ANN ARBOR—A 1998 book by University of Michigan lecturer Marilyn Yaquinto will be featured in a three-part documentary series on gangster films that will air on The Learning Channel (TLC). The first installment of the three-part series airs at 9 p.m. (EST) Feb. 25 and at 12 a.m. (EST) Feb. 26.

Dates for the second and third installments have not been set, but they are expected to air this spring or summer.

Like Yaquinto’s book, “Pump ‘Em Full of Lead: A Look at Gangsters on Film,” the series, called the “American Gangster,” begins with the rise of the American gangster during the first half of the 20th century and his enduring influence on American culture through Hollywood. It is directed and produced by Christopher Lent of the London-based Aimimage Ltd.

“I have read several books which seek to explore the interplay between real gangsters and the Hollywood portrayal of them. ‘Pump ‘Em Full Of Lead’ is by far the best. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in this fascinating subject,” Lent said.

According to a TLC summary of the documentary: “By the 1930s, directors and mobsters were rubbing shoulders at swanky parties. Movie stars and crime bosses copied each other in style and dress. But the influence of the Mob on American culture doesn’t stop there: gangsters and their activities changed the face of crime journalism; gave birth to the system of federal law enforcement we have today; and bankrolled the explosion of a new kind of music: jazz.”

The first episode, “The Promised Land,” captures the story of young ethnic immigrants who learned the American Dream wasn’t always fair to ethnic immigrants. “They reacted to this exclusion by creating their own paths to glory and riches through exploitation, fear and crime. The American gangster became a symbol of how the ‘have nots’ of the world could become the ‘haves,'” TLC writes in its summary.

The second episode, “The Bootleg Years,” looks at the Roaring Twenties; how prohibition divided America and delivered the nation into the hands of bootleggers; how Hollywood picked up on the gangster as loveable rogue; a guy simply trying to give the public what it wanted: namely fun. “Fun meant booze; fun meant floozies; fun meant jazz. Gangsters like Al Capone delivered all three. Movies like ‘The Public Enemy,’ ‘Little Caesar’ and ‘Scarface’ showed gangsters in a sympathetic light. Audiences lapped it up and gangsters played up to the image. But more than that, in night clubs and speak-easies gangsters and film makers rubbed shoulders. Myth and reality began to merge. The real gangster style and real gangster events crossed over into the movies. A legend was being born,” Lent said.

The third episode, “The Mod Underground,” reveals how, in the wake of the Depression and the repeal of prohibition (1933), all this changed. The main Mob action switched from Chicago to New York. Under Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, the Mob became a business corporation. Old style, larger than life maverick figures like Al Capone were out of step with the low key “new look” syndicate.

With Bugsy Siegel’s murder in Hollywood in June 1947, the classic gangster era came to an end. After that, mobsters became businessmen and gangsters retreated from the bar room to the boardroom, Lent said.

Marilyn Yaquinto is a lecturer in sports management and communication in the U-M Division of Kinesiology.

EDITORS: For more information on the book, “Pump ‘Em Full of Lead: A Look at Gangsters on Film,” visit: http://www.gangsterinc.com

—To access an earlier news release summarizing the book, visit: http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/Releases/1998/Aug98/r081398a.html Reporters interested in interviewing Yaquinto and Lent should contact them directly:

—Yaquinto can be reached at (313) 565-8995 or by e-mail at [email protected].

—Lent can be reached at (44) 171 916 8051 (until 1 p.m. EST) or (44) 171 690 4083 (after 1 p.m. EST); by cell phone at (44) 778 897 3025 or by e-mail at [email protected]

The Learning ChannelPump ‘Em Full of Lead: A Look at Gangsters on FilmDivision of Kinesiologyhttp://www.gangsterinc.comhttp://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/Releases/1998/Aug98/r081398a.html[email protected][email protected]