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Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts
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Ladies and gentlemen, meet Attila Ambrus, the Robin Hood of Eastern Europe. He's the one-time pelt smuggler, professional hockey goalie (possibly the worst in the sport's history), pen salesman, Zamboni driver, gravedigger, church painter, roulette addict, building superintendent, whiskey drinker, and native of Transylvania who's decided that the best thing to do with his time is to rob as many banks as possible.
His rival: Lajos Varjú, the Inspector Clouseau of the Iron Curtain, whose knowledge of police work comes from Hungarian-dubbed episodes of Columbo. His deputy is nicknamed "Mound of Asshead" because of his propensity for crashing police cars. His forensics expert, known as "Dance Instructor" for his lucrative side career teaching ballet, wears a top hat and tails on the job.
Welcome to Julian Rubinstein's uproariously funny and unforgettable account of crime in the heart of the new Europe. With a supporting cast that includes car wash owners, exotic dancers, drunk army generals, cocaine-snorting Hungarian rappers, the Johnnie Cochran of Budapest, and a hockey team that seems to spend as much time breaking the law as it does practicing, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber gives us the most charming outlaw-hero since the Sundance Kid—and the Sundance Kid didn't play hockey.
As the Eastern bloc slips off its communist skin and replaces it with leopard-skin hot pants, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber is here to screw in the pink lightbulbs. Part Unbearable Lightness of Being, part Pink Panther, and part Slap Shot, Julian Rubinstein's tale is a spectacular literary debut—and a story so outrageous that it could only be true.
His rival: Lajos Varjú, the Inspector Clouseau of the Iron Curtain, whose knowledge of police work comes from Hungarian-dubbed episodes of Columbo. His deputy is nicknamed "Mound of Asshead" because of his propensity for crashing police cars. His forensics expert, known as "Dance Instructor" for his lucrative side career teaching ballet, wears a top hat and tails on the job.
Welcome to Julian Rubinstein's uproariously funny and unforgettable account of crime in the heart of the new Europe. With a supporting cast that includes car wash owners, exotic dancers, drunk army generals, cocaine-snorting Hungarian rappers, the Johnnie Cochran of Budapest, and a hockey team that seems to spend as much time breaking the law as it does practicing, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber gives us the most charming outlaw-hero since the Sundance Kid—and the Sundance Kid didn't play hockey.
As the Eastern bloc slips off its communist skin and replaces it with leopard-skin hot pants, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber is here to screw in the pink lightbulbs. Part Unbearable Lightness of Being, part Pink Panther, and part Slap Shot, Julian Rubinstein's tale is a spectacular literary debut—and a story so outrageous that it could only be true.
352 pages, Paperback
First published September 16,2004
This edition
- Format
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352 pages, Paperback
- Published
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September 13, 2005 by Back Bay Books
- ISBN
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9780316010733
- ASIN
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0316010731
- Language
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English
About the author
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Julian Rubinstein is an Emmy and IRE award-winning journalist, author, documentary filmmaker and educator.
His new nonfiction book is The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun, and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood, published by FSG in 2021. It was the winner of the 2022 Colorado Book Award, the 2022 High Plains Book Award and a New York Times Editors' Choice. Booklist, which named it to its Best Books of 2021, called it "a shattering piece of investigative journalism involving street gangs, race relations and law enforcement."
Julian directed and produced an Emmy-award winning documentary over the eight years he reported the book, also called, THE HOLLY. It is the winner of the 2025 Emmy for Outstanding Regional Documentary and the 2023 IRE Award for Best Investigative Documentary. It is streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple Plus and Tubi. For more see, the hollyfilm.com
Julian's first non-fiction book, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber, was called “an instant classic” by Canada's Globe and Mail. It was a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award and a New York Times “Editors' Choice.” See: www.whiskeyrobber.com for more.
Julian's longform magazine work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Travel + Leisure and others. His journalism has been collected in numerous anthologies, including Best American Essays, Best American Crime Writing, Best American Science and Nature Writing and twice in Best American Sports Writing.
He lives in Denver.
His new nonfiction book is The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun, and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood, published by FSG in 2021. It was the winner of the 2022 Colorado Book Award, the 2022 High Plains Book Award and a New York Times Editors' Choice. Booklist, which named it to its Best Books of 2021, called it "a shattering piece of investigative journalism involving street gangs, race relations and law enforcement."
Julian directed and produced an Emmy-award winning documentary over the eight years he reported the book, also called, THE HOLLY. It is the winner of the 2025 Emmy for Outstanding Regional Documentary and the 2023 IRE Award for Best Investigative Documentary. It is streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple Plus and Tubi. For more see, the hollyfilm.com
Julian's first non-fiction book, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber, was called “an instant classic” by Canada's Globe and Mail. It was a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award and a New York Times “Editors' Choice.” See: www.whiskeyrobber.com for more.
Julian's longform magazine work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Travel + Leisure and others. His journalism has been collected in numerous anthologies, including Best American Essays, Best American Crime Writing, Best American Science and Nature Writing and twice in Best American Sports Writing.
He lives in Denver.
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