Hot Springs: From Capone to Costello

by Robert K. Raines

Overview

From a hot springs attraction to a central location for gangsters, gambling, moonshine and organized crime, trace the evolution of this "loose buckle in the Bible belt", now a resort and major tourist destination.

In the late 1800s, Hot Springs, Arkansas, was a small town with a big attraction: hot thermal water. The federal government took possession of the downtown-area springs, and bathhouse row was born, along with the first property that would be considered a national park. Following not too far behind were great entrepreneurs who brought in gambling and prostitution to go with the area's leading industry: moonshining. By the time the 20th century rolled in, Hot Springs was booming with tourists and became America's first resort. In the early 1930s, former New York gangster Owen Madden took up residence in the spa city, and things became very organized. Gangland luminaries from Al Capone to Frank Costello made regular pilgrimages over the next few decades to what was referred to as "the loose buckle in the Bible Belt."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467110761
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	11/18/2013
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,090,164
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Author Robert K. Raines, director of the Gangster Museum of America, has selected images from the museum's extensive photograph collection, along with several others from local and state historical societies as well as some of the country's most notable historians of this genre, to illustrate his account of what could be America's best-kept secret.

Table of Contents

Foreword 6

Introduction 7

1 The Hot Water 9

2 Big Al Comes to Town 29

3 The Outlaws 41

4 The Unlucky April Fool's Day 55

5 The Only Man Exiled in America 65

6 Frank Costello Makes His Mark 93

7 The End of the Game 107

Acknowledgments and Bibliography 127