The Gangster

1
Little Sicily, New York City
Elizabeth Street between Prince and Houston
The Black Hand Block
 
 
The Black Hand locked twelve-year Maria Vella in a pigeon coop on the roof of an Elizabeth Street tenement. They untied the gag so she wouldn t suffocate. Not even a building contractor as rich as her father would ransom a dead girl, they laughed. But if she screamed, they said, they would beat her. A vicious jerk of one of her glossy braids brought tears to her eyes.
            She tried to slow her pounding heart by concentrating on the calmness of the birds. The pigeons murmured softly among themselves, oblivious to the racket from the slum, undisturbed by a thousand shouts, a piping street organ, and the thump and whirr of sewing machines. She could see through a wall of wooden slats that admitted light and air that the coop stood beside the high parapet that rimmed the roof. Was there someone who would help her on the other side? She whispered Hail Marys to build her courage.
            . . . Santa Maria, Madre di Dio,
            prega per noi peccatori,
            adesso e nell'ora della nostra morte.
            Coaxing a bird out of her way, she climbed up on its nesting box, and up onto another until she glimpsed a tenement across the street draped with laundry. Climbing higher, pressing her head to the ceiling, she could see all the way down to a stretch of sidewalk four stories below. It was jammed with immigrants. Peddlers, street urchins, women shopping, not one of them could help her. They were Sicilians, transplanted workers and peasants, poor as dirt, and as frightened of the authorities as she was of her kidnappers.

Clive Cussler is the author of more than fifty books in five best-selling series, including Dirk Pitt, NUMA Files, Oregon Files, Isaac Bell, and Fargo. His life nearly parallels that of his hero Dirk Pitt. Whether searching for lost aircraft or leading expeditions to find famous shipwrecks, he and his NUMA crew of volunteers have discovered more than seventy-five lost ships of historic significance, including the long-lost Confederate submarine Hunley, which was raised in 2000 with much press publicity. Like Pitt, Cussler collects classic automobiles. His collection features more than eighty examples of custom coachwork. Cussler lives in Arizona and Colorado.
 
Justin Scott s novels include The Shipkiller and Normandie Triangle; the Ben Abbott detective series; and modern sea thrillers published under the pen name Paul Garrison. He is the coauthor with Cussler of seven Isaac Bell novels. Scott lives in Connecticut.

#1 USA Today bestseller
Globe and Mail fiction bestseller
Toronto Star fiction bestseller
Maclean's fiction bestseller

Praise for The Gangster

Cussler has written another wonderful historical thriller.The action is fast and thoroughly enjoyable. Library Journal

This latest Bell thriller combines a vivid historical environment with a top-notch story and enjoyable, realistic characters. Bell, the detective whose nimble intellect often gets him out of tight situations, is one of Cussler s most engaging protagonists, and the series...remains fresh and exciting Booklist
 
Fascinating and suspenseful plot --

Praise for the Isaac Bell adventures

The Isaac Bell series continues to tell compelling stories. Tidbits of history are sprinkled throughout the narrative, and it s fun to filter out fictional characters and events from historical facts. Associated Press
 
Cussler and Scott have written another wonderful page-turner. This is historical action-adventure fiction at its rip-roaring best! Library Journal (starred review)
 
As always in this series, the novel is very exciting, with excellent pacing and some very well-drawn characters. Cussler is a perennial A-lister, popularity-wise, and his Isaac Bell novels are the pick of his prodigious litter. Booklist
 
The seventh page-turner featuring indomitable detective Isaac Bell great fun from one of the better Cussler series. Kirkus Reviews