What Happened
Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer map Washington not as a marble monument to democracy, but as a humid village for transients who scramble to leave by Friday. The city functions as a playground for Administration untouchables, while the Prince Georges underworld skims from dice games under the protection of local Democratic machines. While the Kefauver Committee probes for gangster ties, the authors catalog everything from the high-stakes gambling dens of the late Jimmy La Fontaine to the specific haunts of the capital's deviate set. They present a place where the only constant is the urge to bolt to New York or Atlantic City, leaving behind a swampy landscape of sleazy winters and empty government offices.
Key figures
- Jack Lait
Co-author and veteran journalist specializing in crime and urban exposes.
- Lee Mortimer
Co-author who previously wrote about the New York scene.
- Frank Costello
Mafia boss and 80-percent partner in Maryland gambling operations.
- Kefauver Committee
Senate committee investigating organized crime and its links to local officials.
- Charlie Ford
Attorney handling criminal cases for the District's gambling and vice underworld.
What it's really about
- Urban Decay
- Washington as a 'rude oil-boom town' on a swamp.
- Organized Crime
- The Mafia's quiet grip on Maryland and D.C. vice.
Why it's memorable
- A detailed breakdown of 543 arrested 'perverts' including one embalmer and nine commissioned army officers.
- The Thursday 4 P.M. scramble as Congressmen board the Limited to escape the city's humidity.
Where it lands
The guide concludes with a grim directory of Mafia figures across the United States, listing names like 'Cherry Nose' Gioe and Ralph Capone alongside their business fronts.
For your book club
- Is the city's corruption a product of its transient nature or its political design?
- Does the specific focus on 'perverts' reflect 1951 moral panics or actual clandestine social networks?