The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum - by Margalit Fox (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In 1850, Fredericka Mandelbaum emigrated to New York from Germany and worked as a rag peddler on the streets of the Lower East Side. By the 1870s she was a widow with four children, a popular society hostess, and a philanthropist. What enabled a woman on the margins of nineteenth-century American life to ascend from tenement poverty to immense wealth? In the intervening years, Mrs. Mandelbaum had become the country's most notorious 'fence'--a receiver of stolen goods and a successful criminal mastermind. By the mid-1880s as much as $10 million worth of purloined property ... had passed through her little haberdashery shop. ... But she wasn't just a successful crook--she was a visionary. Called 'the nucleus and center of the whole organization of crime in New York City' by the New York Times, Mandelbaum was the first person in American history to systemize formerly scattershot property crime enterprises"--

Book Synopsis

America's first great organized-crime lord was a lady--a nice Jewish mother named Mrs. Mandelbaum.

"A tour de force . . . With a pickpocket's finesse, Margalit Fox lures us into the criminal underworld of Gilded Age New York."--Liza Mundy, author of The Sisterhood

A PARADE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

In 1850, an impoverished twenty-five-year-old named Fredericka Mandelbaum came to New York in steerage and worked as a peddler on the streets of Lower Manhattan. By the 1870s she was a fixture of high society and an admired philanthropist. How was she able to ascend from tenement poverty to vast wealth?

In the intervening years, "Marm" Mandelbaum had become the country's most notorious "fence"--a receiver of stolen goods--and a criminal mastermind. By the mid-1880s as much as $10 million worth of purloined luxury goods (nearly $300 million today) had passed through her Lower East Side shop. Called "the nucleus and center of the whole organization of crime," she planned robberies of cash, gold and diamonds throughout the country.

But Mrs. Mandelbaum wasn't just a successful crook: She was a business visionary--one of the first entrepreneurs in America to systemize the scattershot enterprise of property crime. Handpicking a cadre of the finest bank robbers, housebreakers and shoplifters, she handled logistics and organized supply chains--turning theft into a viable, scalable business.

The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum paints a vivid portrait of Gilded Age New York--a city teeming with nefarious rogues, capitalist power brokers and Tammany Hall bigwigs, all straddling the line between underworld enterprise and "legitimate" commerce. Combining deep historical research with the narrative flair for which she is celebrated, Margalit Fox tells the unforgettable true story of a once-famous heroine whose life exemplifies America's cherished rags-to-riches narrative while simultaneously upending it entirely.

Review Quotes

"Exuberant . . . fast-paced. The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum' serves up a platonic ideal of the criminal mastermind."--The New York Times Book Review

"A vivid portrait of Mandelbaum in this rich recounting of her life and times. . . relishes Mandelbaum's chutzpah while describing in forensic detail how an early American crime boss grew her business. A portrait of a woman who, before the term had even been invented, smashed through glass ceilings to get what she wanted."--The Wall Street Journal

"Before Al Capone, there was Fredericka Mandelbaum . . . a scrupulously researched narrative."--The New York Times

"Fox excels at telling a story that is rich in historical detail. . . When Fredericka Mandelbaum was buried, 'it was reported afterward, some mourners deftly picked the pocket of others. Whether they did so in tribute to their fallen leader or simply from occupational reflex is unrecorded.' A fitting end to a fascinating life."--The Washington Post

"Her literal rags-to-riches story is presented with depth in this spectacular true story of ingenuity, business acumen and brazen criminality."--Bloomberg

"A fun and fascinating read that blends history and heist."--The Boston Globe

"Entrancing."--The New York Post

"A transfixing tale. Readers will be swept up."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Fox succeeds in rescuing a once-notorious public figure from historical obscurity. An engrossing portrait of an unlikely criminal mastermind."--Kirkus Reviews

"A genuinely fresh story of American crime and culture."--BookPage​

"The astonishing story of this woman who wasn't just a criminal mastermind, but a surprisingly successful entrepreneur - albeit in the unconventional field of stolen goods... captivating."--Jewish Business News

"Very entertaining. It's a trib­ute to Fox's sto­ry­telling tal­ents that this unique and mys­te­ri­ous woman has come to life."--Jewish Business Council

"A tour de force . . . With a pickpocket's finesse, Fox lures us into the criminal underworld of Gilded Age New York. The portrait of Marm Mandelbaum is irresistible: In Fox's lush prose, you can feel the softness of the silk and see the brilliance of the diamonds she amasses and profitably passes on. This book is pitch perfect."--Liza Mundy, author of The Sisterhood

"Mandelbaum was not only a schemer but a dreamer, who saw running a crime ring as the rare way a woman could get ahead in a ruthless metropolis. This book is so full of twists, it makes you want to break out the popcorn."--Rachel Syme, staff writer at The New Yorker

"A true-crime saga from America's golden era of graft and grift that reads like the prequel to Oceans 11."--Daniel Schulman, author of The Money Kings

"Who but Margalit Fox could have come up with this delicious Gilded Age tale of Marm Mandelbaum, a diamond-laden Jewish mother who ran America's biggest crime syndicate, and her decades-long battle of wits with those trying to bring her down?"--Lynne Olson, author of Empress of the Nile

"Fox constructs a heist of her own in this richly detailed, captivating portrait of a penniless woman who rises to the ranks of criminal mastermind."--Graham Moore, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and author of The Last Days of Night

About the Author

Margalit Fox originally trained as a cellist and a linguist before pursuing journalism. As a senior writer in The New York Times's Obituary News Department, she wrote the front-page public sendoffs of some of the leading cultural figures of our age. Winner of the William Saroyan Prize for Literature and author of four previous nonfiction books, The Confidence Men, Conan Doyle for the Defense, The Riddle of the Labyrinth and Talking Hands, Fox lives in Manhattan with her husband.