In 1850, Fredericka Mandelbaum arrived in New York as a penniless immigrant, but by the 1870s, she had transformed herself into a wealthy businesswoman and high-society widow. Known as “Marm” Mandelbaum, she became America’s most notorious fence, orchestrating a vast criminal empire that handled millions in stolen goods through her Lower East Side warehouse. A visionary entrepreneur, she revolutionized property crime by systemizing theft, assembling a network of skilled criminals, and bribing her way to immense power and wealth.

This was a very interesting, if dense, read! I had never heard of “Marm” Mandelbaum before, but she was a clever woman, who succeeded where few did. She was head of a large criminal empire that evaded capture for decades. It was interesting to see what led to her success and downfall.

It was disappointing, but understandable, that the majority of information about this woman came from her dealings with other people. At times, it felt like I knew more about her underlings than her. There is a lot of information contained in these pages, so at times it was hard to keep reading.

Readers interested in true crime will be interested in this one.

3 criminal stars, not rounded up.
Times were tough in New York City before the Civil War and into the Gilded Age. There were no social/ government programs to make sure one was fed, housed, and clothed. This was especially true (as now) for immigrants. Fredericka Mandelbaum turned to crime.

From the publisher: “Marm” Mandelbaum, as she was known, had become the country’s most notorious “fence”—a receiver of stolen goods—and a successful criminal mastermind. By the mid-1880s as much as $10 million worth of purloined luxury goods (the equivalent of nearly $300 million in today’s money) had passed through her modest haberdashery shop on the Lower East Side…She planned, financed, and profited from robberies of cash, gold, diamonds, and silk throughout the city and across the United States…Handpicking a cadre of New York's foremost bank robbers, housebreakers, and shoplifters, and neatly bribing anyone who stood in her way, she handled logistics and organized supply chains—turning theft into a viable, scalable business .

The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum paints a vivid image of Gilded Age New York—a city teeming with delightful rogues, capitalist power brokers, and Tammany Hall bigwigs, all of whom straddled the line between underworld enterprise and the realm of “legitimate” commerce.” What I notice is that the rogues are delightful and the bigwigs and power brokers seem to be the bad guys. There never seemed to be any moral condemnation of crime, even though it was ‘only’ property crime. The author exalted Mrs. Mandelbaum’s ‘business acumen,’ even though it was illegal.

It felt like the author was trying to stretch the material by elaborating on other crime topics and people, like when she elaborated on bank robbery methods and safes. Fox did the research, but it didn’t seem like there were many personal sources – I never felt like I was rooting for Mrs. Mandelbaum.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

gorgeously thrillery and a tale about someone who really deserves more recognition, someone who's really interesting.

I will always make time to read anything that is in any way related to the Gilded Age in America. So, of course when I saw this available on NetGalley this past summer I requested it.

Fredericka (Marm) Mandelbaum was a crime boss in NYC of German-Jewish heritage. She lead a massive group of thieves and burglars that pulled off some of the most incredible and iconic heists in American history. This chronicles her time in New York and thereafter when she fled from conviction to Canada. I knew nothing about Marm going into this, but I was vaguely aware of some of the major crimes that happened in the City in the Gilded Age. I thought that it was so cool to see, especially at this point in time, that there was a woman heading up one of the biggest (albeit criminal) operations in the country! This book was well-written and easy to follow. The prose felt a little dry sometimes, but I still found it, overall, pretty engaging!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advance copy!

How have I not heard of Fredericka “Marm” Mandelbaum before now? “The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum” tells the intriguing true story of the title character – a mother, immigrant, entrepreneur, and renowned crime boss.

Set in the 1800s, the book follows the life and rise of Mrs. Mandelbaum and her criminal empire. The book was well-research and detailed without being dry. I also found the footnotes and pictures throughout as a helpful approach to immerse the reader in the time period and setting.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you enjoy reading about true crime, history, and/or organized crime.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of this book!

