For much of the 20th century, Reading, Pennsylvania earned the moniker “Sin City” for its entrenched rackets in gambling, prostitution, and organized vice. Among the city’s most enduring underworld families were the Damianos — a clan whose influence extended across three generations, from [...]

In the fall of 1962, attention in Reading’s underworld drifted away from Abe Minker and the city’s familiar vice rackets to a quieter figure with powerful connections: Frank Donato. Though Reading was Minker’s turf, Donato had enough pull to run a numbers operation [...]