{{short description|American journalist (1922–1999)}} {{infobox writer |name=Hank Messick |birth_name=Henry Hicks Messick |birth_date={{birth date|1922|8|14}} |birth_place=Happy Valley, North Carolina, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|1999|11|6|1922|8|14}} |occupation={{flatlist| *Investigative journalist *author }} |alma_mater=University of Iowa }} '''Henry "Hank" Hicks Messick''' (August 14, 1922 – November 6, 1999) was an American investigative journalist and author, specializing in writing about organized crime. He was best known for his biography of Meyer Lansky.
==Bibliography== Messick was born in Happy Valley, North Carolina. He received a master's degree from the University of Iowa. He started his journalism career working at several newspapers in North Carolina. From 1957 to 1963 he worked at the ''Louisville Courier-Journal'' where he reported on the extensive illegal gambling activities in Newport, Kentucky. From 1963 to 1966 he worked at the ''Miami Herald'', where he investigated police corruption. He briefly worked for the ''Boston Traveler'' in 1967, but was fired after investigating the business activities of Joseph Linsey, one of the newspapers' shareholders and a former associate of mobster Charles "King" Solomon. He then worked full-time as an author, writing 19 books. He mostly wrote about organized crime in places outside New York City and Chicago, such as Kentucky, Florida, Bahamas, Cleveland and Hollywood.<ref>''[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/20/arts/hank-messick-journalist-and-author-on-organized-crime.html Hank Messick, Journalist And Author on Organized Crime]''. The New York Times, November 20, 1999</ref><ref>''[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-nov-15-mn-33888-story.html Obituaries: Hank Messick].'' Los Angeles Times, November 15, 1999</ref><ref>''[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/05/20/the-mob-chaser-as-country-boy/0f94b6c1-afba-4e74-93c3-e0f5c8655ba6/ The Mob-Chaser As Country Boy].'' The Washington Post, May 20, 1978</ref>
He died at his home on 6 November 1999 aged 77 after a long battle with Sjogren's syndrome. He was survived by his wife Faye and three children.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harney |first1=John |title=Hank Messick, Journalist And Author on Organized Crime |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/20/arts/hank-messick-journalist-and-author-on-organized-crime.html |work=The New York Times |date=20 November 1999}}</ref>
==Bibliography==
*1967 [https://the-eye.eu/public/concen.org/Miscellanea_Judaica_%2309/MESSICK%28Hank%29-The_Silent_Syndicate_%281967%29.pdf ''The Silent Syndicate''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828162853/https://the-eye.eu/public/concen.org/Miscellanea_Judaica_%2309/MESSICK(Hank)-The_Silent_Syndicate_(1967).pdf |date=2021-08-28 }} *1968 ''[https://archive.org/details/syndicateinsun0000mess Syndicate in the Sun]'' *1968 ''Syndicate Wife: The Story of Ann Drahmann Coppola'' *1969 ''[https://archive.org/details/bwb_C0-ATI-088 Syndicate Abroad]'' *1969 ''Secret File'' *1971 ''[https://archive.org/details/lansky__00mess/page/n5/mode/2up Lansky]'' *1972 ''[https://archive.org/details/johnedgarhoover0000unse John Edgar Hoover: An Inquiry into the Life and Times of John Edgar Hoover and His Relationship to the Continuing Partnership of Crime, Business, and Politics]'' *1972 ''[https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-EAL-396 The Mobs and the Mafia: The Illustrated History of Organized Crime]'' (with Burt Goldblatt) *1973 ''[https://archive.org/details/privatelivesofpu0000unse_n0u5 The Private Lives of Public Enemies]'' (with Joseph L. Nellis) *1974 ''[https://archive.org/details/beautiesbeastsmo0000mess The Beauties and the Beasts: The Mob in Show Business]'' *1974 ''[https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-ART-999 Gangs and Gangsters: The Illustrated History of Gangs from Jesse James to Murph the Surf]'' (with Burt Goldblatt) *1975 ''Barboza'' (written with Joseph Barboza) *1974 ''Kidnapping: The Illustrated History from Its Origins to the Present'' (with Burt Goldblatt) *1976 ''[https://archive.org/details/onlygameintownil00mess The Only Game in Town: An Illustrated History of Gambling]'' (with Burt Goldblatt) *1976 ''[https://archive.org/details/kingsmountain0000unse King's Mountain: The Epic of the Blue Ridge Mountain Men in the American Revolution]'' *1978 ''[https://archive.org/details/politicsofprosec0000mess_o9y5 The Politics of Prosecution: Jim Thompson, Marie Everett, Richard Nixon, and the Trial of Otto Kerner]'' *1979 ''[https://archive.org/details/ofgrasssnowsecre0000mess Of Grass and Snow: The Secret Criminal Elite]'' *1987 ''[https://archive.org/details/desertsanctuary00mess Desert Sanctuary]'' *1995 ''Razzle Dazzle''
==References== {{Reflist}} * May, Allan. ''[http://www.americanmafia.com/Allan_May_12-27-99.html Sterling, Roemer and Messick: A Sad Farewell]''. AmericanMafia.com.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Messick, Hank}} Category:American investigative journalists Category:20th-century American male journalists Category:20th-century people from North Carolina Category:Organized crime memoirists Category:Non-fiction writers about organized crime in the United States Category:1922 births Category:1999 deaths Category:University of Iowa alumni Category:Writers from North Carolina