I had never heard of this person previously, she sounds like a very intelligent and scrappy person, able to get herself into and out of all manner of trouble. In the mid 1800's, Frederika Mandelbaum and her husband immigrated from Germany to New York city, they left due to persecution of the Jewish people by German authorities and others. Frederika's husband was a peddler, he sold goods door to door, not always successfully and made barely enough to keep the family alive. Frederika ends up getting into 'fencing', selling stolen goods and splitting the profit with the person that came to her with the goods, from this very modest start she grew her operation into a very large and successful operation, becoming the first woman to lead an organized crime type of organization. She did this by expanding into robbing houses, stores, banks and anything else she could get a hold of, it was said she could sell anything that was given to her to sell. She also helped her own cause by paying off those that might have tried to stop her, police, local authorities, and she had a law firm on retainer. But that didn't save her in the end, she was arrested and facing a number of years in jail for fencing stolen property including silk (who knew silk was worth so much?), diamonds, jewelry and money, she was caught when a member of the police, an early type of detective, managed to get a job within her organization and that was the beginning of the end. A very interesting book, very through references (almost half the book is a list of references) and easy to read, I enjoyed. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Random House for the ARC.

I know you’re not supposed to look up to criminals, but I think Marm Mandlebaum may just be an exception.

What a fantastic, fascinating, and well-written account of one of the world’s least notorious female crime bosses. Margalit Fox does an incredible job chronicalling Mrs. Mandelbaum’s life. Her book is well researched, organized beautifully, and weaves the colorful cast of character together in a masterful manner.

Frederica Mandelbaum was a fascinating woman. Defying socio-economic, religious, and gender norms, she positioned herself as New York’s premier crime boss. Amassing a great fortune, both for herself and others, and still moving among society freely.

While the tail end of her life saw disappointment and sadness, especially in her exile, she lived many colorful years orchestrating the movement of goods, throughout New York City. Strong and resolute in her beliefs, and not afraid to punch an undercover cop in the face, she was the definition of gumption.

If you’re interested in non-fiction, history, biographies, this is an excellent choice for you!

The publisher’s “ blurb” gives the prospective reader a good summary of the book’s story of how a immigrant Jewish girl rises through , or because of poverty and class restrictions of fin de sicle New York to become and internationally known, respected and feared leader of a criminal empire.
Frededrica Mandlebaum ( married name) begins working at an early age as a street peddler, , seamstress , housemaid and other menial jobs open to recently off the boat girls. Working as a skivvy to upper middle class women, Frederick steel how easy it would be to steal from them.she also quickly learn that the real money is in fencing the stolen goods , goods from robberies she planned . She wuold plan a heist, hire the right kind of thief for the job, fence the goods and then sell them back to the victim. Right out of a crime novel- a female Moriarty.
This is a fascinating tale of a real,life Fagin, in a setting resembling Dickensian England. It is the story of a woman who made her life as queen of the underworld tha mDe her very rich, admired and feared, her influences spread across the world, giving her an attractively sinister persona.
A good book and fun to read.

The Talented Mrs Mandelbaum is a non-fiction account of Mother Mandelbaum, a notorious New York fence who sponsored bank robberies and funneled millions through her shop in the mid to late 1800s.

I was disappointed by this book because I thought it was going to be historical fiction. I think it would have been much improved by adding more of a narrative thread. It reads like a series of facts with too many characters to develop and keep track of.

Mother Mandelbaum is an intriguing figure and is worthy of study. Her life and work, which was full of so much natural drama was not captured creatively in this novel. It’s a missed opportunity to create an engrossing story. The book includes a number of pictures and images which I appreciated but they don’t make up for the bland factual recounting and excessive citations. This book was more boring than reading someone’s research paper.

Fredericka Mandelbaum may have arrived from Europe as just another immigrant, but she quickly saw and made her opportunities rising to great heights as a mastermind criminal fence. With informative historical background and footnotes, the author places “Marm” Mandelbaum in the context of 1880s society and criminal world. This is a portrait of a seemingly pious woman with unrelenting tenacity and an eye to spot criminal “talent” to execute her endeavors. The author explores fascinating facts about the rise of the consumer class, the corruption of politicians and police and how the exploits of each group played upon their opportunities. Recommended. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this title.

I had never heard of Fredericka Mandelbaum before but I am happy to say I have now. She is a hidden part of American criminal history that played a massive role in New York over several years. I was impressed with the layout of the book as it combined context while focusing on Mrs. Mandelbaum. I was invested from the first chapter and it never stopped. Fantastic for lovers of true crime and history!

