Story of Caesar (1898)

aMURDER, INC. LEADER DEAD!a So read the headlines when Abe aKid Twista Reles mysteriously fell to his death from a hotel room while under heavy police protection. Relesa life and ultimate fate are seen through the eyes of Jimmy aIrisha OaConnell, a teenager taken in by Reles. This coming-of-age story of aIrisha and his relationship with Brooklyn gangster Abe Reles is, at once, compassionate and ruthless. Although a work of fiction, the novel includes true events concerning Relesa life and times. Taking place in East New York and Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, between the depression years of 1931 and 1940, the book portrays crime on the streets when hijacking, prostitution, and murder were typical events. This adult novel of Abe Reles attempts to rationalize the circumstances of his controversial death. He was the aCANARY WHO COULD SING BUT COULD NOT FLY.a