Five-finger discount : a crooked family history

The night Helene Stapinski's grandfather tried to kill her entire family she was five years old.

She had been playing in the family's apartment above the Majestic Tavern in Jersey City when, in the bar downstairs, Grandpa - an ex-con and armed robber - pointed his gun and bragged he had a bullet for each of them.

But soon the cops had him in cuffs and Helene watched her Grandpa went to jail for the last time.

The Stapinski's have a knack for stirring up scandal: in 1922 Helene's great-grandfather murdered her great-grandmother; her daily bread was stolen by her father from the cold storage company where he worked; even the books on her shelves were swiped from the local bookbinding company.

Her first cousin brought the family talents into their generation, embezzling a quarter of a million dollars and tearing the clan apart.

All these stories are part of Helene's unbelievable heritage and FIVE FINGER DISCOUNT, a raucous and heartbreaking tale.