When you write up a family story the hardest part is to isolate a moment. It's a temptation to spend all your time setting the stage, explaining the context, getting all wrapped up in the fascinating (to you) details. My great uncle Moses Flanagan was a gangster. There are so many stories I might weave around my grandmother's kid brother, but I decided that the police report said a lot just as it is.

Families collide with history.