The Criminal World. Essays from the World of Professional Criminals

The book thoroughly explores the methods of professional criminals: from pickpockets (‘marvikhers’) and burglars (‘skokareys’) to fraudsters and horse thieves. The author reveals thieving ‘professions’, their jargon, techniques, and even a peculiar ‘ethics’. Special attention is given to legendary figures... such as Sonya Golden Hand, whose scams have entered criminal folklore.
Grigory Naumovich Breytman (1873–1949) was a writer and journalist who published under the pseudonym Gr. Nevolin. He was the publisher and editor of the Kyiv newspaper ‘Last News’. He showed a keen interest in criminal topics: studied the criminal world, thieving jargon, ‘blat’ music, and wrote criminal stories. In 1919, he emigrated to Germany, where from 1921 to 1924, he edited the Berlin newspaper ‘Time’. From 1925, he lived in the USA: worked for the New York newspaper ‘Russian Voice’, and from 1930, he was the editor of the Chicago newspaper ‘Dawn’.