Nearly ten million men and women have served the United States as police officers. Only one has been executed for murder. Mike Dash is a master of atmospheric and entertaining historical narrative. In Satan's Circus he vividly opens up the world of twentieth century New York, and tells the gripping story of Charley Becker's rise and fall, and the two sensational murder trials that led to his gruesome death in the electric chair. With a cast of colourful characters, from Big Tim Sullivan, the election-rigging vice lord, to future President Theodore Roosevelt and beloved gangster Jack Zelig, Satan's Circus brings to life an almost-forgotten Gotham - a raucous, gaudy and utterly corrupt city.