I saw that, Lilo. I was especially disappointed because just a few years ago, Eig wrote a wonderful book about Lou Gehrig called "Luckiest Man." It was great.

As TB put so well, Eig's style is "flippant and breezy." But that didn't bother me as much as some of the silly conclusions that he jumped to.

If you can get it from your library, it's still worth checking out because it has some great photos that I had never seen before. But it's certainly not worth buying.

Are you going to read this, De Niro? If so, we'd appreciate a review.

And, PB: how was the Lepke book?

I think i will be buying it TB and i'll let you know how is was..

Brought the following books..

We Only Kill Each Other-The life and times of Bugsy Siegal



Bugsy Book on Amazon

Last Testament of Lucky Luciano by Martin A. Gosch and Richard Hammer

Lucky Book on amazon

Look forward to your impression of the Lucky Luciano book.

I will..

For anyone interested in pre-mafia NY gangsters, there's a book about the first big celebrity gangster Monk Eastman coming out in October.

http://www.amazon.com/Monk-Eastman-Gangs...4180&sr=1-1

Thanks for that, ive put this on my Amazon wishlist..

Another one for the list

Just been given I HEARD YOU PAINT HOUSES by Charles Brandt. Quite looking forward to reading this one!

Not a book, but an EXCELLENT magazine article on Henry Hill in this month's British edition of GQ Magazine (September 2010). I accidentally found it at a Barnes and Noble in Manhattan, but I can't find an online link.

I'm not sure if you'll be able to find it in other areas of the U.S., but if you happen to live in the U.K. or in the New York City area, it's a must read with some great pics.

Here's the cover:

I have it already. Never mind Henry Hill, i just wanted to look at the lovely Christina Hendricks, saucy sexpot that she is

I just picked up the new Luciano bio at my local library. I've only read the first three chapters, but so far so good.

"Lucky Luciano: The Real and the Fake Gangster," by Tim Newark.


Here's the synopsis from the publisher:

For the first 25 years of his criminal career, Lucky Luciano was a vicious mobster who rose to become the multi-millionaire king of the New York underworld. For the next 25 years of his life, Luciano was a legend—but a fake master criminal without real power, his evil reputation manipulated and maintained by the government agents who had put him behind bars. That is the astonishing conspiracy revealed in Tim Newark’s myth-busting book.

Drawing on secret government documents from archives in America and Europe, Newark tells the real story of the legendary gangster from his early days as a top hit man for the mob to his exploits running sex and narcotics empires. Newark reveals for the first time, Luciano’s transatlantic trip to Nazi Germany to set up a drugs importing racket. Then comes prison for Luciano—but his reputation is only enhanced when it is claimed that he is winning World War Two for the Allies with secret help during fighting in Sicily and the Mediterranean. Through painstaking research, Newark exposes the truth about what Luciano really did do to help the Allies in the war.

With his expulsion from the USA, Luciano returned to Italy where he became the arch villain for international law enforcement agencies. He was reputed to head a massive transatlantic narcotics network, but Newark reveals how Luciano was being used by government agents to justify their own bloated law-enforcement budgets. It was an extraordinary conspiracy in which Luciano—the fake master criminal—became the victim of far bigger powers around him. Newark provides evidence that, at one time, he was even working as a Cold War agent, helping the US government fight Communism in Sicily. It is an extraordinary story that has never been told before—in which the American Mafia becomes entangled with foreign war and Cold War conspiracy.

Look forward to a review PB.
Speaking of Luciano, has anyone read this book?


I was flipping through it in Border's today. I decided against buying it for the price but the author had some interesting hypotheses. He argued that it was primarily Lansky and only secondarily the US government/Genovese that wanted Luciano out of post war Cuba. Supposedly Lanksy had little intention of sharing his Havana spoils or authority in Cuba. Also on that note the author argues that it was Lansky and Trafficante who were behind the murders of Anastasia and Scalise and that this was again primarily a warning not to challenge the then current division of spoils in Havana, as Anastasia was attempting to do.

I don't believe that, Lilo. Lansky was Luciano's most trusted ally during his 10 year prison term, laying the groundwork for Luciano's early release.

Lansky was involved in Cuba before Luciano got involved with the U.S. Government at the Port of N.Y., not to mention the Allied invasion of Sicily (and I think Luciano's invovement in both were greatly exaggerated, for what it's worth).

So why would Lansky have bothered? Why would he have reached out to "Socks" Lanza and Albert Anastasia, knowing full well that Cuban gaming was on the horizon?

Believe it or not, Luciano was branded as "half-a-rat" at the time by some of the Italians, and it was Lansky who put their minds at ease and assured them that they should do Charley's bidding.

