Broadway Butterfly: Vivian Gordon

A riveting, uniquely in-depth account of the sensational murder that captivated Jazz Age New York City, obsessed its then-governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and led to the downfall of its mayor, from the Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist and author of The Deadly Don.

Like so many other pretty butterflies, Indiana-born Vivian Gordon fluttered to New York in 1920 looking for fame and fortune. Before long, the flame-haired chorus girl parlayed her youth, beauty, and ambition into more profitable means as a tough and glamorous symbol of Prohibition-era excess. She was a speakeasy owner, blackmailer, high-end escort, extortionist, racketeer, and con woman. But given her dangerously intimate associations—from ruthless underworld gangsters to corrupt high-ranking city officials—Vivian was also a woman who knew too much and who rightfully feared for her life.

On February 26, 1931, Vivian’s bludgeoned and garroted body was found dumped in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx. Now, in the first in-depth biography of its kind, Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano unravels her tumultuous life and the headline-making murder that became an obsession for many, including then-Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The evidence Vivian left behind was damning: a diary with more than 300 names implicating powerful officials, philanthropists, businessmen, and every major gangland figure in collusion and corruption. The probe eventually resulted in the career-ending investigation of James “Jimmy” Walker, disgraced mayor of New York City. Ultimately, Broadway Butterfly finally finds a place in history for Vivian, a woman with a rare legacy in gangster lore, whose demise was as tragically inevitable as the brutality of the city’s cozy relationship between the Mob and the NYPD.Praise for Anthony M. DeStefano

JIMMY THE GENT

“At last! Anthony M. DeStefano’s Jimmy the Gent explains the mystery behind Jimmy Burke being the only Irishman at the Mob’s Italian table.” —Nicholas Pileggi, bestselling author of Wiseguy and Casino

BROADWAY BUTTERFLY: VIVIAN GORDON

“Mob expert Tony DeStefano tells the little-known story of Vivian Gordon, one of Prohibition’s most notorious racketeers, who, along with the corrupt cops and politicians of her day, set New York on a crooked path that is often followed today.” —Nicholas Pileggi, bestselling author of Wiseguy and Casino

“DeStefano wrangles the sprawling implications of Gordon’s still unsolved murder into an entertaining package. DeStefano paints an alluring portrait of Prohibition-era New York and the mobsters and millionaires who ran it.” —Publishers Weekly

GOTTI’S BOYS

“In this solid true crime account, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist DeStefano explores the inner machinations of the New York Mob and John Gotti’s rise to the head of the Gambino family . . . DeStefano does a fine job capturing the essence of New York . . . Aficionados are sure to relish the finer, exhaustively researched details.” —Publishers Weekly

TOP HOODLUM

“DeStefano vividly recalls the crime boss whose wounding by an assassin in 1957 got a bigger headline in the Daily News than the death of Senator Joseph McCarthy.” —The New York Times

“Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist DeStefano draws from recently released FBI documents, family testimony, and court records to construct an engrossing chronicle of the life of notorious Mafia boss Frank Costello, a ‘reluctant prince of the Mafia’ . . . The book provides ample historical background, including a fascinating historical twist in which Costello’s quest for legitimacy plays out during WWII when Costello and cohort Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano supplied the military with vital information on Sicilian geography just before the Allied invasion in 1943. DeStefano’s canny insight into the don’s mind and motivations set this biography apart from others on Costello.” —Publishers Weekly

“Biography of a low-profile ‘original gangster’ who connected the Prohibition era and the Five Families, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist DeStefano creates another readable, well-researched take on organized crime . . . Will appeal to readers of criminal histories and tales of New York’s political underworld.” —Kirkus Reviews

THE BIG HEIST

“Terrific. DeStefano finally gives us a fitting end to the murderous and fabled story of the 1978 Lufthansa heist.” —Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy and Casino

“A comprehensive account of the legendary 1978 heist . . . impressive.” —Publishers Weekly

“A longtime journalist, DeStefano writes clearly about the case . . . Readers also know when they are in capable hands. DeStefano knows gangsters and Mob history.” —The Star-Ledger

VINNY GORGEOUS

“A dark, informed, and effective bio, and DeStefano is a master at cutting through the secrecy of the Mafia hierarchy.” —Publishers Weekly

“Dramatic . . . thrilling . . . tantalizing.” —Kirkus Reviews

KING OF THE GODFATHERS

“Riveting.” —Nicholas Pileggi, bestselling author of Wiseguy and Casino

“The best and last word on the subject . . . DeStefano brings the story to life.” —Jerry Capeci, bestselling co-author of Murder Machine and creator of GangLandNews.com

“Thrilling American crime writing.” —Jimmy Breslin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Good Rat

“Tracks the downfall not only of Massino himself but all of the old organized crime families . . . DeStefano gives us unique insights.” —New York Law JournalAnthony M. DeStefano is a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award–winning journalist, author, and preeminent Mob historian. He has covered criminal justice and organized crime for more than four decades as a reporter for Newsday and appeared as an expert source on HISTORY’s documentary series American Godfathers: The Five Families. His books on the subject include Jimmy the Gent, Broadway Butterfly, The Big Heist, King of the Godfathers, The Deadly Don, Top Hoodlum, and Gotti’s Boys, among others. He can be found online at TonyDeStefano.com.