Cheesebox
New York: Prentice Hall, 1974. Jacket design by Carl Koenig with photography by Jack Pitkin. First printing. Hardcover octavo black cloth boards with gilt lettering in illustrated dust jacket, 281 pp. Allied with Daily News columnist Paul S. Meskil, Gerard 'Cheesebox' Callahan recounts his life story of ingenuity in the underworld during an era of criminality when government technocrats were staking the odds. Groomed in the gashouse of Tammany Hall New York City, Callahan grew into a adolescent boxer before developing a penchant for electronics while driving ambulances to and from Roosevelt Island. He developed his namesake after his invention "The Cheesebox": simple electronics housed in a wooden perishables container which, when plugged into a house phone, could scramble any potential wiretap and make the call untraceable. A holy grail for bookies across New York City -- to whom Callahan not only sold the device, but also charged a monthly 'maintenance' fee. From there, his cons got more imaginative, and as his connections to the criminal underworld grew so did threats on his life. This copy signed by author to front free endpaper. Very good, lightly soiled pastedown pages / Good jacket, chipped and worn at spine ends and edges, vertical tear to seam of front flap with mild soiling throughout front and rear of jacket. Item #748
ISBN: 0131283979
Price: $400.00