A brief history of the Black Hand and Mafia in Colorado and the connection of western mobsters to crime members in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Highlights leaders including Roma, Colletti, and the Smaldones and examines the court case of "Scotty" Spinuzzi who was acquitted of murder.

This book represents a cross section of prison life as it was lived during the turbulent 1960s and early 1970s. It is an abstract of Patterson's thirty years of experience in a variety of correctional institutions in Colorado