Started by Italian brothers from North Denver, the high-profile Smaldone crime syndicate began in the bootlegging days of the 1920s and flourished into the 1980s. Connected to notorious crime figures, politicians, and presidents, Clyde Smaldone was the crime family's leader. Through candid interviews and firsthand accounts, Dick Kreck reveals the true sense of what it meant to be a Smaldone, not only the corrupt but also the virtuous. Dick Kreck retired from The Denver Post after thirty-eight years as a columnist. He is the author of four other books, including Murder at the Brown Palace. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

On May 24, 1911, one of the most notorious murders in Denver''s history occurred. The riveting tale involves high society, adultery, drugs, multiple murder, and more, all set in Denver''s grand old hotel, the Brown Palace.

Overnight settlements, better known as "e;Hell on Wheels,"e; sprang up as the transcontinental railroad crossed Nebraska and Wyoming. They brought opportunity not only for legitimate business but also for gamblers, land speculators, prostitutes, and thugs. Dick Kreck tells their stories along with the heroic individuals who managed, finally, to create permanent towns in the interior West.

Take a trip back in time to revel in the scandal, murders, infidelities, financial misdeeds, and just plain bad behavior from Colorado's past. Public respectability does not always translate into tidy private lives, and our interest in the naughty behavior of the rich and famous will never be satisfied. Former Denver Post reporter Dick Kreck takes us back through Colorado's history to show that the foibles of people rich or poor remain the same. Included are socialites such as Louise Sneed Hill, who created and ruled over Denver's "e;Sacred 36"e; circle of society; Jane Tomberlin, who met and fell in love with a "e;prince"e; in an elevator at the Brown Palace Hotel; Irene Nolan, who cavorted late into the night with her family priest; and prominent Denver clubman Courtland Dines, who was wounded during a frolic with two silent-screen stars in his Hollywood apartment.

Take a trip back in time to revel in the scandal, murders, infidelities, financial misdeeds, and just plain bad behavior from Colorado's past. Public respectability does not always translate into tidy private lives, and our interest in the naughty behavior of the rich and famous will never be satisfied. Former Denver Post reporter Dick Kreck takes us back through Colorado's history to show that the foibles of people rich or poor remain the same. Included are socialites such as Louise Sneed Hill, who created and ruled over Denver's "e;Sacred 36"e; circle of society; Jane Tomberlin, who met and fell in love with a "e;prince"e; in an elevator at the Brown Palace Hotel; Irene Nolan, who cavorted late into the night with her family priest; and prominent Denver clubman Courtland Dines, who was wounded during a frolic with two silent-screen stars in his Hollywood apartment.

Started by Italian brothers from North Denver, the high-profile Smaldone crime syndicate began in the bootlegging days of the 1920s and flourished into the 1980s. Connected to notorious crime figures, politicians, and presidents, Clyde Smaldone was the crime family's leader. Through candid interviews and firsthand accounts, Dick Kreck reveals the true sense of what it meant to be a Smaldone, not only the corrupt but also the virtuous. Dick Kreck retired from The Denver Post after thirty-eight years as a columnist. He is the author of four other books, including Murder at the Brown Palace. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

Overnight settlements, better known as "e;Hell on Wheels,"e; sprang up as the transcontinental railroad crossed Nebraska and Wyoming. They brought opportunity not only for legitimate business but also for gamblers, land speculators, prostitutes, and thugs. Dick Kreck tells their stories along with the heroic individuals who managed, finally, to create permanent towns in the interior West.

Started by Italian brothers from North Denver, the high-profile Smaldone crime syndicate began in the bootlegging days of the 1920s and flourished into the 1980s. Connected to notorious crime figures, politicians, and presidents, Clyde Smaldone was the crime family's leader. Through candid interviews and firsthand accounts, Dick Kreck reveals the true sense of what it meant to be a Smaldone, not only the corrupt but also the virtuous. Dick Kreck retired from The Denver Post after thirty-eight years as a columnist. He is the author of four other books, including Murder at the Brown Palace. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

On May 24, 1911, one of the most notorious murders in Denver''s history occurred. The riveting tale involves high society, adultery, drugs, multiple murder, and more, all set in Denver''s grand old hotel, the Brown Palace.

Overnight settlements, better known as "e;Hell on Wheels,"e; sprang up as the transcontinental railroad crossed Nebraska and Wyoming. They brought opportunity not only for legitimate business but also for gamblers, land speculators, prostitutes, and thugs. Dick Kreck tells their stories along with the heroic individuals who managed, finally, to create permanent towns in the interior West.

Take a trip back in time to revel in the scandal, murders, infidelities, financial misdeeds, and just plain bad behavior from Colorado's past. Public respectability does not always translate into tidy private lives, and our interest in the naughty behavior of the rich and famous will never be satisfied. Former Denver Post reporter Dick Kreck takes us back through Colorado's history to show that the foibles of people rich or poor remain the same. Included are socialites such as Louise Sneed Hill, who created and ruled over Denver's "e;Sacred 36"e; circle of society; Jane Tomberlin, who met and fell in love with a "e;prince"e; in an elevator at the Brown Palace Hotel; Irene Nolan, who cavorted late into the night with her family priest; and prominent Denver clubman Courtland Dines, who was wounded during a frolic with two silent-screen stars in his Hollywood apartment.

Take a trip back in time to revel in the scandal, murders, infidelities, financial misdeeds, and just plain bad behavior from Colorado's past. Public respectability does not always translate into tidy private lives, and our interest in the naughty behavior of the rich and famous will never be satisfied. Former Denver Post reporter Dick Kreck takes us back through Colorado's history to show that the foibles of people rich or poor remain the same. Included are socialites such as Louise Sneed Hill, who created and ruled over Denver's "e;Sacred 36"e; circle of society; Jane Tomberlin, who met and fell in love with a "e;prince"e; in an elevator at the Brown Palace Hotel; Irene Nolan, who cavorted late into the night with her family priest; and prominent Denver clubman Courtland Dines, who was wounded during a frolic with two silent-screen stars in his Hollywood apartment.

Started by Italian brothers from North Denver, the high-profile Smaldone crime syndicate began in the bootlegging days of the 1920s and flourished into the 1980s. Connected to notorious crime figures, politicians, and presidents, Clyde Smaldone was the crime family's leader. Through candid interviews and firsthand accounts, Dick Kreck reveals the true sense of what it meant to be a Smaldone, not only the corrupt but also the virtuous. Dick Kreck retired from The Denver Post after thirty-eight years as a columnist. He is the author of four other books, including Murder at the Brown Palace. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

Overnight settlements, better known as "e;Hell on Wheels,"e; sprang up as the transcontinental railroad crossed Nebraska and Wyoming. They brought opportunity not only for legitimate business but also for gamblers, land speculators, prostitutes, and thugs. Dick Kreck tells their stories along with the heroic individuals who managed, finally, to create permanent towns in the interior West.