Hawkhurst: Murder, Corruption, and Britain's Most Notorious Smuggling Gang

Southeast England in the 1740s was not a pleasant place. Foreign wars, rebellion and fractious politics rattled the state and made life difficult for most. In this chaos, the old practice of smuggling reached new and dangerous heights. Violent gangs of smugglers terrorized communities and confounded government attempts to stop them.

The most famous of these gangs, the Hawkhurst Gang, operated like a modern-day drug cartel. They threatened witnesses and authorities, brandished their arms in public, and fought battles in the streets. It took a potent combination of new government powers and courageous citizens to finally end their reign.

Hawkhurst chronicles the story of the gang by taking the reader deep into the Georgian underworld. Using vivid descriptions of 18th-century life, it explores the swirling menagerie of the tattooed thugs, customs men, political extremists and corrupt politicians involved in the rise and fall of one of England's first mafias.