A riot at a Rolling Stones concert opens this compelling story of a year-long confrontation in 1972 between the Vancouver police and the Clark Park gang, a band of unruly characters who ruled the city’s east side. Corrupt cops, hapless criminals, and murder figure in this raucous history with contemporary overtones that questions which gang was tougher: the petty criminals, or the police themselves.

Aaron Chapman is a writer, historian, and musician and the author of two Vancouver nightclub histories, Live at the Commodore and Liquor, Lust, and the Law.