A pickpocket's tale
Subtitle: the underworld of nineteenth-century New York
By: Timothy J. Gilfoyle.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Published: 2006
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 460
ISBN-13: 9780393061901
Subjects: Appo, George, b. 1856.; Pickpockets -- New York (State) -- New York -- Biography.; Juvenile delinquents -- New York (State) -- New York -- Biography.; Crime -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century.; New York (N.Y.) -- Social conditions -- 19th century.
Genres: Biography.
Other titles: Underworld of nineteenth-century New York
Description: A Pickpocket's Tale is a fascinating true-crime story. Gilfoyle uses George Appo's unpublished memoirs to re-create the world of the nineteenth-century criminal in astonishing detail. George Appo was half Irish, half Chinese who became a pickpocket at the tender age of twelve. he was first arrested at age fourteen and sentenced to a year on a prison ship for juvenile offenders served . In and out of prisons, he became an expert pickpocket, making hundreds of dollars a night--the annual wage of a skilled laborer. By his early twenties he was a regular patron of New York's opium and prostitution dens. But despite many years in prison and being wounded several times he managed to die of old age at age seven-four.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.