Gangland figures cannot function without their lawyers, who speak for them in court, obtain bail, throw doubt on the evidence and, if all else fails, try to obtain a reduced sentence.
While many lawyers are honest, for Gangland figures, the best lawyer is often corrupt - "a shyster" - who will act as a go-between with the police, provide false alibis, bribe and intimidate witnesses, jurors and judges and occasionally organise robberies and burglaries. Sometimes these lawyers even kill or may be killed themselves.
This book brings us the stories of lawyers such as Frank Ragan, who acted for three mob leaders, and James Sawyer, the barrister and forger involved in the first Great Train Robbery. From the amazing story of Gambino crime boss John Gotti (the "Teflon Don") and his attorney Bruce Cutler, to the American judge Joseph Peel, who had his co-judge killed, James Morton presents a worldwide history of these shady individuals and their seedy but compelling stories.
