About the Book

From the 1950s to the 1970s, from Bar Harbor to Boca Raton, the ragtag crew known as the K&A gang robbed wealthy suburban residences with assembly-line skills of breaking, entering and bagging the loot--be it a rare coin collection or priceless paintings. "It was hard to imagine a more unlikely crew of successful thieves," writes Alan Hornblum about the gang. "Far from urbane... they] were a two-fisted, beer-guzzling, ear and nose-biting group of blue-collar hoodlums from a working class section of Philadelphia called Kensington." The gang's success infuriated homeowners up and down the east coast, while baffling police. "Confessions of a Second Story Man follows the gang as they move in and out of homes, courtrooms and prisons, and even go on the run. Hornblum tells the strange but true story through interviews, police records and historical research. Readers will marvel at the techniques of Junior Kripplebauer, who became one of the FBI's most wanted men and his wife Mickie--who would don her black wig and go out and rob a few houses on her own when she was bored--as well as other crew members, Harry Stocker, Effie Burowski and "Billie Blew" McClurg. Finally, Hornblum describes the transformation of the K&A gang from a group of thieves to working in conjunction with the Mafia to a gang that also sold drugs.

Product Details

Media: Library Binding Book, 336 pages

Publication Date: Unknown

Publisher: Temple University Press

ISBN-10: 1592133975

ISBN-13: 9781592133970

Series: Not Applicable

Language: English

• Categories: Criminals & Outlaws Biography & Autobiography Other Miscellaneous True Crime