Satan's Circus

Among the millions of Americans who have worked as police officers, only one has been put to death for murder. Mike Dash's account centers on that man, Charles Becker, and the Tenderloin, the Midtown Manhattan district whose nickname was Satan's Circus. Around 1900, vice flourished there, and officers and entertainers alike took payoffs. The book follows how a polished young patrolman rose to lead the celebrated Special Squad, which targeted vice, and how his career collapsed.

The story begins with the shooting of a flashy gambling house operator on the steps of a leading hotel, a killing so routine in the district that it drew little notice. When a determined district attorney later accused Becker of arranging the crime, the charge stunned even the people who knew the district best. Was Becker a crooked officer living a double life, or a scapegoat caught between dangerous figures who controlled the city's underworld?

Dash uses Becker's rise and fall to bring back a largely forgotten New York, one that was rowdy, corrupt and vividly theatrical. The book covers two sensational murder trials that ended with Becker's execution in the electric chair. Readers interested in police corruption, Gilded Age New York and true crime will find it a detailed look at both the man and the city that shaped him.