Gus Pelagatti

Wicked Wives is an interesting journey through a seedy crime story based on a true story of insurance fraud and murder in Southern Philadelphia in the 1930's. Assistant District Attorney and true blue good guy, Tom Rossi, investigates a suspected murder of Reggie Stoner by his wife Lillian. This brings him into the cross hairs of Mayor Bill Evans, Lillian's rich uncle, whom she has been involved in a scandalous affair with, trading sex for money and protection against prosecution. Evans battles it out with Tom using any defamatory information he can dig up, and threats against his future in the D.A.'s office to dissuade Tom from continuing with the investigation. He even goes as far as getting Tom's girlfriend fired from her job because she is of colored decent.

Tom refuses to bend to the will of the crooked members of the political system and forges ahead. The line of suspected wives keeps getting longer, and number of deaths suspected for fraudulent insurance claims steadily increases. This leads Tom to wonder how large a conspiracy he is dealing with, and who is the Lady in Black and her giant that he believes are the leaders of the whole sordid operation.

I did enjoy this book. The fact that it was based on a true story fascinated me. I couldn't believe how many men and women were engaging in sexual affairs with each other, and that most were involved in murder plots. I found it very disturbing how easy it was to insure someone, claim you were their relative to benefit from the insurance policy, and actually get away with it.

I found some of the characters quite funny, like Bertha, the neighbor who testifies against Lillian about the games of "squirrel" played in the car in front of her house. It was a little hard to believe how many women fell in love with Giorgio, even when they knew he was with so many other women, and had caught him red handed doing the deed, not to mention he was not the brightest crayon in the box. I know it was based on a true story, but either those women were really stupid, or Giorgio's charm may have been embellished.

The ending was a real twist, that I don't think you'll see coming.


I enjoyed this book more as a reference to that era, and learning about something that actually happened. Parts of it did read like a gritty crime novel, but others were jam packed with information about the gangsters, mob leaders, and how they arrived in America and the succession of people who came in and out of power.… (mer)

4 STARS

This is a well told story. Can't believe all the murders for money.
This is based on a true story it also has a suspenseful question of who was the lady dressed in black.
I had never heard of this Poison murder case of all the wives who worked together to kill their husband for insurance money, till I was contacted by Gus Pelagatti to read his book.
It is not a uplifting story. The wives are having affairs with more than one partner. Most of them had an affair with the tailor. They knew he had lots of lovers. He was even
married himself. He convinced them to kill their husbands for money. He would help them get insurance on their husbands without them knowing and they would split the money.

The story is laid out in away that showed how the proscuter figured out his cases. In fact it even showed some of court cases. Their even showed some of the outcomes some guilty and some innocent.

I enjoyed the story and could not believe the outcome.
I was given this ebook to read by the author and asked to give honest review of it when done.
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (June 20, 2011) 299 pages ISBN: 0615674364

Discription below taken off of Amazon

When I was an eight year old boy I overheard adults in my South Philadelphia neighborhood discussing 17 disenchanted and unfaithful neighborhood wives who murdered their husbands for insurance money, love and lust. This was a fascinating topic for an eight year old boy eavesdropping on adult conversation. The adults were discussing the true story of Philadelphia’s infamous 1938 murder scandals. My fascination led to obsession. I knew that I had to write about these wicked wives someday.

After I became a trial lawyer in 1964, I researched the poison murder cases in the law library and obtained newspaper accounts of the scandals dating back to October, 1938. Thereafter I conducted interviews with judges, lawyers, police, witnesses, sheriff deputies and neighbors who knew the defendants.

One of the chief conspirators was a tailor who seduced, then persuaded at least twelve wives to poison their husbands for insurance. The setting for his seductions was the couch in the rear of his tailor shop, located two blocks from our family home.

A fascinating conspiracy unfolded in these murder cases. The poison gang’s colorful and hilarious characters helped to deep-six a minimum of 20 husbands. The supporting cast includes Giorgio, “The Don Juan of Passyunk Avenue. ” Aside from scheming Lillian, “the society wife”, the wives include Rose, the “Kiss of Death Widow, ” Eva “the nymphomaniac” and the “hopelessly in love, ” Joanna.

After many comical episodes, intriguing detective work and two suspense filled high profile trials, 12 wives plead or are found guilty of murdering their husbands. Two male conspirators were executed in the electric chair.

