Book Description

During the mid-'80s Howard Marks had forty-three aliases and eighty-nine phone lines, and he owned twenty-five companies trading throughout the world. Bars, recording studios, offshore banks -- all were money-laundering vehicles serving the core business: dope dealing. At the height of his career he was smuggling consignments of up to thirty tons of marijuana and had contact with organizations as diverse as MI6, the CIA, the IRA, and the Mafia. Following a worldwide operation by the DEA, he was busted and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison at Terre Haute Penitentiary, Indiana. He was released in April 1995 after serving seven years of his sentence. With pages of photographs, and told with humor, charm, and candor, Mr Nice is his own extraordinary story. Mr Nice has been one of the biggest-selling memoirs in Britain in recent memory, topping both the Sunday Times hardcover and paperback best-seller lists. Also translated into eight languages, this edition offers American readers the first-ever opportunity to read this riveting book. "Frequently hilarious, occasionally sad, and often surreal." -- GQ "Only the Welsh could have produced ... Howard Marks.... In or out of handcuffs, he is always welcome in my home." -- Robert Sabbag, author of Snowblind "A folk legend ... Howard Marks has huge charisma. He sounds like Richard Burton and looks like a Rolling Stone." -- Daily Mail (London) "Marks weaves a fascinating story spiced with brilliant detail, far stronger than fiction." -- FHM ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Phenomenal
This book is captivating. I could not put it down. Yes, it is about a criminal (marijuana smuggler), but he is also a great writer, mets some fascinating people and has some absolutely phenomenal experiences. One of the best parts of this book is his vivid, subtle descriptions of the varied people he encounters throughout the world. If you like spy novels, crime novels or autobiographies you will enjoy this true story about a fascinating guy with some unbelievable experiences.

This book is Pathetic !
This book is pathetic! Do not waste your money on this literary abortion! Howard Marks does not know the difference between reality and fanasty. He calls it an auto-biography! Marks makes the reference "I smoked a lot of grass" about 300 times, on every page, it gets old. I have no doubt the drugs have caught up to this man. The book could not prove it more! He has below average writing skills, and brags about being an "Oxford Grad" that is so intelligent. I do not want to waste any more time on this review. Advice- Save your money, period!

mr nice is the one
once i started reading this book of the great man howard marks i am deeply impressed by him because he struggled for the better comfort and luxiurious of life and because of his strong determination and will power he achieved his goal i salute him ...howard u are the one and its my wish in life that i should have a lunch or dinner with u anywhere in the world if you are willing then ,,and i am deeply impressed by you .....may god help you in everyfield of life ,,,,take care howard ,,sadaf_zahra350@hotmail.com

An Honest way to describe life
Howard trully hits the target by describing his life with the same feelings we can experience sometimes. This book is something you have to read, you will find yourself laughing and sometimes feeling really sorry about some situations.
You will not be dissapointed. Great book!

Great travel book which just happens to involve drugs
This was not your average drug dealer. Howard Marks details his travels and adventures to exotic locations world wide. After each chapter I would find myself adding another location to my list of destinations I wanted to see. Mix in the travel, adventure and the vivid characters and you have a good read that was hard to put down.

Very timley right now in the US considering what great lengths the DEA went to to destroy Howard's and his family's life back then and how they are extending the same techniques to terminal Medical Marijuana patients in CA right now. Highlights how things have changed very little in almost 20 years and where this backlash against the Drug War is coming from. People are just fed up (no pun intended) with their tax dollars being used to ruin lives over such a harmless substance.

Warning: After reading this book, in addition to wanting to pack up and travel the world you may also want to revisit your youth and take up smoking again (if you ever stopped). Be careful before you head over to 1 Percent ;-) ... Read more

Book Description

The true story of Staten Island badboy Louis Pasci uto's meteoric rise to the top of Wall Street's notorious chop houses--by the award-winning journalist who broke it. Hood brokers. Monthly million dollar paychecks. Thirty-six hour cocaine binges. "Rocky" themed pep rallies. Run-ins with Mafia thugs toting Mac 10 machine pistols. This was the life of Louis Pasciuto, a fast-talking Staten Island kid who, from the age of 19 to 25, moved stocks for 17 different brokerage houses--most of that time without even a fake license. This inside account of the Mafia's infiltration of Wall Street details Louis' career as the consummate liar, selling phantom stocks to naive Americans and leading a lifestyle worthy of Caligula. To avoid a long prison sentence, Pasciuto eventually turned state's witness. Now, Gary Weiss shares the inside story of Wall Street's notorious "chop houses," the crooked Mob-run brokerages where rampant thievery netted several billion dollars from gullible investors. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

A scream!!!
Someone loaned me this book--I didn't buy it--so I feel an obligation to the author to come online and tell him that I absolutely, positively, adored this book. It is a scream! Very funny, with an ironic Afterword that was both touching in a way and also comical to boot. The Afterword describes how the feds punished Lou Pasciuto for coming forward with this story.

But the main thing about this book is that it is a taut, tensely written book that holds you at the edge of your seat from one minute to the next. It is hard to believe that the writer of this book works for a magazine, as it seems to have been written by a mystery author. The pacing moves to a fever pitch, as we follow the central character, sliming his way from one brokerage to the next.

What makes it all so fascinating is that this is a true story, and there are pictures to prove it. Pasciuto was an earner for the mob, and the book is filled with vignettes describing some guys straight out of the real-life Sopranos. My favorite involves a guy I read about as a kid named Sonny Franzese, who used to head up the Colombo family but by the 1990s was reduced to low-rent stock scams.

There are also stories of how famous people got sucked in, including cast members from the Howard Stern show.

All in all a terrific book!

A fascinating tale of the Mob in decline
I have read just about every book that there is on organized crime, and I have also read my share of Wall Street books. Let me tell you, this one is right up there with the very best of the Mob genre--Wise Guys and the Valachi Papers--but with a searing wit that reminds me of Liar's Poker.

I bought this book after seeing its subject, Lou Pasciuto, featured on the ABC News show 20/20. Let me tell you, the story was if anything better than I had expected from watching that show. This is a really outstanding, superbly written book about a young kid from Staten Island who becomes an moneymaker for the Mob on Wall Street.

I read it on one sitting. This book grabs you in the beginning, when Pasciuto is sitting in prison, mulling over the shambles of his life. The book then reverts to a flashback in the best film noir style, recounting his early upbringing in a shabby but honest family. He was constantly the subject of attention as a small boy, and perhaps because of that incipient narcissism he became a thief at an early age--hence the title.

We follow Pasciuto in his first job, at a very well known boiler room called Hanover Sterling. This brings me to another aspect of the book that I think needs to be mentioned. Unlike the few other books that have explored the shady side of Wall Street, this book names names. We get the actual bad guys and the names of the actual brokerage houses. That gives this book an authority and credibility that adds to the excitement.

After Hanover, Pasciuto rises very rapidly and is running his own crews of brokers while still a teenager--before he can go into a bar and drink, as the author Weiss points out. He makes thousands of dollars a week and his life is a whirl of sex, drugs and trips to South Beach.

Along the way he becomes the favorite broker for sports figures and cast members of the Howard Stern Show, particularly "Stuttering John," who was really in with that crowd.

But then he meets his nemesis, a crude gangster named Charlie, and it his downfall begins. Louis is married to his girlfriend, in a wedding scene straight from the Godfather, and it is downhill from there.

