Like many other Americans, Ron Arons was looking to research his family tree a few years ago.

His quest for family knowledge took an unexpected turn when he discovered an ancestor once spent time behind bars at Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

He spent more than a decade researching his family's genealogy and his great-grandfather, Isaac Spier, who was the son of a rabbi and who spent a four-year prison sentence after marrying two women at the same time.

The revelation that Spier, who died in 1947, was among Jewish inmates at Sing Sing led to other questions and more research.

His book, "The Jews of Sing Sing," published recently by Barricade Books, is a result.

In it, he looks at the curious story of a "gonif," the Yiddish word for a "shady character" or "lawbreaker."

At a peak in the 1920s, about 1,200 Jews were locked up on the stony bluffs overlooking the Hudson River, Arons said.

His book looks at the white-collar criminals, street thugs, grifters and organized-crime chieftains who filled the prison's Jewish ranks.

Since taking his book on the road at a number of readings and book-signings, Arons said, he has gotten into spirited conversations with other people who have coped with family secrets much like his.

"Invariably, there are people who have had the same experience," he said. "People are really interested. It attracts a crowd."

The author has scheduled appearances in Ossining and New York City this month.

Arons, a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area in California who previously worked in the marketing and computer fields, said he had not set out to glamorize the criminals on the pages of his book.

The goal, he said, was to set the record straight and to further a conversation about the Jewish experience in its many forms.

It's a story, he said, he knows inside and out.

Reach Robert Marchant at rmarchan@lohud.com or 914-666-6578.