Davy the Punk

In Davy the Punk, Bob Bossin tells the story of his father's life in the gambling underworld of the 1930s and '40s. This sometimes poignant, sometimes outrageous memoir of father and son is packed with streetwise stories and troubling revelations about Canada and the United States as they were in the first half of the twentieth century.

In the 1930s, Davy Bossin was known in the underworld as "Davy the Punk." He was the "bookies' bookie," a layoff man who connected Toronto to the betting rackets in New York, Chicago, Detroit, and elsewhere. Davy's colleagues and friends were some of the top outlaws in America. A consummate storyteller, Davy often regaled his pals with tales of horse-racing, the mob, and the equally gritty underside of show business. Eagerly taking it all in was his son Bobby, who would grow up to become indie-music pioneer Bob Bossin.

By turns funny, insightful, and moving, Davy the Punk is the story of horse racing, the Great Migration, antisemitism, baseball, gambling, show biz, and most of all, fathers and sons.