![]() With further murders witnessed, Billy is more and more implicated. The pair spend some time together and, inevitably, Billy falls for her. Drew Preston, former girlfriend of Bo Weinberg and now of Schultz, is concealed as Billy’s governess. Schultz is on trial in upstate New York, so the gang adjourns to try (successfully) to influence the people there in Schultz’s favour. ![]() When Drew Preston arrives on the scene, things start to change. The tarnish, however, starts to wear off, when Billy sees Schultz’s gratuitous murder of a fire inspector. Billy particularly looks up to Schultz whom he sees as a man fighting a heroic fight against a despotic government. Billy’s father had long since left the family home, so Schultz and his accountant/right-hand man, Otto Berman, become surrogate fathers to Billy, though both in their different ways. Schultz sees Billy juggling and is impressed. In the flashback, we meet him as a fifteen-year street kid in the Bronx. ![]() The story is seen through the eyes of Billy Bathgate. This novel is about the really flawed US gangster, Dutch Schultz. Perhaps it is the idea of the flawed hero, fighting against society. ![]() I must confess to a certain weakness for US gangster books and films. ![]()
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