her. >> there really were frenchwomen. they spoke french and i have long documents of one woman, madam -- i forget, owning five. these were indeed french brothels. the teeth brunching feature cost double of the regular because it was so taboo. it was just a different world. >> there is somebody up here. >> hi, how long does this range bomb model of the spire with like 10 tiny rooms upstairs

last? i seem to recall seeing things in the 1850s. >> i actually worked on that topic. it was for basically 1896 to 1917 in the definitive brand law models. m.ed. cutbacks and rules that make up and down for making 1500 down to maybe three of 400. some of the investigators relating to changed morals. certainly in the city is now wider. it's a big deal. >> says thinking about teddy roosevelt, his brother was a drunk and his family wasn't particularly known for being sober over what not. what do you think him or did you discover anything that led t him being a straight face? >> exactly it. you got on a ironically because roosevelt's brother had just died of alcohol related deaths in august of the previous year and roosevelt gets a job in may

of 1895. so it's just coming in ever much talked about eliot issues, but it has to have played in his mind. there literally were dozens of empty liquor bottles in elliott's room. and eliot of course was the father of the future eleanor roosevelt. it is a stuff story. some of it may have also come from elliott issues because elliott father key the man out of wedlock and roosevelt was deeply, deeply ashamed of his brother's behavior. >> you do a great job of describing not. but it wasn't like a lot -- >> pairwise another relative had died and also at edith's father, but father of the with drinking related issues. last question if there is one artist for going to call it a

night. >> i am curious if you can imagine in two days age of 2012 if teddy roosevelt were police commissioner of new york considering of homeland security and what would be his state issued to go after today. >> is a good question. again, i just think that would be one of his many issues, but i tell you quick thing. i dinner at the harvard club of top police lieutenants and they were saying in that 80% of what the general public doesn't understand is 80% of crime is ignored. you can't do anything by the book or the entire system grinds to a halt. if you're nailing somebody for begging who is just a harmless hammer in the corner, you'll miss the big crime that will happen on the next bob.

and i just think i am evading the question a little bit, but roosevelt tried to enforce the entire manual or maybe he would've learned his lesson. but if he took the 1895 roosevelt, the whole thing would just blow up with enforcement. [inaudible] >> where the cuts? come on, let's cut the guy. >> did you investigate any of the crimes of that era? and you know where there's any archived here in new york with evidence that is still from some of the old crimes? >> yeah, of course. the municipal archives downtown, the department of records is just loaded the district attorney's papers. there's physical evidence, too. you just have to be very nice in

order to get one if you want to touch it. but now, it was very cool. i got the whole -- i forget what a bias, dyson cars and all sorts of little things, but the artifacts make history come alive. [inaudible] >> what i want, i can't find. >> we will talk later. >> well, we provided you not only would this evening's entertainment, but you also get out a good five or 10 pounds. we apologize for that, but it's great to see you all. to quote the leader, john l. lewis, he today is not his own horn, the same shall not be tooted. richard spoke, "island of vice" is for sale. he will gladly autograph them. thanks so much for coming out. [applause]

>> for more information, visit the author's website, richard zacks.com. >> one of the imprints of the penguin publishing group is biking. and joining us as their director of publicity, carolyn colburn. we wanted to ask you about some of the books coming out in the fall of 2012 from viking. let's start with our friend, kevin phillips. >> yes, kevin phillips is a great historian and analyst. especially as an author is coming out with 1775 this december. and by kevin does if he debunks the math is 1776 was the watershed year of the american revolution and instead looks at 1775 as the pivotal gear when

all the events and conflicts were happening, so it analyzes 1775. and in usual fashion, it's very nuanced, meticulous research. it will be controversial as many of kevin spoke sorry. >> welcome at viewers are friends of kevin phillips, kevin phillips did our in-depth program. go to booktv.org and watch three hours. go to the search function in the upper left-hand corner. carolyn colburn, wanted to ask you also about another book coming out. this is mike lofgren's book, the party is over. >> the party is over. the subtitle says it all. how the republicans went crazy, the democrats became useless and the metaclass got chopped. the title says it all and as mike lofgren as many of your users knows a 28 year veteran of capitol hill and he really just lays it all out on what is wrong

with our government. >> is that coming up before the election? >> early august, just in time for conventions and for the election, gap. >> caroline to marjorie, did i say that correctly? >> caroline to marjorie, gas for american later he. it's a biography on susan marielle fat, true american aristocrat. he was married to joe al-assad -- i'll set up and was a downtown washington d.c. socialite. kissinger once said that more decisions than things were made in your living room than the white house. she really brought so many movers and shakers in the u.s. and the world to gather. it's a real delight. >> did in a new biography just come out? >> i believe so. there is a play on broadway, too.

>> with john lithgow. >> right, exactly. >> what should we know about biking? told us that, how long has it been around? >> cheese, i think it is something like 79 years. i should know the birthdate of viking and i don't and i'm sorry. i know the logo is rockwell kent, the beautiful viking ship. so, yeah. >> what kind of titles do you look for? what kind of authors? >> award-winning nonfiction, literary fiction, but we also enjoy commercial fiction as well. a wide right the newsmakers and we really focus on books and authors that will help, help the dialogue and learn more and start getting people curious. >> we are here at book expo america committee annual convention in new york city. how important is a convention

like this to your business? >> i think it's incredibly important, especially now when everybody's just talking about the physical book versus the e-book. it's all about reading and getting excited about the books. i mean, look at all these great covers and then walking over to the other in print and hearing people are excited about. it's really important to get the dialogue going. >> as director of publicity, how is your job changed in the last couple of years at the inventor of the book, et cetera? >> a change in terms of social media. our mainstream media, npr and the review coverage is really important and crucial as ever. but also come our social media campaigns have just grown exponentially and i just know that we've been really focusing on the social media and the blog of t r