The Snatch Racket

"Crisp, zesty and free of the clichés of most true-crime writing, Ms. Cox's book interweaves her case narratives with the inside story of how Hoover exploited the crisis to launch a 'crusade' against organized crime, even coining the term 'G-men' to glamorize his agents."—Edward Kosner, Wall Street Journal
"[Cox's] accounts of the kidnappings make for good true-crime readings."—Harry Levins, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"At a time when policing is under fire, and the problematic techniques they use with sometimes innocent subjects as well as the treatment of outsiders (Hauptman was an illegal German immigrant) are very much in the news, Cox has found a subject that can capture a wide audience both in its style and its implications about the justice system. She raises a host of questions about this era, concerning justice denied and justice misapplied in regard to the FBI, and about local policing. She also shows how the desire for aggrandizement and power plays a significant part in our criminal justice history. She does this subtly and behind the scenes of her stories. And she makes a good case for our historical shortcomings in pursuing and convicting criminals."—Paula S. Fass, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books
“Carolyn Cox throws a fascinating new light on a horrifying crime wave that shook America in the 1930s. While the shocking Lindbergh case has understandably gone down in history, it was just one of a whole series of horrible kidnappings that have until now passed into obscurity. In telling this extraordinary story, Cox combines meticulous scholarly research with the thriller writer’s fast pace and eye for colorful detail. The result is a terrific read.”—Sandra Hempel, author of The Atlas of Disease and The Inheritor’s Powder
“Every crisis creates opportunity for people smart enough to see it and agile enough to grasp it. In this finely wrought narrative Carolyn Cox shows us how J. Edgar Hoover and his nascent Bureau of Investigation launched a war against kidnapping that pit them against both rival bureaucrats and a parade of colorful gangsters from Machine Gun Kelly to Alvin Karpis to Ma Barker and the rest. The struggle captured public imagination at the time and makes for a great read. This is an important story well told.”—Kenneth D. Ackerman, author of Young J. Edgar: Hoover and the Red Scare, 1919–1920
“Simply fascinating. A richly detailed, behind-the-scenes autopsy of how the FBI and rival law enforcement agencies demolished the Barker-Karpis gang and other criminals who perpetrated the shocking wave of kidnappings (including the tragic abduction of the Lindbergh baby) that so outraged America in the early 1930s. Best of all, author Carolyn Cox reveals how the war between the G-men and gangsters changed the course of federal criminal law, the power of J. Edgar Hoover, and how the public viewed the Public Enemies–era gangsters like Machine Gun Kelly, Alvin ‘Creepy’ Karpis, and John Dillinger.”—Paul Maccabee, author of John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks’ Tour of Crime and Corruption