Ballad of the Whiskey Robber
Subtitle: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; Little, Brown
Published: September 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 336
ISBN-13: 9780316071673
Subjects: Biography & Autobiography; Crime & criminology; Sociology, Social Studies; Sociology; Criminals & Outlaws; Infamous Crimes And Criminals; Biography / Autobiography; Post-communism; Biography/Autobiography; General; Current Events / Peace; Biography; Thieves; Ambrus, Attila; Bank robberies; Hungary
First sentence: Hungary has always been unlucky.
Description: "Ladies and gentlemen, meet Attila Ambrus, the Robin Hood of Eastern Europe. He's the one-time pelt smuggler, professional hockey goalie (possibly the worst in the sport's history), pen salesman, Zamboni driver, gravedigger, church painter, roulette addict, building superintendent, whisky drinker, and native of Transylvania who's decided that the best thing to do with his time is to rob as many banks as possible." "His rival: Lajos Varju, the Inspector Clouseau of the Iron curtain, whose knowledge of police work comes from Hungarian-dubbed episodes of Columbo. His deputy is nicknamed "Mound of Asshead" because of his propensity for crashing police cars. His forensics expert, known as "Dance Instructor" for his lucrative side career teaching ballet, wears a top hat and tails on the job." "With a supporting cast that includes car wash owners, exotic dancers, drunk army generals, cocaine-snorting Hungarian rappers, the Johnnie Cochran of Budapest, and a hockey team that seems to spend as much time breaking the law as it does practicing, Ballad of the Whisky Robber gives us the most charming outlaw-hero since the Sundance Kid - and the Sundance Kid didn't play hockey." "As the Eastern bloc slips off its communist skin and replaces it with leopard-skin hot pants, Ballad of the Whisky Robber is here to screw in the pink lightbulbs. Part Unbearable Lightness of Being, part Pink Panther, and part Slap Shot, Julian Rubinstein's tale is a story so outrageous that it could only be true."--BOOK JACKET.