The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and

The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights

A daring investigation into the mysterious death of Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston, set against the dawn of the 1970s, when the mob was fighting to keep control of the Las Vegas Strip, Richard Nixon was launching America's first war on heroin, and boxing was in its glory days.

On January 5, 1971, Sonny Liston was found dead in his homeâ€”of an apparent heroin overdose. But no one close to Liston believed that his death was acciÂdental. Digging deep into a life that Liston tried hard to hide, investigative journalist Shaun Assael treats the boxerâ€™s death as a cold case. The result is a page-turning whoÂdunit that evokes a glorious and grimy era of Las Vegas.
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Elvis Presley was playing two shows a night at the International. Howard Hughes was running his empire from the penthouse suite of the Desert Inn. And middle America was flocking to the Strip, transforming it from an exclusive playground for the mob to a mecca for corporate dollars. But the city was also rotting from within. Heroin was pouring over the border from Mexico, and the segregated Westside was on the cusp of a race war. The cops, brutally violent, were barely holding it together.
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Driving through town with the top of his pink Cadillac down, Sonny Liston was the one celebrity who was unafraid to bridge the two sides of Las Vegas. Cashing in on his fading notoriety in the casinos, he was dealing drugs, working for a crime syndicate, and trying to break into Hollywoodâ€”all with a boxerâ€™s faith that he could duck any threat, slip any punch. Heroin addiction was the only knockout blow he didnâ€™t see coming.
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The Murder of Sonny Liston takes a fresh look at the legendary boxer, the town he called home, and one of Americaâ€™s most enduring mysteries.
Country USA
Manufacturer Blue Rider Press
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2016-10-18
EANs 9780399169755

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Blue Rider Press
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2016-10-18
EANs	9780399169755

The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights

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