Along the way he meets a who's who of characters from the Mob, from half-assed wiseguys in Staten Island to doddering old fools like Sonny Franzese. That this where this book really shines. It is the best portrayal of the present-day Mob--the Mob of today, not the 1990s--that I have been able to get my hands on.

The tale of Louis' rise and fall is filled with humor, excitement and tragedy, and it is told in a humorous and accessible fashion that is really a pleasure to read.

Start reading this early in the day
Why? BECAUSE YOU CAN'T PUT IT DOWN!!!!! I took this book to the beach during the July 4th weekend and made the mistake of starting to read it in the afternoon. There I was as the sun was setting at 8, and I was still reading it. Everyone was gone and I was squinting as the sun went down. That's how electrifying this book is.

Louis Pasciuto is a parochial school kid from Staten Island who has a slight character-development issue: He steals. He stole when he was a small child and as a teenager he found just the place to practice his craft. Wall Street beckoned, in the form of a well-groomed stock scammer named Roy Ageloff.

Such is the setup for one of the most readable stories that have come down the pike in a long time. Weiss's portrayal of the world of Wall Street and the Mafia is extraordinarily revealing. I heard this is going to be a movie and I can see why.

I don't want to give away any of the plot, as this is one of those books that you read with your hand on the page to keep from letting your eyes wandering down to see what is happening in the future. It was an education on the subject of Wall Street, and I came away from reading this book with a wealth of education that I hope will make me into a smarter investor.

One thing about this book that is surprising is how entertaining and funny it is. You wouldn't expect that from a book about Wall Street or the Mafia. But Weiss has extraordinary comic sense and he brings out the irony in some characters who are at once loathsome and fascinating. He also makes some sharp observations on the abysmal failure of Wall Street regulation and the moronic character of so much that has been written about the Mob.

Born to Steal is a winner in every respect.

Interesting story let down by lack of true storytelling
I was truly looking forward to reading this book, so when I started it and saw an abundance of quotes from Louis (who the book is written about) I thought it was to serve as a prelim before detailing his story.Unfortunately this style of writing lasted for at least the first 200 plus pages and never really left.What I mean is that the author seemed to have taped several hours of louis repetively telling how stupid people were and smart he was, and between that, giving tiny pieces of the actual story. The author then seemed to have the interview transcribed into text and then wrote small summaries (with very little detail) tying together the almost unmentioned events.This type of style really prevents this book from ever becoming very interesting.It would have been so much better (and more work for the author) if he had used Louis' words to tell an actual coherant story. For instance, we hear how crazy a character named Roy is. This guy gave Louis his start and louis made him alot of money.Yet when Louis left his firm there was no mention of how the volatile roy reacted to losing a key employee. A better written book would have documented the experience Louis had telling Roy he was leaving the firm. A perfect example of an author doing a much better job is in the book "Bringing Down the House" in which the main person is quoted frequently, but that never overcomes the actual naration of events in the story.Meaning you actually could feel tension, while in this book you could never feel any tension become no event was ever mentioned in any real detail.The author in that book also took the time to educate the reader on the subject(blackjack) while in this book the auther does not even seem to understand the financial industry or does not care to give the readers a little lesson that may have helped them understand the scams a bit more. In a sense this reminds me of one of those old biopics where the hero goes from a nothing to a world power within ten minutes.I would have loved to read blow by blow of Louis' early cold calls, as well as his hiring kids and how they reacted to the business.All we got is Louis telling us these events in a sentence or two mixed in with how great a speaker he is.

All in all, very disapointing unless you wanted to read a rambling interview instead of a book. I actually felt this book was a 2 star book, but because the subject was such a can't miss, felt I would a deduct a star from it due to the authoer actually "missing".

Interesting - a good look at the other side of Wall street
This is a fascinating look at the other side of Wall Street.Chop houses have been around forever, but despite their omnipresence, you don't hear to much about them these days.The author is a good storyteller and the main character "Louis" is an entertaining fellow who takes us through the intricacies of chop house life.The stories of drug use, gambling (...) and lavish spending juxtapose nicely with the sad conclusion to the story.

Also sad is the fact that thousands of American families lost many millions of dollars to Louis alone.He stole from them and left them with nothing.These poor people lost everything.I still can't get over the fact that anyone could write a check after receiving a cold call from some fast talking NY broker.Hopefully, the public has learned a lesson to understand what they invest in, before they send the check.

Overall, this is an entertaining, and interesting look at a side of Wall Street that most of us don't get to see.And hopefully, we never will.As a side note, the movie "Boiler room" is a good corollary to understanding how chop houses function - the movie does not include any references to the Mafia. ... Read more

Amazon.com

In prose as straightforward and at times as brutal as his style in the ring, former middleweight champion Jake LaMotta wove together an unforgettable autobiography: first published in 1970, Raging Bull was violent, candid, primitive, smart, and altogether powerful. It still is. His story, adapted for the screen in 1980 by Martin Scorsese in the Oscar-winning film starring Robert De Niro, is filled with anger--at his father for beating him, at the neighborhood he grew up in, at the petty criminal he became, at the Mob that tried to keep him from the title because he wouldn't take a dive--and real candor about the dive he did take (out in the real world when his boxing career was over). While most of LaMotta's anger was self-directed, he harnessed enough of it to power him to 83 victories in 106 fights, and a two-year hold on a championship belt. His recounting of his ring wars with Sugar Ray Robinson and Marcel Cerdan remain as convincingly primal on the page as they were in the arena. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Rousseau's Confessions Bronx-Style
One cannot help but admire the unflinching honesty of Jake La Motta in his autobiography. This book isn't merely a self-serving recounting of La Motta's rise and fall as a boxer. Instead, La Motta creates a geniune classic. There is no air brushing here. La Motta reveals the deepest, darkest secrets of his life: his murder attempt, raping of a virgin, his impotence, domestic violence etc. As a result, one begins to understand his fears and the utter rage that drove him as a boxer. LaMotta also helps explain something about boxing - that mixture of beauty and violence. La Motta's own honesty is the redeeming quality that delivers the book its greatness. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Packs the Same Wallop as La Motta's Ring Punch
Jake La Motta made a good living punching people in the ring, rising in 1949 to the world middleweight championship. He packs the same wallop in his book "Raging Bull," the basis for the powerful 1980 film which was directed by Martin Scorsese and earned Robert De Niro an Oscar for Best Actor.

La Motta paints a brutally vivid picture of a youngster and young man growing up in a brutal Bronx jungle. The fighter they called "The Bronx Bull" writes about seeing rats in the cellar of the tenament where he grew up that were the size of cats. The neighborhood in which he grew up was so tough that he had thousands of fights, explaining that by the time he laced on gloves and became a boxer such conflict had become totally routine. To La Motta a fight was as commonplace as anyone else brushing their teeth, a simple, elementary part of life. He writes about his early life of crime, including the beating of one man he thought he had killed. In perhaps the most dramatic sequence of the book he reveals how he had lived in morbid fear of being apprehended for murder and in guilt for the act itself, after which he was shocked when the man he was convinced he had killed surfaces. Unaware that La Motta was his attacker, the man surfaces in Detroit to wish the fighter luck as he prepares for his winning title bout against champion Marcel Cerdan of France. The man explains that he was hurt badly but finally recovered, and is in town to wish someone from his old neighborhood luck in his title pursuit.

