Gangsters, Harlots & Thieves: Down and Out at the Hotel Clifton Todd Moore was born and raised in Freeport Illinois and spent 40+ years having written over a hundred books of poetry and prose published in the small press community. He was also a co-founder of the literary movement known as "Outlaw Poetry" with fellow writer Tony Moffeit. His reputation was established writing and publishing numerous books about outlaw John Dillinger from 1978 until his death in 2010. His body of work in this area numbers five thousand plus pages in length. Gangsters, Harlots & Thieves... paints a bigger than life picture of what it was like growing up in and around the seedy environs of the infamous Hotel Clifton in Freeport Illinois back in the '40's and and '50's when America was a dark, bare knuckled, mean machine tired of being broke & kicked around, finding it's way after coming out of a crippling depression. There are three aspects of this book that fascinate me. The first part paints a stark portrait of the true life adventures he had living amongst the many shady characters that hung out there gambling, scoring dope and hooking for johns as well as the crooked cops on the take and the drunks and derelicts that had nowhere else to go. The second part of this book is an exploration into what sparked my father's literary passion as a kid and takes a look at how he was inundated with and came to embrace outlaw culture. The final aspect of this book is an examination of my dad's relationship with his father who was a former railroad man, firefighter, failed novelist, professional alcoholic and all 'round tough guy who at one time did a little work for Capone himself. This book tells all of these stories and so much more. These are my father's stories and recollections told with his voice through autobiographical writing, poetry & essays that allows Gangster, Harlots and Thieves... to connect with you immediately whether you're a fan of Todd Moore or writers like Dashiell Hammet and Jim Thompson or movies like "White Heat" and "Sin City." I wrote Gangsters, Harlots & Thieves: Down and Out at the Hotel Clifton to honor my father, his literary legacy and the contributions he made to the overall world of poetry and the small press. Please enjoy! -- Editor Theron Moore