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Crooks Tour of San Francisco |
…”There arose a unique criminal district that for almost seventy years was the scene of more viciousness and depravity…yet possessed more glamour than any other area of vice …on the American continent,”
- Herbert Asbury, The Barbary Coast
There is no town better for true crime than San Francisco, a city founded in large part by criminals. For over 170 years our felons have robbed, stolen, extorted, conned, pillaged, killed and sinned, with glamorous depravity.
And I know, better than anyone, where the bodies are buried. I cover crime history for the San Francisco Examiner. On these pages you’ll learn the truth about some of San Francisco’s strangest and most compelling cases, many of which have not been seen for decades. Check each week for updates!
- Herbert Asbury, The Barbary Coast
There is no town better for true crime than San Francisco, a city founded in large part by criminals. For over 170 years our felons have robbed, stolen, extorted, conned, pillaged, killed and sinned, with glamorous depravity.
And I know, better than anyone, where the bodies are buried. I cover crime history for the San Francisco Examiner. On these pages you’ll learn the truth about some of San Francisco’s strangest and most compelling cases, many of which have not been seen for decades. Check each week for updates!
Crime stories
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Crime of the Week
THE UTILITY CRIMINAL
In baseball the term utility player refers to a person who can play several positions competently, such as second base, outfield and first base . Sidney A. Long was a utility criminal. He could commit a variety of crimes under a multiplicity of names, in an assortment of places. Sidney was a walking game of clue. Instead of Col Mustard, with a knife, in the library It was Richard Lewis burgling fine jewels and fur coats from a mansion in San Francisco.” Or Darcel of India swindling a widow out of $7,000 in Florida. Or Dr. Vanderbilt cashing forged checks in Los Angeles. |
90 minute walking tours
“San Francisco was settled mostly by gamblers, prostitutes, rascals, immigrants and fortune seekers.”
-Poet Kenneth Rexroth Learn about the dark side of San Francisco from Paul Drexler, award winning crime historian and Director of Crooks Tours. Paul tells the real stories of the murderers, con artists, robbers and other brigands who have made San Francisco a place of fascination and danger. |
June story! |