So again, if you're Lansky, and you want Cuba all to yourself, why bother going to bat for Luciano to get him out of the can?

Yeah, it's shady so I was curious to see if anyone else had ever heard that hypothesis.

I had heard before the Anastasia vs. Trafficante&Lanksy hypothesis about the casinos but since evidently lots of people wanted "The Volcano" dead at that point I don't know how much credence to give to it.

One of the reasons Lansky lived to age 81, and died peacefully, was that he was always willing to share--and that included Cuba. He was very tight with Cuban dictator Fungencio Batista, but he used his influence to allow other mobsters (notably Santos Trafficante) to have interests in casinos other than the Nacional, where Lansky's brother Jake reigned supreme.

In 1957, Hilton announced its intention to build a hotel/casino in Havana. The Cuban hotel workers' union wanted a big share in that hotel, and Batista appointed a Cuban, Roberto "Chiri" Mendoza, to be the local contractor. Albert Anastasia had been talking to Mendoza about getting a piece of the action. Mendoza had been staying at NYC's Warwick Hotel--as had Santos Trafficante--and Anastasia was seen in the hotel on the day he was whacked.

There's not much reason to doubt that Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino arranged Anastasia's assassination. But, if Cuba was involved, the finger points at Trafficante, not Lansky.

Maybe this is a better one:



http://www.amazon.com/Havana-Nocturne-Owned-Cuba-Revolution/dp/0061147710

Anyone read it?

I have not read it all the way thru, just scanned it at the bookstore. It's on the list to read but so are so many other books..

I have read the TJ English book and it is very good.

Just blasted through McMAFIA by Misha Glennie.

It goes into the Russian mafiya and all the other eastern European countries organised crime explosions through the collapse of communism and the development of energy supplies. Also looks at Israel,India,Africa and China and how scary and linked the whole shebang is. Very very good book this. A real eye opener!

I have just finished reading "Mafia son" by Sandra Harmon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mafia-Son-Scarpa...5666&sr=1-1

The book is about the infamous Greg Scarpa - both father and son.
The book is well written and it delves into the murky dealings between Scarpa SR and his FBI handlers (Greg Scarpa senior had been an FBI informant for most of his "career").
The handlers are alledged to have known what Greg was doing (he wasnt nicknamed the Grim Reaper for nothing) and even provided him with information to assist him but this was also a 2 way relationship.
Scarpa is even alledged to have assisted the FBI in forcing a Ku Klux Klan member to reveal the location of three bodies of murdered civil rights workers in Mississippi

The book also deals with Scarpa Junior and his ultimate incararation where he discovered info relating to 9/11 but the feds refused to take him seriously.
The book made me loath Linda Schiro - Greg seniors long time mistress and mother of some of his kids (but not Greg Juniors mother) because she spent years with the Scarpa's knowing full well what they were doing and she happily accepted it.
But all she did was bitch and moan when her own son was murdered (despite the fact she knew her son had murdered people himself).
Sorry Linda - but having your nearest and dearest get murdered is a hazard of them being a criminal!!!!
The book also has a humour element at times - for instance, one of Greg Seniors associates once showed Greg a small pick that was ideal for smashing open pay phones.
Greg aquired one of these for himself and despite the fact that he didnt need the money he used to bash open public phones to raid the coins inside - he was known to even drive miles out of his way to smash a phone because he got such a kick out of the fact he was robbing the phone company!!!!!
Good book that I would recommend to others.

I will put it on the list Gary!

What did you think about Scarpa's rather bohemian lifestyle?

Yeah, he was a free-spirited psychopath .

It was just REALLY weird to me.
Generally speaking, you shouldn't look at a mob guy's wife or girlfriend. If you do there's gonna be trouble.

In fact, you may find it prudent to not even look like you're THINKING about looking at a mob guy's wife/girlfriend.

And here's Scarpa "Hey , you like Linda right? Think she's a hottie? Well make a move man. She likes you too. Knock yourself out..."

Whats Joe Pistones follow up book "unfinished buisness" like?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Donnie-Brasco-Un...5296&sr=1-2

Is it worthwhile or is it just a souped up version of his first book?

Guys, can any of you tell me something about this book?

http://www.amazon.com/Mafia-Made-Easy-Anatomy-Culture/dp/1602472548

I'm mostly interested in the culture and mores of the Cosa Nostra and this book seems very interesting to me although it'll be really hard to find it in my country, so I just want to know if it's really worth the effort. Have any of you read it? Can you recommend it?

definitely not worth it, and the original Donnie Brasco is one of my all time favorites

i just completed Roemers's "Accardo The Genuine Godfather". Its a marvelous book, Accardo is a true men of honor. Unlike other godfathers, he was a good bad guy.