Bootlegger story

The “Secret Life, Secret Death” film/book project is a true crime story of a young mother who fell into Gangland Chicago in the Roaring ‘20s and then ran a shady hotel in Wisconsin during the Depression. The award-winning project is unusual in that it not only depicts gangsters in an unglamorized way, but also tells the story of what happened to a female in crime in the Chicago Mob and in Wisconsin. It is a combination of documentary images, historic photos and reenactments with actors, who often magically slip into the historic photos.

The project explores the Wisconsin/Chicago Bootlegger Era crime connection. The book contains many stories and photos the author collected of bootlegging in Wisconsin. The movie was produced entirely in Wisconsin, with Wisconsin actors, antique trains, vintage cars and period costumes.
Davis, who produced and directed the film and wrote the book, narrates the 10-year search for the truth about her paternal grandmother’s secret life and death. The book has more than 150 vintage photographs