This book discusses the history of the Jewish Gangsters of Chicago. They were called many things, and a lot of those contained the word "kosher" which was a play on Jewish food laws. This group grew exponentially during the influx of immigration to the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries, which did not help the anti-immigrant sentiment in the pre and post World War I eras. Much like their infamous Italian-American counterparts, the Jewish members had a pretty lucrative organized crime syndicate going on. They were involved in the same things that we think of when we think of the Mafia: bookmaking, loansharking, prostitution, and bootlegging. (Of course, bootlegging isn't really a thing these days, but there are a lot of white collar crimes that go on in criminal syndicates in the present day.)

Prior to reading this book, I was only familiar with a few Jewish names that were involved in organized crime. The most notable of those names would have to be Arnold Rothstein, though he operated in New York City. Meyer Lansky and Mickey Cohen are two other names that I can recall from that time period. I am much less familiar with the Mafia dealing in Chicago than I am in New York and New Jersey, aside from what I know of Al Capone. This book was exceptionally educational to me. I have been wanting to learn more about Jewish history than what is contained in the small window of the Holocaust, so this was a good way to add to my knowledge. Most of the literature I found while looking for books like this focused on Las Vegas and New York. According to the Jewish Book Council, this is the first in depth look at the doings and history of Chicago's Jewish gangsters.

In addition to having a wealth of information, the book was well researched and written in a way that made it enjoyable to read. I love history and I love Mafia books, so this was absolutely a book that was right up my alley. This book is also currently available to listen to for free on Audible Plus if you are interested in doing so. I really liked learning about some of these people, and some of the events and situations were familiar to me from knowing about Al Capone and also from watching Boardwalk Empire. I was really pleased with this book, and I am glad that I picked it to listen to.