Deborah Frethem Bücher

The memorable architecture and fine cigars of Ybor City attract and delight visitors, but locals and tourists aren't the only ones prowling the city's narrow brick streets and old nightclubs. Invisible revelers still linger at sites like the Florida Brewing Company, where Eduardo Sandoval seeks revenge from the drunken brawl that killed him in 1896. Jose Marti himself still fights by night for Cuba's liberation in Parque Amigos de Jose Marti on Eighth Avenue. Grab a Cuban sandwich or a cafe con leche and join local historian Deborah Frethem as she traces the spectral happenings of Florida's Latin Quarter.

From their home base in Minnesota, the Karpis-Barker Gang cut a swath of crime and terror across the Midwest in the early 1930s. They kidnapped two important businessmen and held them for exorbitant ransoms. They stole payrolls and robbed banks as the bullets flew. Corrupt police and wily crime bosses helped Alvin Karpis and the Barker brothers Freddie and Doc every step of the way. Who were these men and women? What made them into killers and kidnappers? How did their reckless lifestyles lead to their downfall? From Ma Barker to Volney Davis to Edna Murray the Kissing Bandit, authors Deborah Frethem and Cynthia Schreiner Smith delve into the crimes, personalities and motivations of one of the most successful and infamous gangs in American history.