The raw power of the lightning narrative, along with its brutally realistic truth, makes "Raging Bull" one of the all- time great sports books, a true American classic.

The Greatest Sport Yarn Ever Told
There just isn't another biography/autobiography involving an athlete that can measure up to RAGING BULL.

The book depicts self-hate and the self-destruction that goes with it in the kind of succinct style you expect from a ghetto-bred boxer. What sets it apart though is that what one finds between the lines is often more revealing than the lines themselves.

Jake's method of confessing to grotesque acts without the vocabulary of rationalization says volumes about the pathologies behind them. Instead of getting lost in Freudian buzzwords, La Motta recounts his life in terms that sum up and surpass every treatise on self-destruction ever written.

No need for Psychology 101. RAGING BULL is the real textbook on the subject.

Raging Bull, an unblievably believable sad and joyous story
Jake La Motta is a vicious monster. Both inside the ring and outside the ring. Growing up in the slums of the Bronx,
Jake was not loved or cared for by his father, who frequently beat him for no reason or explanation. His mother
was loving to Jake, but his father beat her too. Jake channeled all this abuse, both physical and neglect, and turned
into a thug as a teenager because what else could he do. He believed he was to have been a murderer, for bashing a bookie over the head with a pipe,and suffered for many years afterwards with self inflicting torment and abuse and anguish to all around him. While as a teen, Jake the thug turned into a life of petty crime and was sent to a reform school. While at reform school, the only thing Jake could find interesting was the gym, where he practiced and developed as a boxer. When Jake was released from reform school, he vowed to himself never to go back to jail and to try and change his way. Jake soon began to compete amateurishly with boxing, and then shortly
thereafter turned pro. While he was a freight train inside the ring, Jake was a train wreck in his personal life.
Jack's life consisted of no one he could trust. Not his best friend Pete, his wives, his brother, and especially the mob.
He battered his boxing opponent into oblivion, he battered his wives unconscious, and battered his friends if you would
even call them friends. Yes Jake was this violent. His second wife Vickie, is main wife in this book was a saint, during and after their marriage. Jake beat everyone in the ring he could. Sometimes he'd lose, not on purpose, but as a result to his mannerisms prior to a fight, which were mostly self inflicting. After 8 years of boxing pro, and going no where, Jake relented to turning to the mob for a shot at the middleweight
belt. In 1949, Jake was champ. They day after he was champ, he life went into the gutter. A good for nothing bum kid from
the Bronx, he was destined to never amount to not even spit on the sidewalk, was now the champion of the world! How was this. Well Jake's demons came forth the night he won the championship, and what he feared he'd done as a kid, was not true. Believed to be a murderer as a teen, Jake drove himself insane with pain, fear, guilt, and anger, and the only way he could channel all that negative energy was to box. Well, who he thought he killed long ago was actually alive and well and he couldn't believe it. From there on, Jake lost the spark and the fire to what drove him to be the champ, and a year and a half later after defending his title twice was belted by quite possibly
the bloodiest boxing match my eyes ever seen on February 14th 1951 to Sugar Ray. Jake got massacred by the 13th round. (if you ever get a chance to actually see that fight, seeing is believing!!!). Jake's trip into hell began in Oct 1949, after winning the belt, and he took his first steps descending into hell after he retired from boxing in 1953. His move to Miami added to the catastrophe, his wife divorced
him, he fooled around alot, he ballooned to well over 200 lbs, drank and dabbled with drugs, his business crumbled due to a prostitution charge of a minor, and once again Jake ended up in jail. Serving 6 months, Jake finally prayed to the man upstairs for forgiveness, and released from prison, Jake wanted to vindicate himself. Leaner, cleaner, and this time for certain destined to clean up his act. After prison, Jake was a whistle blower in boxing and spilled the beans about the fight set up he needed to do to become the champ. After that, Jake remarried, although it ended up unsuccessful, Jake tried, and it appears he was not abusive to his 3rd wife. After dabbling
in acting and plays, Jake found solace in performing again, but on stage instead of a ring. There were some set backs. But nothing as shocking and more disturbing as the first 22 chapters. And by 1970 Jake was acting in b-films.
In conclusion, Jake La Motto is a vicious monster. But who could blame him. I don't. Jake will blame himself, and yes, many of the horrific things he did in his youth were unacceptable and just downright unethical. But Jake never was given a chance at life. Not by his family anyways, he was raised by the mean streets of the Bronx, his family was the streets, and it was mean, and Jake was meaner. Jake was never loved as a child, and without that love, he never trusted
anyone, ever! Many success stories, or dreams come true stories are about love and trust. Jake has neither. This is a sad story, a truly sad story, of a man who struggled to make it on his own, and did make it on his own, and just threw it all away because he didn't any know better because no one showed him.
Personally, I believe Jake LaMotta to be the best middleweight boxer ever! I mean ever! For all his wrongs, he did something right, and box right he did. Jake gave boxing so many memorable upsets, so many memorable knockouts, and most importantly memorable comebacks, both inside the ring and outside the ring. Jake is a champ, and a monster, but I would never say that too his face unless I want to keep mine on my head.
Onto Raging Bull II, the continuing story...Highly Recommended!

Brutally Honest!
The life of Jake LaMotta was brought to the screen by Martin Scorcese in 1980, and gained immense respect for the gritty life of boxer Jake LaMotta. The book written several years prior is a roller coaster emotional ride by a very disturbed individual trying so hard to make the best of his life. Very well written and descriptively perfected.

From his tough upbringing, to his escapades as a young man, to his fight for boxing fame, LaMotta punched his way thru leaving victims behind and not too many friends to show for. Like many movies, book facts were left behind that should have been included. Here are few:

His friend Pete, (who was fused in the movie with his brother Joey) was an important person in LaMotta's life. Their wild times as petty thieves, to their separation.

Jake's brief time in prison (Juv), where he and fellow boxer Rocky Graziano meet up. This is where Jake decides to become a boxer.

And unfortunately, Jake's despicable side; the murderer and the rapist.

Jake LaMotta's book portrays his life so honest and brutal, that you almost feel like you are his sidekick during his highs and lows. One rejoices when Jake wins the title, but is horrifed at his domestic actions. Jake is an easy guy to dislike while reading this book, but the nature and feel of this book does its job. ... Read more

Book Description

Few criminals have intrigued us more than Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow and few crimes have attracted more attention than their grisly, two-year rampage across the South in the early 1930s. E. R. Milner cuts through myth and legend in this bold portrait of the real Bonnie and Clyde, drawing on obscure locally published accounts, previously untapped court records, and archived but unpublished oral histories from sixty victims, neighbors, relatives, and police.

