Helene Stapinski SIGNED Five-Finger Discount Crooked Family 2001 First Edition

Description: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Helene Stapinski SIGNED Five-Finger Discount Crooked Family 2001 First Edition Up for bids is this 2001 first edition hardcover version of Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History, which was written AND signed by Helene Stapinski and is in VERY GOOD condition (NOT an ex-library book; NO reminder marks; NO punch holes).Guarantee of Authenticity (GOA) – We guarantee the authenticity of our SIGNED books and sports memorabilia, all of which have passed a rigorous 20-step authentication process used by forensic autograph analysts. We are so confident in our process that IF one of our SIGNED items fails authentication via Beckett, PSA or CGC, EJay Collectibles will provide you with a full refund plus an additional $10 to help offset the expensive authentication process.On a summer night when she was five years old, Helene Stapinski watched out her kitchen window as her Grandpa Beansie was carted off to jail for the last time. Beansie (so nicknamed because he had stolen a crate of beans as a child) had spent the better part of that day in the Majestic Tavern, a dive bar on the ground floor of the Stapinskisí apartment building. As the afternoon wore on, Beansie's usual ranting turned mean. He flashed a loaded gun; a silver .22 glowing in the light from the Yankee game on the tavern TV, and bragged to his drinking buddies that he had a bullet for each of his relatives living above the Majestic. But news traveled fast in the neighborhood, and before Beansie, a convicted murderer and armed robber, could stumble upstairs, the cops had him in handcuffs. The headline in the local newspaper the next day read "Man Seized On Way To Kill 5 Children". As Stapinski writes, Jersey City was a tough place to grow up, except I didn't know any better.In this unforgettable memoir, Stapinski tells the heartbreaking yet often hilarious story of growing up among swindlers, bookies, and crooks. With deadpan humor and obvious affection, she comes clean with the outrageous tales that have swirled around her relatives for decades, and recounts the epic drama and comedy of living in a household in which petty crime was a way of life. The dinner Helene's mother put on the table (often prime rib, lobster tail, and fancy cakes) was usually swiped from the cold-storage company where Helene's father worked. The soap and toothpaste in the bathroom were lifted from the local Colgate factory. The books on the family's shelves were smuggled out of a book-binding company in Aunt Mary Ann's oversize girdle (or taken by Grandpa Beansie from the Free Public Library). Uncle Henry did a booming business as the neighborhood bookie, cousins did jail time, and Great-Aunt Katie, who liked to take a shot of whiskey each morning to clear her lungs, was a ward leader in the notorious Jersey City political machine.No backdrop could be more appropriate for the Stapinskis than Jersey City; a place known for its ties to the Mafia, industrial blight, and corrupt local officials, and the author ingeniously weaves the checkered history of her hometown throughout the book. Navigating a childhood of toxic waste and tough love, Stapinski tells an extraordinary tale that, unlike the swag of her childhood, is her very own.

Price: 58.49 USD

Location: South Lyon, Michigan

End Time: 2025-01-05T16:38:55.000Z

Shipping Cost: 3.99 USD