{"product_id":"the-mayfair-mafia-the-lives-and-crimes-of-the-messina-brothers-9781526742612","title":"The Mayfair Mafia: The Lives and Crimes of the Messina Brothers","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Dick Kirby\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Pen and Sword True Crime\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Pen and Sword True Crime\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: General\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is a little known fact that one immigrant Italian family ran London's thriving vice trade unchecked from the mid-1930s for some twenty years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe five Messina brothers imported prostitutes from the Continent on an industrial scale, acquiring the women British citizenship by phony marriages. Demanding 80% of earnings, the Messina family became fabulously wealthy, purchasing expensive properties, cars and influence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs this revealing and absorbing account describes, the brothers ruled with a ruthless combination of charm, blackmail and all too credible threats of disfigurement and death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt took a sensational Sunday newspaper expos  to get the authorities to act. A series of dramatic arrests and trials followed and one by one the brothers were imprisoned and deported for crimes including immoral earnings, attempted bribery and firearms offenses.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSuch was their fortune that numerous potential beneficiaries came forward, most recently in 2012.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe author, a much published former Metropolitan police officer, has researched the remarkable criminal careers of the five Messina's and the result is a riveting and shocking read.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Pen and Sword True Crime","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":45046358868119,"sku":"9781526742612","price":1324.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9781526742612.webp?v=1769218011","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/the-mayfair-mafia-the-lives-and-crimes-of-the-messina-brothers-9781526742612","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}