Now in paperback, The Lives and Times of Bonnie & Clyde examines the forces that brought the two together and traces their violent path through gun battles and narrow escapes to their deaths by ambush in 1934. Supplemented by fourteen photographs as well as personal diaries and letters—including the poem "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde," written by Bonnie herself—Milner’s captivating tale matches the pace of the infamous outlaws’ wild crime spree, swiftly capturing the spirited romance of the pair as well as the breadth of their popular and historic legacy. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Flawed Masterpiece
E.R. Milner has constructed a pretty fair history of the Barrow gang in The Lives and Times of Bonnie & Clyde. Using contemporary newspaper accounts and police records, he provides detailed accounts of even many of the gang's minor crimes, such as early gas station holdups, and we B&C buffs naturally want all the details we can get. There are some previously unpublished photos, which is a must. There is also too much dialogue for historical purposes, much of it taken, unfortunately, from Jan Fortune's error-strewn Fugitives, the ghosted 1934 memoirs of Emma Parker and Nell Barrow Cowan which in turn derived as much from Ed Portley's 1934 True Detective articles as it did from Bonnie's mother and Clyde's sister. There are quite a number of typos, mostly wrong first names and misspellings of surnames and it is equally unfortunate that Milner failed to visit many of the locations prominent in the Bonnie and Clyde story, where key participants in the events still live, such as Dexter, Iowa. Milner told me once he regretted not having gone to Iowa inasmuch as Dexter was the turning point in the gang's history just as surely as Northfield, Minnesota was the Waterloo of the James gang. Having recently reread this book, I also regret he didn't come to Iowa. The three gas stations the gang hit before going to the Platte City, MO motel were in Fort Dodge, Iowa, not Kansas. Speaking of Minnesota, a visit to Okabena would have raised considerable doubts in the author's mind as to the Barrows' guilt in the bank robbery there. No eyewitnesses ever identified the Barrows there but two men and a woman were later convicted of the Okabena bank job. Milner's epilogue leaves much to be desired. Clyde's mother was shot in 1938, as Milner reports, but not by "an unknown attacker." The would-be assassin was a former minor gang member ostracized by the Barrow family as a "rat" and the shooting resulted from a feud with them which also involved a number of bombings. Cumie was also more than "slightly wounded"--like Blanche she lost the sight of one eye. Little or nothing is recorded of the deaths of Bonnie's mother or other principal participants such as B&C ambushers Henderson Jordan, Prentiss Oakley and Manny Gault. Kidnap victim Thomas (wrongly named as Jimmy!) Persell is only recorded as having retired from the Springfield, MO P.D. And the sideshow "career" of the death car should have been traced down to its present whereabouts in a Nevada casino. In view of the errors and omissions, I feel I must drop a star from my previous rating of this work. Still, Milner did Bonnie and Clyde better than many before him and both his book and the recent Running With Bonnie and Clyde by John Neal Phillips deserve a respectable slot in any crime library.

Falls short
I never tire of reading about Bonnie and Clyde and I enjoyed this book. It was very well researched. All quotes and sources are well documented. It was disappointingly short especially since the auther had so much great research to draw from. In a true crime book I also like lots of photographs. It gives me a feel for the period. The photo's in this book are few and of poor quality. This book is good and I recommend it. I can't help but think it could have been great, but falls short.

It'll change your perspective on Hollywood's Bonnie & Clyde!
This is some amazing reading! Milner covers every little detail and covers their lives chronologically. Every getaway, heist, route taken and shot fired is covered in this excellent crime bio. A real thriller. I couldn't stop reading it. One comes away with a new perspective on this deadly duo. Bringing in all the other members of the gang in various small holdups, it brings to focus that they were not like the Hollywood darlings on the screen, but cold-blooded and ruthless killers. They were akin to desperate rats hanging on day to day. Full of fast cars, bullets and blood, this is one of the finest crime accounts I've ever read. A real page turner and barn burner!

Revision
I would like to add a bit of a caveat to my statements in my "It's on Film" review, regarding what Ivan Methvin may have said about the ambush. My father recently confirmed that Ivan was a inveterate liar and could not be relied upon for reliable information. It was irresponsible for me to repeat heresay information concerning events damaging to the reputation of honorable men like Ted Hinton, Bob Alcorn and Frank Hamer. In addition, it was highly speculative of me to suggest that Hinton filmed the actual ambush as if he had nothing better to do than tinker with a movie camera while sitting in the bushes sweating along with the others. However, while understandable concerning the circumstances, if is unfortunate that Bonnie was killed instead of arrested. She had no means of escape, Clyde, her gunman and driver, was killed instantly. It was reported by the ambush gunmen that Bonnie was holding a BAR when she was shot, however I am inclined to believe Floyd Hamilton who stated it was most likely a romance magazine.

Loose ends? Maybe. Good solid facts? Definately.
Yes, it is true that this book has a few loose ends, but it also has some good soid facts combined with graphic pictures (which I always find appealing in a book). I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I think anyone would. In response to one reviewer who commented on the book only tracking the "death car" for about 20 years, Bonnie and Clyde's authentic "death car", bullets holes and all, is currently displayed in a Prim, Nevada casino. If you're ever in the area, it's a good thing to see. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Paul Klebnikov tells the incredible story of Boris Berezovsky, a one-time Russian car dealer who assembled a huge--and illicit--fortune after the collapse of Communism. "This individual had risen out of nowhere to become the richest businessman in Russia and one of the most powerful individuals in the country," writes Klebnikov, a respected reporter for Forbes. "This is a story of corruption so profound that many readers might have trouble believing it." Yet Godfather of the Kremlin is a careful work of journalism in which Klebnikov documents the business dealings of a man who once bragged to the Financial Times that he and six other men controlled half of the Russian economy and rigged Boris Yeltsin's reelection in 1996. Berezovsky survived both an assassination attempt and a murder investigation, and paved the way to power for Vladimir Putin. He and the other crony capitalists of post-Soviet Russia like to rationalize their deeds, writes Klebnikov: "Whenever I asked Russia's business magnates about the orgy of crime produced by the market reforms, they invariably excused it by pointing to the robber barons of American capitalism. Russia's bandit capitalism was no different from American capitalism in the late nineteenth century, they argued." Yet nothing could be further from the truth: Carnegie, Rockefeller, and their peers transformed the United States into an economic superpower. Berezovsky, on the other hand, has "produced no benefit to Russia's consumers, industries, or treasury." It's not that he didn't have an opportunity. To pick one example among many, he took over Aeroflot when it had a monopoly position in a booming market. But the company barely grew, and instead experienced myriad problems. Berezovsky controlled many businesses, but he was a lousy business manager; his only authentic success--as an auto dealer--depended on collusion. His real skill is shady dealmaking, especially with corrupt government officials. That's the way to success in modern Russia, as this well-told but troubling book reveals. --John J. Miller ... Read more

Reviews (41)

A good read about capital flight.......
What is capital flight? According to the author, a man named Boris Berezovsky was quite the expert at this. Take over a Russian company with government funds, kill anyone who gets in the way, and take over its assets by funnelling them out of the country, or filling filthy Chechen rebels' pockets with ransom money thus stripping the country of its vital tax assets to pay for social programs, pensions and wages.

What isn't good about this book has been the reviews. Some are calling it bunk because Berezovsky is in Spain now, or the author wrote the book at the time he was involved in a lawsuit with the man, but they don't get specific enough about why this discredits the book. To dismiss Berezovsky as not being capable of the fiscal atrocities he has caused Russia is to dismiss Stalin, Hitler and Napoleon as well. Of course the former didn't commit his acts alone(the book is clear about this) and neither did the latter.

Insofar as to the credibility of this manuscript, Harcourt and Amazon.com both have some apologizing to do for selling what could be a complete joke or they don't have to do anything at all because what Klebnikov wrote is indeed factual.