"The Wicked Wives" gleefully explores the sins of lust and greed, and the disappointments that love often brings. The characters, although they commit murder and adultery… (mer)

Wicked Wives is based on true events that took place in Philadelphia in the 30's and 40's. Gus Pelagatti took some events that happened years ago, in the 30's and fictionalized them producing a story with two parts. One part deals with some of the stories of the characters who were desperate for money and/or an escape from their current situation. The second part is the investigation and trials of the characters involved.

This was a sometimes dry, sometimes humorous, fact based story; I could imagine that I was sitting in a lecture hall, learning the story of a group of people who took to poisoning their husbands to get insurance money. They all had slightly differing reasons, but they all had one thing in common. They were involved with a certain individual who made things happen, either supplying poison, helping to administer poison or even planning out murder in other ways. As long as he received a cut of the insurance money, this guy was happy to help. In fact, he made sure there were policies out on these hapless husbands. Each woman also seemed to have a basic lack of regard or compassion, as well as an obsession with this man - a tailor who considered himself quite the ladies' man.

The dialogue reminded me of dialogue in old black and white crime films I used to see when I was little - those films that were always on t.v. when we were supposed to be in bed, but we would sneak out to see what our mom was watching. (we always got caught, though it took her a little while to catch us). Props on the realistic dialogue that fit the time era. The attitudes the characters' displayed also fit the times - this is set way before women's liberation was came around, when women and men had double standards.

As I mentioned earlier, the narration was interesting - a mix of a report like fiction and procedural. During the story itself, it seemed that there was no mystery - Pelagatti lays everything out, the murders, the participants, the investigations and the trial. Except for the one very huge twist at the end. I was surprised - it was a good plot twist. Didn't see it coming.

Interesting to me is the fact that Pelagatti is an attorney, and grew up hearing stories of the true life crime ring he writes about. More info at his website. As a debut crime novel, not a bad job. I have a habit of giving up reading books that bore me, and this novel kept me interested, especially for a book that isn't in my normal reading interest. If it keeps my interest it's a plus for me.… (mer)

The Wicked Wives: A Novel Based on a True Story is a story set in Depression-Era Philadelphia and filled with murder, corruption, treachery, love and lust written about in vivid detail.

Giorgio DiSipio - a local tailor known as the 'Don Juan of Passyunk Avenue' - preyed upon disenchanted and unfaithful wives - eventually convincing twelve of them to kill their spouses for the insurance money. The murder conspiracy is very successful, until one lone assistant District Attorney, Tom Rossi, uncovers the plot and brings the perpetrators to justice.

All in all, seventeen wives were arrested and charged with the murders of their husbands. First among them being Lillian Stoner, who murders her husband Reggie and depends on her lover Giorgio to feed her opium habit. There was Eva Bell Fitzpatrick, a risque redhead who loves sex and gambling, and whose gambling debts lead her in to the worst kind of trouble - murder. Rose Grady was known as the 'Kiss of Death Widow' - married four times, she was thrice a widow - looking for affection and support for herself and her two young daughters, she finds both in Giorgio DiSipio. Joanna Napoli was the full-figured gift shop owner - the only 'Wicked Wife' to be 'blinded by love' - and her obsession with Giorgio leads her to do the unthinkable.

Assigned to arrest and prosecute all the conspirators including the wives for the poison murders, assistant District Attorney Tom Rossi incurs the wrath of the corrupt Deputy Mayor Bill Evans after he refuses to protect Bill Evans' niece Lillan Stoner from murder charges. The Deputy Mayor sets the political machinery in motion to get Tom Rossi disbarred, using the only ammunition he is able to find, Tom's relationship with nurse Hope Daniels. Part Negro, Hope has successfully lived her life as a white woman, but Bill Evans uses the bigotry of Philadelphia voters to derail Tom Rossi's campaign to be elected District Attorney.

To be completely honest, while I enjoyed the underlying murder mystery, and appreciated how well-researched the book was, there were so many characters involved that I had trouble keeping them all straight in my mind. The Wicked Wives: A Novel Based on a True Story by Gus Pelagatti was gritty, violent and incredibly realistic. I certainly don't recommend this book for 'faint-of-heart' or squeamish readers. I give The Wicked Wives: A Novel Based on a True Story by Gus Pelagatti an A!… (mer)