I received an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A well-done true crime novel. The story was intriguing and held my interest. I found the manner in which the main character was able to rise from the gutters to become a major crime figure, despite her gender as being especially interesting. The story is sure to please the true crime fan and one I recommend reading.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a free ark in return for my honest review.

"The enemies of society must have its general. The greatest of them all was 'Mother' Mandelbaum." This quote by Frederika Mandelbaum's protégé, Sophie Lyons, clearly and distinctly tells us that this is one special woman and author Margalit Fox has done a wonderful job and gives us the story of an individual who has been lost in time.
Frederika Mandelbaum is oftentimes considered one of the first, if not the first, organized crime boss in America. Frederika was a German Jewish immigrant to America who, to put it mildly, stood out among the crowd. Standing 6 feet tall and weighing anywhere between 250 to 300 pounds, she was called "a cross between a dumpling and a mountain." But there was so much more to her than meets the eye, and her life is explored in great detail in this wonderful book. We learn not just about Frederika, but about crime in general in the mid to late 19th century America, her associates in crime, and the elaborate details that she used to help facilitate crimes throughout the entire country. You see, she was not the person committing the crime, instead she was really a "fence." A crime occurs, properties stolen, and what do the criminals do but take the ill-gotten gains to Frederika who would intern pay them a percentage of their actual value, and then turn around and sell those items at discount prices to normal citizens, not involved with the criminal enterprise. As I read this book, I was just stunned at all the silk, diamonds, needles, threads, engravings government securities, and bonds that came through her hands. She converted a house into a store and dormitory for her criminal friends. She had warehouses filled with stolen items throughout New York. She regularly had the police and elected officials paid to turn a blind eye to her activities, and her dinner parties were the things of legend. Everyone wanted to be there. It didn't matter if you were a criminal or a non-criminal, entrance to her dinner party was entrance into a wonderful world of festivities. There are stories stories about her helping finance bank robberies, and she even owned warehouses that criminals used to build full scale replicas of banks and where they would practice the break-in day after day, in the dark, until they could move effortlessly throughout the bank once the actual robbery took place. She used and developed many of the same principles that efficiency experts and Robber Barons would use to control the marketplace. People glorified those individuals, but vilified someone who use those same ideas in the field of criminal enterprise. She came along at a time when the Civil War had just ended, when corruption was still commonplace, and when people had turned a blind eye to property crimes. Up until the 1880s many of the politicians were Blue Bloods and really could care less about those type of crimes, but as times changed, and the politicians became members of the bourgeois, working class, a much greater effort was made to halt these crimes, which was actually taking money from the pockets of the politicians! It was an open secret that Mrs. Mandelbaum was a fence and involved in criminal activities, but nobody seemed to be able to stop her due to the "Bureau for the Prevention of Conviction." She also employed two of the most corrupt and yet astute attorneys in New York, who were also the authosr of a book called "Danger," which was supposed to be a guide for visitors to New York and how they could avoid getting into danger, but really was a guide for the criminals and how to commit crimes!
Just a wonderful book, by a great author that is a fast read and filled with remarkable characters who become indelibly etched in your mind. This was a great effort and definitely worthy of five stars!*****

The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss

by Margalit Fox
(This review is from an ARC sent to me by NetGalley)


Fredericka Mandelbaum was the queen of the New York underworld in the 1860s and ’70s—A big lady (upward of 250 pounds) who wore silk dresses and lavish jewelry, this German-Jewish immigrant and mother of four ran a nationwide fencing empire from a phony storefront in the Lower East Side neighborhood then known as “Kleindeutschland” (or Little Germany).

Mrs. Mandelbaum was a career criminal who engaged “underlings” to commit crimes for her benefit. She was rarely arrested.
Drawing partly on Rona Holub’s biographical research, Margalit Fox sets Mandelbaum’s life in the larger context of nineteenth-century crime.
“The times Mrs. Mandelbaum operated were on her side, the middle class was growing, there was excessive political graft, endemic police corruption, banks and paper money”
The majority of crime bosses were men so what allowed Mrs. Mandelbaum to become so successful?
Mrs. Mandelbaum was expected to work outside the home to support her scholarly husband.
German Jewish wives in particular were famously entrepreneurial. She was sponsoring bank heists and eventually she was entrapped and arrested for trading in stolen silk, Mandelbaum jumped bail and escaped to Canada.
The author shows how Mandelbaum “was marginalized three times over: immigrant, woman and Jew,”
This is a fascinating biography of a woman in the underworld in the 1860s and 70s.