What do I believe? I truly believe this book confirms that Boris Yeltsin screwed the Russian people out of millions of their own rubles and did so because he allowed a kniving little Russian business mogul and thief named Boris Berezovsky to do so. This book explains this relationship very well. I would also like to request that any negative review of this book be accompanied by similarly massive appendices and footnotes to the contrary that Klebnikov afforded his readers to clarify his findings.

He paid with his life
Paul Klebnikov died yesterday (7/10/04) in Moscow because he had the courage to print the truth as he uncovered it through relentless investigative journalism. Anyone--such as some of the reviewers at this site--who dismisses this book because of some trivial libel suit brought by Berezovsky in London is making a mistake. Klebnikov was no small-time journalist with an axe to grind. He had a PhD in Russian history from the London School of Economics and was a senior editor for Forbes magazine. He was an American of Russian heritage who spoke Russian fluently and who used his abilities to investigate the looting of Russia that took place in the early 1990's. He loved Russia and wrote what he learned about the looting that was going on.

Everything Klebnikov says in this book can also be found in The Oligarchs by Hoffman (Washington Post), Putin's Russia by Shevtsova (Carnegie Endowment) and The Tragedy of Russia's Reforms by Reddaway (George Washington University). They all cite and/or quote Klebnikov with approval.

I can't recommend this book highly enough to anyone who wants an introduction to the murky world of Russian privatization during the '90's.

Incidentally, Berezovsky actually took out a full-page ad in the New York Times to tell the world he is not a crook. However, like some of the other oligarchs, he is wanted in Russia for tax evasion, fraud, etc. Read the book and find out all about him.

Good Man, Good Book, Great Loss
Sadly, I did not pick up Paul Klebnikov's book until July 9, 2004, the day of his gruesome murder. I have always had a passing interest in Russian culture and was a reader, and admirer, of Mr. Klebnikov's pieces in Forbes.

-Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism- reads like a novel. However, these events did happen, despite the blind eye Mr. Yeltsin turned. Mr. Klebnikov puts together strong arguments and raises some disturbing questions as to what was going on in Russia during the 1990's.

Further, his murder has done nothing but confirm, in my eyes, what he had written and discovered.

I hope others continue his work, and I hope Forbes continues to employ those with Paul Klebnikov's thirst for knowledge and truth.

I send my deepest regrests to his family.

True hero
He is a real Russian hero and ironically an American. Honest and fearless, he was doing it all for Russia which he truely loved. My condolences go to his family, people who knew and understood Paul....

A good guy
I also write upon hearing about Paul's tragic death. I knew him in high school and hadn't talked since, but he was a bright, cheerful, memorable person. He was clearly trying to "do the right thing" in Russia and I'll never forget him for it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Probably no American outlaw has attracted more attention--much of it flattering--than Jesse James. This revisionist biography by T.J. Stiles delves into the exciting life James led--"a tale of ambushes, gun battles, and daring raids, of narrow escapes, betrayals, and revenge." Yet it also places James within a specific political context, showing why it was possible for this murderous bandit to emerge as a folk hero among Southern sympathizers following the Civil War (in which he fought as a teenager). James is often grouped with famous frontier criminals like Billy the Kidd and Butch Cassidy, but he's best understood as a Southerner who forged partisan alliances in postwar Missouri and promoted himself as a latter-day Robin Hood. Stiles describes James as "a foul-mouthed killer who hated as fiercely as anyone on the planet" and places his life in the context of "the struggle for--or rather, against--black freedom." Stiles's fundamental point about James is as startling as it is convincing: "In his political consciousness and close alliance with a propagandist and power broker, in his efforts to win media attention with his crimes ... Jesse James was a forerunner of the modern terrorist." Tough words, but also deserved. --John J. Miller ... Read more

Reviews (37)

The definitive biography for years to come
T. J. Stiles has written an important and challenging new biography of Jesse James, a book that I believe will be the definitive biography of James for a long time to come. Although a short review here cannot do the book justice, Stiles approaches the Missouri bandit in a different manner from previous biographers, including Ted Yeatman who wrote an excellent and detailed biography of both James brothers. While Yeatman's book will satisfy those who want to know every detail of the James brothers careers, Stiles is a more interpretive history, placing Jesse James squarely within the era in which he lived, and assessing his role as an American legend.

Stiles places Jesse James in historical context like no one else has before, making a strong case for James as an integral part of the post-Civil War fight against Reconstruction in deeply divided Missouri. This is indicated by the title of the book. He eschews comparisons of James with bandits like Butch Cassidy and other western outlaws, who had no social program or cause other than enriching themselves. James was a precursor of the modern terrorist, in Stiles' analysis, a political partisan engaged in manipulating the media and carrying out lawless acts while gaining maximum publicity for his white supremacist cause.

For those who place Jesse James in the context of the Old West, as an outlaw on the lawless frontier, Stiles persuasively argues James never looked west, always south, and saw himself as part of the traditional slave-holding class of southern farmers, the class from which he hailed.

This is a work of professional history, and not a book for buffs. If you want to know the minutae of every robbery, Yeatman's will be more satisfying. The book is amply footnoted, and its economic and banking analysis are heavy going at times, but the book is always challenging. There are conclusions Stiles draws that I can't always support, but there is no doubt that the author did what a reader hopes when reading a new interpretation- he challenged my thinking on several fronts.

Well worth reading, and I imagine this book will cause much discussion and debate.

David Ables - UMBC History Major Review on Jesse Jame
T.J. Stiles. Jesse James Last Rebel of the Civil War. New York: A.A. Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 2002. pp, ix-489, Index, $27.50 (cloth), ISBN 0-375-40583-6; $16.00 (paper), ISBN 0-375-70558-9.
Reviewed by David Gabriel Ables, University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Published by History 201 (March 2004)

T.J. Stiles opens "Jesse James Last Rebel of the Civil War," with the murder of this notorious outlaw in St. Joseph, Missouri on the morning of April 3, 1882. Stiles captures the mind with this tragic ending and makes us ask, "What forces, what conflicts, and what wounds," lead Jesse to this outcome. Through out this book Stiles evaluates all the things that has guided Jesse Woodson James to a life of crime and rebellion. Stiles will also debate the question, "To what extent was Jesse James a participant in his rise to legend, in his symbolic role in the public eye?" With these inquirys at hand we push forward into the times before, during, and after the Civil War in the context in the State of Missouri.

Within the first chapter, Stiles tries to get us to understand what lead Jesse to become a rebel and Confederate. He does this by showing us how he was raised and the people that he interacted with growing up. Stiles goes into great detail about his father, Reverend Robert James and the Pastor's views of slavery. Stiles discusses the hardships of loosing his father at three years old, to the ever growing separation of ideals of the North and South. This will escalade Stiles' stance as to what causes Jesse to join the Confederated side of the war and eventually lands Jesse in the war as a Guerrilla. From Jesse's Guerrilla days Stiles will show us how Jesse started his life of crime that inevitably finds Jesse dead in St. Joseph. Stiles also shows us how outside influence has made Jesse's name rise above the names of his fellow outlaws. He does this by insisting the idea that if the leader of the guerilla groups had lived for as long as Jesse did after the war then Jesse would never be so well know. He also shows how he had help with his image from a Confederate sympathizer and founder of the Kansas City Times newspaper, John Newman Edwards.

