# Hank Messick
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{{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](/source/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](/source/University_of_Iowa)
}}
'''Henry "Hank" Hicks Messick''' (August 14, 1922 – November 6, 1999) was an American [investigative journalist](/source/Investigative_journalism) and author, specializing in writing about [organized crime](/source/organized_crime). He was best known for his biography of [Meyer Lansky](/source/Meyer_Lansky).
==Bibliography==
Messick was born in Happy Valley, [North Carolina](/source/North_Carolina). He received a master's degree from the [University of Iowa](/source/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](/source/Louisville_Courier-Journal)'' where he reported on the extensive illegal gambling activities in [Newport, Kentucky](/source/Newport%2C_Kentucky). From 1963 to 1966 he worked at the ''[Miami Herald](/source/Miami_Herald)'', where he investigated [police corruption](/source/police_corruption). He briefly worked for the ''[Boston Traveler](/source/Boston_Evening_Traveller)'' in 1967, but was fired after investigating the business activities of [Joseph Linsey](/source/Joseph_Linsey), one of the newspapers' shareholders and a former associate of mobster [Charles "King" Solomon](/source/Charles_Solomon_(racketeer)). He then worked full-time as an author, writing 19 books. He mostly wrote about organized crime in places outside [New York City](/source/New_York_City%2C_New_York) and [Chicago](/source/Chicago%2C_Illinois), such as [Kentucky](/source/Kentucky), [Florida](/source/Florida), [Bahamas](/source/Bahamas), [Cleveland](/source/Cleveland%2C_Ohio) and Hollywood.[''[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][''[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-nov-15-mn-33888-story.html Obituaries: Hank Messick].'' Los Angeles Times, November 15, 1999][''[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]
He died at his home on 6 November 1999 aged 77 after a long battle with [Sjogren's syndrome](/source/Sjogren's_syndrome). He was survived by his wife Faye and three children.[{{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}}]
==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](/source/Burt_Goldblatt))
*1973 ''[https://archive.org/details/privatelivesofpu0000unse_n0u5 The Private Lives of Public Enemies]'' (with [Joseph L. Nellis](/source/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](/source/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.
{{authority control}}
{{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
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hank Messick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Messick) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Messick?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.