The Hustlers: Gambling, Greed and the Perfect Con

by Douglas Thompson (Author)

• New

  Illustrated::Unabridged
  2008

  $20.17

  Invitations to John Aspinall and John Burke's illegal gambling parties were the most sought after in 1950s London - only the wealthy and well-connected were allowed past their door. When the police finally arrested them, Aspinall and Burke challenged the law - and won. As a result gambling was legalised. Which interested crime boss Billy Hill and his lieutenant Bobby McKew, because suddenly clubs sprang up everywhere and Billy had a foolproof way of fixing the cards. He also had his eye on the ultimate prize, Aspinall's exclusive new club, The Clermont...Revealing for the first time how Aspinall and Hill plotted to steal a fortune, based on testimony from Burke and McKew, The Hustlers is a riotous journey back to 50s and 60s London. With a cast of characters that ranges from safecracker Eddie Chapman to the reckless Earl of Derby, from croupier Louis the Rat to unlucky Lord Lucan, it vividly recreates the exploits of the gamblers and gangsters whose lives collided in the clubs and pubs of Mayfair. 'A fascinating glimpse into a bygone world ...when chemmy parties took London by storm and toffs were often found to be rubbing shoulders with gangsters' - Daily Express .

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $8.52

  John Burke and Bobby McKew first met in Dublin but their paths were to cross again in London in the late 1950s, with fateful results. By this time John was running illegal gambling parties in Belgravia and Bobby was the lieutenant of a notorious crime boss. When gambling was legalized, clubs sprang up everywhere. And for those who shared Bobby's mindset ('I would never get into a game of chance unless I knew it was bent and I was on the winning end') there was money to be made. Finally able to tell their story and name their co-conspirators without fear of reprisals, John and Bobby describe the full details of a scam they called 'the big edge', an undetectable way to fix the hugely fashionable game of chemin de fer. As John says, 'It was psychologically and mathematically brilliant. Einstein would have been proud of it.' It was the ultimate con, and those involved made tens of millions of pounds. And they stole from everyone - government ministers, the rich and titled, movie moguls as well as the ordinary punter. Told through the eyes of two charming Irishmen, evoking London society in the late 1950s and 60s, with a fantastic cast of characters ranging from legendary safecracker Eddie Chapman and Great Train Robber Bruce Reynolds to Sam Spiegel, Ian Fleming and the Maharaja of Baroda, The Hustlers is a gripping account of one of the twentieth century's most outrageous scams.