This is Stiles first book on the subject as well as any other topic, but has written several essays on the topic according to his official web site www.tjstiles.com. Through this site he does show how he researched this topic for this book, as well as discusses were he fond some of the primary sources he used. Stiles graduated from Carleton College as well as Columbia University were he received two graduate degrees.

Stiles sites numerous newspapers from Missouri that were published at the time of Jesse James' life. He sites such historical books as Homer Croy's book "Jesse James was My Neighbor," published in 1949, Frank Triplett's book, "The Life, Times, and Treacherous Death of Jesse James," published in 1882, and Robertus Love's, "The Rise and Fall of Jesse James," published in 1926. These were considered good historical reads of their day but have not the background of new evidence about certain issues that have been brought to light since their publications. The biography and endnotes alone consists of 86 pages of this 510 page book.

In his history of Jesse James, Stiles tries to distinguish himself by using an overwhelming amount of primary sources that illustrate the social and economical struggles that were going on at the time. In this I feel he spent more time talking about those around Jesse than Jesse himself. You can see poring out from his commentaries that Stiles thought that Jesse was not a noble creature, but a criminal and murder hiding behind the support of the areas popular view of the Confederate rebels.

The book read like a well crafted story, touching on historical antidotes about each character that you met along the way. Such as when he sites the words of Major General Sterling Price of the Confederate Army describing William 'Bloody Bill' Anderson, when Anderson presents Price with a pair of silver-plated pistols, "If I had 50,000 such men, I could hold Missouri forever." These little quotes pull you into the fabric of the story that Stiles is weaving. My only bitterness in this book is that Stiles spends so much time talking about what lead up to the Civil War in Missouri and the reactions of the Missourians there after, that it looses its intended target, Jesse James. I did however learn a lot about the times and area of Missouri; that I as a former Missourian had not know.

I recommend this book for anyone that would like to know see how the troubles of a society can lead someone into a life of crime as well as those interested in the what lead up to and the reactions of the people in Missouri, concerning the Civil War . This book also entails a lot of historical documentation on Jesse James and his family, as well as the people that influenced his life.

Better luck next time.......
This appears to be the author's first stab at historical biography, and as such is a bit of a disappointment. It reads well, but one is constantly aware of it's bias. It tends to judge the past based on the present as the author sees it; monday morning quarterbacking as it were. The author's version of the Civil War has the radical Republicans able to do no wrong.
What he misses is the fact that both sides committed atrocities.
This is history at its most politically correct. Sort of like an account of the war in Iraq as written by someone in the West Wing of the White House. The book presents some incidents as "fact" that actually can't be verified, despite the extensive notes. He has Jesse entering the bank at Northfield when it has never been fully established which of the bandits entered. The idea of Jesse James is a Confederate "terrorist" is flawed. One is expected to see political manifestos handed out AT robberies, if this be the case. At best, Jesse seems to have been after the money and hiding behind the editorial writings of John N. Edwards, who DID have a political agenda to restore a two party system in Missouri after the war. In reading this book one has the feeling that imposition of the "old order" was the only thing the Democrats were after following the war. It was more complex than that. Prior to this revisionist account, it was generally assumed that Edwards was behind the letters that appeared in his newspaper. There are no Lawrence-style massacres in connection with robberies, on several occasions the outlaws even told people they just wanted the money, but this fails to be mentioned. I expect we'll have a book that claims that Bonnie and Clyde were politically motivated "terrorists" next. I presume the "terror" hook was intended to sell books. This book is going for bargain basement prices for good reason.

Anti-Confederate propaganda written by a lying yankee!
T.J (Propagandist)Stiles ignorance of history & hate for Southerners & Confederates shines through in this book.

Stiles got one thing right though, Jesse was still fighting the war, rightfully so! Never surrender a just Cause. ...Deo Vindice!

Lastly, this book will be well recieved by yankee fools. But not any real truth seekers that know a bit in this area of history.

Extraordinary American history
If more history books were written like this one, more Americans would know about their history. This is an exciting biography of a vicious American terrorist, of the same lineage as John Wilkes Booth and Tim McVeigh. Today it is more important than ever to understand how men like this develop and think, because there are more of them than ever, and their causes have surprisingly wide political support. ... Read more

Book Description

Bill Bonanno was born into a world of respect, tradition, and honor. The son of legendary mafioso Joe Bonanno, Bill was a "made" member of the mafia by the time he was in his early twenties. He was rumored to be the model for The Godfather's Michael Corleone, and was the subject of Gay Talese's bestselling Honor Thy Father.

Now retired, Bill is finally ready to bear witness to his life as a high-ranking captain in the Bonanno crime family, one of America's most powerful mafia syndicates. He takes you inside the mob at its peak, when New York's Five Families -- the Bonanno, Gambino, Colombo, Lucchese, and Genovese -- not only dominated local businesses, but also controlled national politics.

From the truth about the mysterious disappearance of his father, to a startling disclosure about the mob's participation in the Kennedy assassination, Bill Bonanno lays bare the inner workings to his chaotic, violent, and surprisingly human world with unparalleled detail and insight.

Bound By Honor not only recounts Bill Bonanno's tumultuous life, but also is an engrossing chronicle of organized crime. His story provides a remarkable glimpse into all of the intriguing personalities of the underworld of yesterday and today, from Bugsy Siegal to John Gotti.

A fascinating audiobook, Bound By Honor is a must-listen for fans of Mario Puzo, Gay Talese, Nicholas Pileggi and others who have recorded the mafia -- but have never been at the eye of the storm in quite the same way as Bill Bonanno. ... Read more

Reviews (42)

Legend of his own mind
The book as such is an easy read and has some amusing stories, it is, however, filled with appearent contradictions and self promoting spins on most of the events.
The writer is clearly unable to put is own life into perspective and believes he has done no wrong........but that the government is at fault for hunting down organised crime, mostly himself and his father (who is depicted as the role model mobster).
The book is worth reading if the subject itself is of interest to you. For most readers it will become clear that the writer is a complete and total loser.

Don't Miss the Point
This book isn't about crime; it's about a broken heart. Like Michael Corleone, what Bonanno did to preserve his family destroyed it; like Corleone, once he got involved, he couldn't get out. This explains his fatalistic feeling that his role in life was preordained at birth.

Contrary to other reviews here, Bonanno DOES give new details, like why Bugsy Seigal was killed and who the second shooter was in Dallas. His explanation of who killed the Kennedys and why is worth the price of the book. He shouldn't be expected to give details about his own capers, not only because this would be self-incriminating, but because he was a strategist, not a soldier or capo. He's a policy wonk of crime.

He says the U.S. Government is the biggest mob around. If true, this not only justifies why Sicilians are as they are, but burdens the rest of us with a warning. Even if false, it indavertently supports his point that "the life" came to an end when those practicing it entered into a war of attrition with a foe more capable of maintaining it. Maybe greed wasn't to blame; maybe it was hubris.

Even if the book is self-serving or written for profit, that it exists is omerta's epitaph. It demonstrates that action for its own sake can be as addictive as heroin and harder to shake. It restates a great truth--that whatever is taken by force must be maintained by force, and force feeds on force. It also proves that two cultures can't exist in the same place at the same time; one absorbs the other or eliminates it. A war between the Mafia and America could end in only one way. Bonanno says that his father knew this; I believe him.

