The Gangster by Clive Cussler (free novels .txt) 📕

ALSO BY CLIVE CUSSLER

DIRK PITT® ADVENTURES

Havana Storm (with Dirk Cussler)

Poseidon’s Arrow (with Dirk Cussler)

Crescent Dawn (with Dirk Cussler)

Arctic Drift (with Dirk Cussler)

Treasure of Khan (with Dirk Cussler)

Black Wind (with Dirk Cussler)

Trojan Odyssey

Valhalla Rising

Atlantis Found

Flood Tide

Shock Wave

Inca Gold

Sahara

Dragon

Treasure

Cyclops

Deep Six

Pacific Vortex!

Night Probe!

Vixen 03

Raise the Titanic!

Iceberg

The Mediterranean Caper

FARGO ADVENTURES

The Solomon Curse (with Russell Blake)

The Eye of Heaven (with Russell Blake)

The Mayan Secrets (with Thomas Perry)

The Tombs (with Thomas Perry)

The Kingdom (with Grant Blackwood)

Lost Empire (with Grant Blackwood)

Spartan Gold (with Grant Blackwood)

ISAAC BELL NOVELS

The Assassin (with Justin Scott)

The Bootlegger (with Justin Scott)

The Striker (with Justin Scott)

The Thief (with Justin Scott)

The Race (with Justin Scott)

The Spy (with Justin Scott)

The Wrecker (with Justin Scott)

The Chase

KURT AUSTIN ADVENTURES

The Pharaoh’s Secret (with Graham Brown)

Ghost Ship (with Graham Brown)

Zero Hour (with Graham Brown)

The Storm (with Graham Brown)

Devil’s Gate (with Graham Brown)

Medusa (with Paul Kemprecos)

White Death (with Paul Kemprecos)

The Navigator (with Paul Kemprecos)

Polar Shift (with Paul Kemprecos)

Lost City (with Paul Kemprecos)

White Death (with Paul Kemprecos)

Fire Ice (with Paul Kemprecos)

Blue Gold (with Paul Kemprecos)

Serpent (with Paul Kemprecos)

OREGON FILES ADVENTURES

Piranha (with Boyd Morrison)

Mirage (with Jack Du Brul)

The Jungle (with Jack Du Brul)

The Silent Sea (with Jack Du Brul)

Corsair (with Jack Du Brul)

Plague Ship (with Jack Du Brul)

Skeleton Coast (with Jack Du Brul)

Dark Watch (with Jack Du Brul)

Sacred Stone (with Craig Dirgo)

Golden Buddha (with Craig Dirgo)

NONFICTION

Built for Adventure: The Classic Automobiles of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt

The Sea Hunters (with Craig Dirgo)

The Sea Hunters II (with Craig Dirgo)

Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed (with Craig Dirgo)

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Copyright © 2016 by Sandecker, RLLLP

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eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-40642-1

Endpaper and interior illustrations by Roland Dahlquist

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Version_1

CONTENTS

Also by Clive Cussler

Title Page

Copyright

Cast of Characters

PROLOGUE | Murder and High Jinks

BOOK I | Captain Coligney’s Pink Tea

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

BOOK II | Pull

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

BOOK III | Storm King

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

BOOK IV | The Gangster

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

EPILOGUE | THE CARTEL BUSTER

About the Author

CAST OF CHARACTERS

1895

Antonio Branco Immigrant Sicilian “pick and shovel man.”

The padrone Labor contractor, Antonio Branco’s boss.

Isaac Bell, Doug, Andy, Larry, Jack, Ron College freshman classmates.

Mary Clark Student at Miss Porter’s School.

Eddie “Kansas City” Edwards Van Dorn detective.

1906

White Hand

Maria Vella Giuseppe Vella’s twelve-year-old daughter.

Giuseppe Vella New York excavation contractor.

David LaCava Little Italy banker, proprietor of Banco LaCava.

Sante Russo Giuseppe Vella’s foreman and blaster.

Black Hand

Antonio Branco Wealthy wholesale grocer, Catskill Aqueduct purveyor.

Charlie Salata Italian street gang leader; Black Hand extortionist.

Vito Rizzo Salata Gang lieutenant.

Ernesto Leone A counterfeiter.

Roberto Ferri A smuggler.

Sicilian groom

Francesca Kennedy A killer.

Irish Gangsters

Ed Hunt, Tommy McBean Cousins, Gopher Gang graduates, founders of the West Side Wallopers.

Van Dorn Agency Private Detectives

Joseph Van Dorn Founder and Chief Investigator, “The Boss,” the “old man.”

Isaac Bell Van Dorn’s top man, founder of Black Hand Squad.

Wally Kisley, Mack Fulton Explosives expert and safecracking expert, respectively; partners known as “Weber & Fields.”

Harry Warren Born Salvatore Guaragna, head of New York Gang Squad.

Archibald Angell Abbott IV Blue-blood New Yorker, a “Princeton man,” former actor, boxer, Bell’s best friend.

Aloysius “Wish” Clarke A drinking man.

Eddie “Kansas City” Edwards Rail yard specialist.

Bronson San Francisco field office.

Grady Forrer Head of Research, New York field office.

Scudder Smith Former newspaper reporter experienced in vice.

Eddie Tobin Apprentice detective.

Richie Cirillo Underage apprentice detective.

Helen Mills Van Dorn intern, Isaac Bell’s protégée, Bryn Mawr College student, daughter of U.S. Army brigadier general Gary Tannenbaum Mills.

Friends of Isaac Bell

Marion Morgan His fiancée.

Enrico Caruso World-renowned opera tenor.

Luisa Tetrazzini Coloratura soprano, the “Florentine Nightingale,” a rising star.

Tammany Hall

Boss Fryer “Honest Jim” Fryer, political kingpin of New York City.

Brandon Finn Boss Fryer’s henchman.

“Rose Bloom” Brandon Finn’s paramour.

Alderman James Martin Member of the “Boodle Board.”

“Kid Kelly” Ghiottone Former bantamweight prizefighter, saloon keeper, Tammany Hall’s man in Little Italy.

Plutocrats

J. B. Culp Wall Street magnate, Hudson Valley aristocrat, inheritor of steamboat and railroad fortunes, founder of the Cherry Grove Gentlemen’s Society.

Daphne Culp J. B. Culp’s wife.

Brewster Claypool J. B. Culp’s lawyer.

Warren D. Nichols Banker, philanthropist, member of Cherry Grove Society.

Lee, Barry Prizefighters, J. B. Culp’s bodyguards and sparring partners.

Cops

Captain Mike Coligney Head of the NYPD’s Tenderloin Precinct.

Lieutenant Joe Petrosino Founder of the NYPD’s Italian Squad.

Chris Lynch Secret Service Counterfeit Squad.

Rob Rosenwald New York District Attorney sleuth.

Commissioner Bingham New NYPD official shaking up the department.

Sheriff of Orange County

Cherry Grove Bordello

Nick Sayers The proprietor.

Jenny A resident.

The White House

Theodore Roosevelt “Teddy,” “TR,” President of the United States, Spanish-American War hero, former Governor of New York State, former Police Commissioner of New York City.

Chief of the President’s Secret Service protection corps

The Catskill Aqueduct

Dave Davidson Contractors’ Protective Association, superintendent of labor camps.

Contractors

Irish foreman

PROLOGUE

Murder and High Jinks

New Haven, 1895

Chest-deep in a ditch, an Italian pick and shovel man looked up at a rush of custom-made shoes and broadcloth trousers inches from his face. Rich American students were scooping handfuls from the earth pile and sifting the sandy red soil through their fingers.

The