Big Book of Little Criminals TPB (1996) comic books 1995-1997

1st printing. From Al Capone to Bugsy Siegel to John Gotti, people have a strange fascination with the dark doings of lawbreakers. Much is known about these "big" criminals, but what of the ones we never hear about? What about the little ones, the clever ones, the unusual ones? Following its foray into the little-known worlds of weirdos, freaks and others, Paradox Press plunges into the underworld with this definitive guide to unscrupulous characters. Meet the forgotten legends among America's most wanted: "Pittsburgh" Phil: the original "out-of-town hit man." Phil belonged to Murder Inc., a real organization of paid mob killers. When he was finally arrested, he broke down and lost his mind. Or did he...? "Honest" John Kelly: the first income tax preparer for the Ringling Bros. Circus. According to him, the circus mysteriously lost elephants, lions and rhinos all over the country. Fortunately, these were able to be claimed as business losses and tax deductions. Louie "Pretty" Amberg: the ugliest gangster in New York. He actually bought a laundry company just so he could use the laundry bags to dump all the corpses he was generating. These malefactors and others populate The Big Book of Little Criminals in humorous and informative short stories by a number of authors of true crime, crime fiction and comics: George Hagenauer, Carl Sifakis, Joel Rose and Tom Peyer. Little Criminals includes the art of Ty Templeton, Rick Parker, Frank Quitely, Marshall Rogers, Alec Stevens, and many others. Cover by Tom Taggart. 192-page softcover, Mature Readers, Big Book Format (black & white with color covers, 8 1/2" x 11", squarebound). Cover price $14.95.