Propaganda??
I found this book an enjoyable read, but having finished it I now have my doubts about all of the name dropping. Why would a "man of honor" suddenly be divulging the twenieth century's most guarded secrets, and why wasn't there a huge media outcry about these revelations at the time of publication. (if there was I don't remember it)

... Sammy the Bull however states that the Bonanno's seat at the "Commission" was revoked due to heroin trafficking.

Makes you wonder if these tell-alls are just ploys to protect their own interests.

Bound by Honor, A Mafioso's Story
I've read a few "Mafia" books in my time and this one beats them all for best fiction. "Our tradition" and "honor". These words pop in the story about a thousand times. This guy thinks he came out of a fairy tale with the holy grail tucked under his belt.

The way Billy Boy describes his traditional father as an angel of peace just doesn't stick. As one of the five Dons leading New York's underworld, Bonanno Senior was not the caretaker of some sacred tradition but a Machiavellan player who could rival with the likes of the Borgias. What? You think La Cosa Nostra was built on some divine attribute. You're wrong - it was built on greed.

In French we have an expression, "Jamais deux sans trois", which translates as, "Never two without three". This book is the third attempt by those zany Bonannos to sanitize their traditional family history. See "Honor thy Father" and "A Man of Honor" for the other two miscarried attempts. Oh! I almost forgot. His wife Rosalie wrote "Mafia Marriage", an essay into a not so traditional relationship. Good advice for all those dysfunctional couples out there.

In "Bound by Honor", we are once again brought to believe the Joe Bonanno, a man of tradition, was kidnapped in 1964 by his not so honorable cousin, Steve Maggadino. Actually, Joe Bananas faked his own kidnapping to escape the Feds and his mob "friends". Another ludicrous idea is that Joe Senior was never into heroin. It just wasn't part of his tradition. Oh come on Bill. You're telling us your daddy was heartbroken when he learned that Carmine Galante was indicted for dealing in smack in 1959. Read "The Canadian Connection" by Jean-Pierre Charbonneau to get the true story. Bonanno was probably the biggest heroin dealer in the fifties and sixties. That's what the Mafia power struggle in that period was all about - control of New York City's heroin market. (Bill, that honorable kind of guy, simply is trying to whitewash all the white powder resting on his father's conscience and the thousands of lives that were destroyed by his activities.)

If you're interested in conspiracy, Bill also solves that great riddle wrapped in an enigma - "The Kennedy Assassination". In the Tale of the Two Joes, Bill compares his father with Joe Kennedy and yes you've guessed it, he compares himself with Jack Kennedy. Somehow we are also led to believe that Joe Bananas was the puppetmaster behind Kennedy's 1960 election. It goes on and on... I also forgot to mention that Bill believes he is the real life model behind the character of Micheal Corleone with the clout to call Commission meetings. Yeah, right.

I got to give it to you Bill. You really turned out to be one fine "con artist".

Too bad Junior can't come up with the truth his almost century-old father could give that would make Joe Valachi's account sound like a bedtime story. Then we'd really have a read.

Please don't heed the ignorant
Having just this second finished the book, i jumped onto the internet for more information. I then found these reviews by the ignorant and felt I should put my own two penneth in. In 1974, during my 4 year investigation into the Kennedy assasination, I was fortunate enough to meet and interview Johnny Roselli, who answered without hesitation every possible question I could think of. After my intensive studies, he confirmed everything I was in sure of and left me in do doubt as to the assasins, and plot. Another reviewer complained about the disrespect given to the Americanized Family leaders. I have only just got off the floor, from laughter. America, as we all know is the worst, most arrogant and greedy, country in the world. The Americanized leaders took away their own respect by destroying a perfectly working community handed to them on a silver spoon. They once again used their own selfishness, abusing all they could in their attempts to make push and bully themselves to the top (hello John Gotti!). The Sicillian traditions were what made the Mafia work so well, and whilst they might not have been as honourable as they like to believe, they looked after each other and co-operated for group gains. Bonanno's book is quite beautifully written at times, and paced well to keep readers interested. The people who disliked this book, were really looking for something more gory, I believe. If you're this somewhat typical American then stick to your TV movies and your all you can eat $4 fat-fests. If, however you wish to read an interesting account of inter-Family relationships, mafioso spirit, and something much closer to the truth behind conspiritary American governments then read this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Now available in paperback, "the Irishman" remains in pre-production for a motion picture by Tommy Reid's Dundee Entertainment.

--

The Irishman was fearless and cunning - loved by his neighbors and hated by his business competitors - the members of the Cleveland Mafia. Fiercely proud of his Irish heritage, he was a Celtic warrior at heart, obsessed with the color green- green car, green jackets, green ink pens. Through the 1970s, the ruggedly handsome Danny Greene (that's right, Danny Greene), had been boldly encroaching on mob territory. Their threats didn't worry him.

"Since I'm Irish Catholic, I've got the best guardian angel there is. Besides, it's the man upstairs who pulls the strings." Danny was a proud Catholic. He was also a killer.

Danny got his start in racketeering as president of the local International Association of Longshoremen. He could have been a highly successful businessman, but it wasn't the life for him. After a shocking expose by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, he was ousted from the docks and fined $10,000 for embezzling union funds. Danny had been forcing longshoremen to unload filthy grain boats and "donate" their paychecks to a union hall "renovation fund." The hall had already been renovated - painted green when Danny took office.

Later Danny worked for as an enforcer for local mobsters including Alex "Shondor" Birns, well-known Jewish racketeer. After a dispute over a $60,000 Greene refused to repay, Birns had a bomb planted in his car. It was the first in a series of botched attempts on the brash Irishman's life. Danny found the bomb.

"Luck of the Irish," he would often say. "I'll return this to the old bastard who sent it to me," Greene promised.

Sure enough, a few weeks later Birns was blown out the roof of his car, in two pieces. It was an excellent hit and Danny was proud.

Danny's big mistake was the 1976 murder of Leo "Lips" Moceri, the respected and feared new underboss of the Cleveland Mafia, and the bombing of enforcer Eugene "The Animal" Ciasullo. Aging mob boss James Licavoli ordered his henchman to "get rid of the Irishman," but the inexperienced soldiers had no luck. The attempts by the self-proclaimed tough guys were almost comical. Then west coast wise guy Jimmy 'the Weasel" Fratianno recommended a hired killer from Erie.

In the end, Danny went out the way he predicted. "When you live by the bomb, you die by the bomb."The Irishman was dead. But the Mafia's celebration was cut short. There was much sloppy work, a few observant witnesses (one of whom was a sketch artist!) and extraordinary investigations by federal, state and local officials. The aftermath of Greene's assassination brought about a mob murder plot against Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich and charges against Mahoning County Sheriff James Traficant for accepting Mafia bribe money. Traficant was acquitted and is now a United States Congressman.

As a direct result of Danny's murder, Jimmy "Weasel" Fratianno defected and co-authored The Last Mafioso and Vengeance is Mine. His courtroom testimony and that of Angelo Lonardo, called "the highest ranking mobster ever to testify for the government" helped put away mob bosses Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno of New York's Genovese Mafia family, Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo of the Luchesse clan and Carmine Persico of the Colombo family. Federal investigators trace these major mob convictions right back to the murder of Greene. Danny would have been proud.