I would rate this book 3 1/2 out of five stars.

I have heard and read about many criminals but i had never heard about Fredericka Mandelbaum. An immigrant who came to New York city in the 1850's. During her time there were other criminals and or fences, but none could compare to Mrs. Mandelbaum on the scale that she handled business. She literally bought anything including one time buying a flock of sheep. She was considered to be New York City's first female crime boss. But she was also known as a self-made entrepreneur, a generous Philanthropist and a mentor to criminals. She had to be an imposing as according to the author she was a six-foot tall 250 to 300 lb. lady. Not only was she a buyer but she would plan, pick the people who a specialist in that particular criminal act and pay for the criminal event. And this lady new how to create a loyal group of people. As large as her reputation was there no way that many in law enforcement and criminal justice could not know what she was up to but with a little money they all looked the other way. One of the ways she stayed out of trouble was having two crooked lawyers on retainer who would literally use any means to win a case. It is humorous to read how she was known for throwing lavish dinners where she may twenty guest with a mix from criminals and various members of law enforcement who would very cordial dinners even though they knew whom each other were. Just a note this book is listed at over 300 pages but that is only if you read all of the footnotes and there are many at the end of the book.

An absolutely fascinating story about a mother, wife, society hostess, and extremely beloved [this is shown over and over later on in her life] member of her community, WHO just happened to be one of New York's biggest crime bosses in her time [1870's] and who, over her time in crime amassed a fortune of nearly $300 million dollars [in today's money]. It was just so mind-boggling to process all of that; thankfully, the book is engaging and you are swept up in this world and I found myself wishing for just a little bit more by the end.

Expertly researched and filled with interesting notes, this is a must read for anyone who has an interest in mob lives/stories and true crime.

Well done!

Thank you to NetGalley, Margalit Fox, and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF. This is a meticulously written book that proves women can be just as devious and criminally enterprising as men. Mrs. Mandelbaum is greedy and smart - a dangerous combination.

I got about 1/3 of the way in before I stopped reading. The book was well-written and took many tangeants into crime and American Victorian society. I simply found that I couldn't get into it. This is definitely a case of "It's me, not you."

I would encourage true crime lovers - especially those who are interested in the 19th century to sample this book. I'm sure many will find it interesting.

Thanks Netgalley for the advanced read.

I’ve never heard of Fredericka Mandelbaum before reading this book.
She definitely had a flair for making money under the table and gave other crime syndicates a run for their money.
The facet of the book I appreciated was the conversion of 19th century money to its modern equivalent. I find it very helpful and it puts things in perspective.
I was surprised at how brief the book was but it’s a good introduction for anyone wanting to read more on the topic.

Princess Fuzzypants here: In the midst of the Gilded Age New York City, there was a crime boss the likes of which was unique and so far, never to be repeated. Marm Mandelbaum was a German immigrant, a woman and Jewish. The author makes a good case that those three attributes, in fact, were instrumental in making her the roaring success she was. But at the time, any one of those was enough to face almost unsurmountable odds. With intelligence, careful planning, and superb organizational skills, she built up a fencing empire that, for a while, made her untouchable. She was known for fair dealing with her associates- an honest crook.

Her story is fascinating but like so many criminal masterminds, times changed and she became a victim of her own success. She was brought down by a sting operation but never was convicted. When things looked bleakest, she escaped to Canada. She had done her research and knew the quirks in the laws that would allow her to live free. It was not the life she wanted and it brought its own set of heartbreaks but she died a free woman.

The book is written with a certain affection for the subject and the reader cannot help but like the woman too. The saddest part though is that had she tried to use her natural gifts in a legal way, the three attributes that made her, would have prevented her from attaining anything. Five purrs and two paws up.

Thiis was a wonderful book to read. I didn't know anything about the lady, but I can say I do now. Read this one and reap.