Robert Walsh is a freelance writer based in the UK. His interests include writing articles and short stories for publication, the study of true crime and criminals, and he has a particular interest in gangsters, organized crime and capital punishment. He can be contacted via his email address: plymouth pilgrim @ hotmail.co.uk.

Robert Walsh

Dartmoor: The Prison That Broke the Body and then the Soul

May 16, 2010

Dartmoor Prison

Opened in 1809 to hold French soldiers captured during the Napoleonic Wars, Dartmoor Prison became Great Britain’s version of Devil’s Island for the most hardened of British convicts.
by Robert Walsh

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Doing the "Half Moon Hop"

June 01, 2008

Albert Anastasia (l) and Abe "Kid Twist" Reles (r)

by Robert Walsh

It's a cold and dark night on November 12, 1941. Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, once a senior member of Murder Inc. and now one of the most important canaries in American history, is preparing a makeshift ladder that will help him climb from the sixth floor of the Half Moon Hotel on Coney Island, N.Y., where he is being held in protective custody to turn state's evidence against that most vicious and notorious of New York's mobsters, Albert "Lord High Executioner" Anastasia.

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Master Hangmen

October 26, 2008

Entrance to HM Prison Manchester (Strangeways) where, in a special execution room, Albert Pierrepoint carried out the famous "quickest hanging" in 7 seconds. (photo credit: Stemonitis)

by Robert Walsh