Ryans of Red Hook, a historical novel of 81,000 words, opens in 1921 and ends during the Great Depression when Prohibition is repealed. Liam and Packy Ryan associate with politicians, police, bootleggers, mobsters and show biz types when the fledgling Cosa Nostra resolves to eliminate all Irish gangs in New York. In the Roaring -- often lawless -- Twenties, Liam Ryan, seeking a better life than that of a dock worker, hijacks a shipment of bootleg whiskey off the Brooklyn docks, stealing it from the wrong people. When the mob and prohibition agents come after him, he solicits help from his cousin Packy Ryan, speakeasy owner and numbers game operator, to solve his dilemma.. We follow the adventures of Liam as he gets appointed to the NYPD and Packy as he associates with the famous Brooklyn gangster, Charles "Vannie" Higgins, to expand his speakeasy from one to several more.