Notorious Memphis Gangster Diggs Nolen - Paperback

by Patrick O'Daniel (Author)

The Memphis Underworld King

Diggs Nolen's name was the byword for crime in 1920s Memphis. As a child, he dreamed of becoming a swashbuckling outlaw. He turned his back on a promising career, his family and consorted with the worst elements of society. Under the tutelage of train robber Frank Holloway, Nolen became a notorious con artist. Later, he and his gun-slinging wife built an empire out of selling narcotics and trafficking stolen goods. Law enforcement caught Nolen, but they could not hold him. Nolen escaped from Leavenworth Prison, led the largest jailbreak in Memphis history and confounded prosecutors with legal wranglings. Author Patrick O'Daniel details Nolen's quixotic quest for criminal fame that earned him the title King of the Memphis Underworld.

Author Biography

Patrick O'Daniel is the executive director of Library Services for Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis, Tennessee. He has a master's degree in history from the University of Memphis and a master's degree in library/information sciences from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is the author of Crusaders, Gangsters, and Whiskey: Prohibition in Memphis (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2018), When the Levee Breaks: Memphis and the Mississippi Valley Flood of 1927 (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013) and Memphis and the Superflood of 1937 (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2010) and coauthor of Historic Photos of Memphis (Nashville, TN: Turner, 2006) with Gina Cordell.