The Napoleon of crime
Subtitle: the life and times of Adam Worth, master thief
By: Ben Macintyre
Edition: 1st American ed., 1st Farrar, Straus and Giroux ed.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, Giroux; Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 336
ISBN-13: 9780374218997
Subjects: Thieves; Bank robberies; Biography; History
Other titles: Life and times of Adam Worth, master thief
Description: The Victorian era's most infamous thief, Adam Worth was the original Napoleon of crime. Worth learned early that the best way to succeed was to steal. And steal he did. Following a strict code of honor, Worth won the respect of Victorian society. He also aroused its fear by becoming a chilling phantom, mingling undetected with the upper classes, whose valuables he brazenly stole. His most celebrated heist: Gainsborough's grand portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire--ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales--a painting Worth adored and often slept with for twenty years.With a brilliant gang that included "Piano" Charley, a jewel thief, train robber, and playboy, and "the Scratch" Becker, master forger, Worth secretly ran operations from New York to London, Paris, and South Africa--until betrayal and a Pinkerton man finally brought him down. In a decadent age, Worth was an icon. His biography is a grand tour into the gaslit underworld of the last century. . . and into the doomed genius of a criminal mastermind.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [299]-328) and index.