Capone's Cornfields: The Mob in the Illinois Valley

Residents of small towns in New England like to say "George Washington slept here," while citizens of the Illinois Valley like to say "Al Capone slept here."

As you can see, things are different in the Land of Lincoln.

Scarface might or might not have laid his head to rest in the Illinois Valley - a region 70 miles southwest of Chicago - but there is evidence that lesser hoods slept there - sometimes for eternity.

Capone's Cornfields covers the rackets and racketeers of the Illinois Valley from the horse-and-buggy era to the Internet age. You'll read about bona fide pinstripe-clad Mafiosi such as Capone, Paul "The Waiter" Ricca and "Mad" Sam De Stefano. However, lesser known and less noxious viceroys of vice also appear in its pages.

In Capone's Cornfields, you'll be taken for a ride, but unlike some of the mobsters about which you'll read, you'll return safely.