Short Synopsis
In Garden State Gangland, Scott M. Deitche sets the historical record straight by providing the first overall history of the mob in New Jersey, from the early turn of the century Black Hand gangs to the present, and looks at how influential they were was, not only to goings-on the Garden State but across the New York metro region and the country as a whole.

Full Synopsis
The Mafia in the United States might be a shadow of its former self, but in the New York/New Jersey metro area, there are still wiseguys and wannabes working scams, extorting businesses, running gambling, selling drugs, and branching out into white collar crimes. And they are continuing a tradition that's over 100 years old. Some of the most powerful mobsters on a national level were from New Jersey, and they spread their tentacles down to Florida, across the Atlantic, and out to California. And many of the stories have never been told. Deitche weaves his narrative through significant, as well as some lesser-known, mob figures who were vital components in the underworld machine.

New Jersey's organized crime history has been one of the most colorful in the country, serving as the home of some of the most powerful, as well as below-the-radar, mobsters in the Country. And though overshadowed by the emphasis on New York City, the mob and New Jersey have, over the years, become synonymous, in both pop culture and in law enforcement.

"Scott Deitche's meticulous and concise research, examines, for the first time, the complete, true account of organized crime in New Jersey. Delicately dissecting over a century of New Jersey's vast Mafia history, Garden State Gangland is a powerful research tool and a necessary addition to any crime library."--- Avi Bash, author of Organized Crime in Miami

"Garden State Gangland is a compelling and thorough examination of historical mob activity in New Jersey, unlike anything to ever hit the marketplace. Like Dietche did in the past with his exploring of the richly-textured Florida underworld landscape in prior publishing efforts, in Garden State Gangland he crafts a fast-paced, fact-filled and utterly-fascinating narrative that reads easy and packs a punch with its well-researched anecdotes and exploration of the insider mob politics at play in a region with so many different crime families looking to get a piece of the proverbial pie . . ."--- Scott M. Burnstein, author, journalist and historian