-

Includes 69 photographs and four charts: La Cosa Nostra families of Southern California, Cleveland, Kansas City and Pittsburgh. ... Read more

Book Description

The Purple Gang was a loosely organized confederation of mobsters who dominated the Detroit underworld and whose tentacles reached across the country.Throughout the years, beginning with prohibition, successfully distilling alcohol and branching out intoliquor- running from Canada (with the Capone organization of Chicago), kidnapping, and labor racketeering, the Purple Gang prevailed.

The mob self-destructed by the time of World War II, but a number of former Purples would go on to become nationally known underworld figures, some indicted and convicted as recently as 1996.

This is the hitherto untold story of the rise and fall of one of America's most notorious criminal groups.In an era that resembled the Wild West, with post World War I America groping for its identity, chaos was the rule.And in Detroit'sunderworld, the Purple Gangsters were the rulers.

Paul Kavieff has devoted ten years to the research and writing of this book.He has spent extensive periods in the archives of the Michigan State Police, Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the police departments of many Michigan cities. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Could Have Been Better
I eagerly awaited Paul Kavieff's The Purple Gang and in some ways it was worth the wait. It's certainly the best book written on this notorious gang but mainly because it's the only one. There's a lot of good background info on the gang and some great photos. Because of this, unlike some reviewers, I won't quibble about the writing style and the typos. I read the book from cover to cover and this did not bother me in the slightest. One thing I, as a fellow crime historian, found highly annoying, though, and which detracts from Kavieff's obvious research, is his vagary on dates. A serious history providing otherwise detailed accounts of murders or other events should not begin with "one fateful day in 1923" or "early in 1933." Times, places, etc. are given in detail but dates are maddeningly few in this book on the sordid side of Detroit's history. The latter phrase, leading into the murders of Purple Gangsters Abe Axler and Ed Fletcher, is also way off. Axler and Fletcher were slain on November 26, 1933, certainly not early in the year. Many crime historians also wonder if there may have been a connection between their killings and that of Verne Miller, triggerman in the Kansas City Massacre, who was also slain in Detroit just three days later. These three homicides were heavily covered in the Detroit press at the time and it's a wonder Kavieff didn't delve into this further. The Purples' alleged connection to the St. Valentine's Day Massacre is also highly doubtful. It's a worthwhile book for crime historians and deserving of a second edition but with considerable rewrite.

The Purple Gang of Detroit
As another reviewer pointed out, this is an important book because it is the only book on the Purple Gang. How this gang has escaped serious study is beyond me. Growing up in the Detroit area their name has popped up over the years many many times, as some oldtimer recollects or a house that once was a Purple Gang hideout is bulldozed, stuff like that. One time in the Detroit Public Library I went into the history room and they asked for my ID and I jokingly said, "what do you think I am in the Purple Gang or something?" The guy who asked laughed and said "funny you should say that. A writer has been trying to research the Purple Gang, and is having a hell of a time. It seems like most of the police files on them have somehow disappeared". I cannot vouch for that info, but I suppose that it was the author of this book that was doing the research and maybe that explains why there is so little info available. For that reason alone, despite the grammatical errors that others found annoying, I give it 5 stars. I found it a fascinating read.

a bit of Detroit History never told before.
Great read, a time in Detroit's history that was all but forgotten, writen like you were there. Clears up all the "false Purple Gang Stories". Highly Recommended.

Great topic -- disappointing result
After hearing an interview with the author on a local radio show I couldn't wait to buy this book.

I live in Hamtramck, less than a mile from where the Purples got their start, and I was hoping for a definitive chronicle of their rise and fall, with names, dates and locations that I could relate to. Instead, I got an extended, poorly-edited outline that begged for more detailed and specific exposition.

While I don't regret my purchase I was sorely disappointed and sincerely hope that Mr. Kavieff will expand his research and revise the book with the assistance of a more competent editor and publisher. I also strongly recommend he read Lowell Cauffiel's "Masquerade" for pointers on how to write a masterful tale of the Detroit underbelly.

What a Mishigas!!
Like most, if not all of the previous reviewers of this book I found it a great story of the Purples' but quite how it made the shelves with all those mistakes is beyond me! At times I found myself reading and then re-reading the same paragraphs just to make sure I understood what was going on.......shame on you Barricade Books of NY. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (6)

Captivating
I heard about this book on an NPR talkshow.I was interested from the start and WOW what a different way to look at WWII.

Difficult to put down!
This is a really fascinating story with lots of interesting "characters".With the Stroke of a Pen is interesting on several levels: a behind the scenes look at the French literary world, an intimate look at everyday French life and a comprehensive discussion about the French Resistance and collaborationists during WWII who were sometimes one in the same. Staman does a great job setting the scene from indepth character descriptions to details of everyday life. She is great at walking the reader through this story as details unfold for her (it is refreshing to see the work that goes into a book, adding validity to all the facts). Staman knows when to share her thoughts and feelings wiht us, and when to let the scene takeover remaining a silent observer. Her creation of conversations is compelling and makes the book very difficult to put down!
I am also happy that Staman did not forget about Bebert (I know I didn't)and the footnote about Jean Loviton at the end was well deserved (sorry that's a bit cryptic, I don't want to give anything away:)

Wow!What a great story.
This is a book that builds and builds.By the end I could not stop reading.It puts events in post World War II France in a way that I had not seen before and arguably sheds new light on both the events of the time and the ultimate impact of the Nazi occupation.A super job of weaving true crime with actual historical events.My favorite kind of book.

Wonderfully written!
Although I am not finished with this book, I wanted to comment that the author (very uniquely) positioned herself within the story she tells...smoothly transitioning from historical accounts of the characters in the novel to what she was doing...feeling...when she came across a new piece of information. I've never read a novel told in this way before. Somehow, it makes an already gripping, true story more real.

Fantastic book thus far!

Unforgettable
There are many forgettable books, there are a few unforgettable books. I own this book,have read it from cover to cover, and found it literally stunning.This story of greed, collusion, and the murder of Robert DeNoel in Nazi occupied Paris is a fascinating and profound tapestry which reveals the threads of a real life murder mystery interwoven with threads of
generalized corruption, collaboration and duplicitous behavior which were the spawn of a fear induced societal mentality.This one is unforgettable. ... Read more

Book Description

Lester Joseph Gillis—better known to the public and press of the 1930s as Baby Face Nelson—was one of a succession of public enemies beginning with John Dillinger and progressing to Bonnie and Clyde, Ma Barker, Machine Gun Kelly, and Pretty Boy Floyd. For decades their stories were largely myths, containing a combination of popular folklore and carefuly crafted FBI fables.

In recent years historians have generated a more factual look at the life and times of the various Depression-era desperados. Until now Baby Face Nelson has remained as enigmatic and one-dimensional as he was then, portrayed by J. Edgar Hoover and newsmen as a trigger-happy punk who looked like a choirboy and killed without a conscience. Finally the full story of his short life can be told.

Using new information that comes from the formerly classified files of the FBI, the Nelson who emerges from the pages of Baby Face Nelson: Portrait of a Public Enemy is a more paradoxical and interesting figure than one might expect. Obviously addicted to crime in his youth and evidently intoxicated with violence near the end of his life, he came from an ordinary, honest middle-class family. In a surprising departure from the gangster norm, Nelson and his wife remained fiercely devoted to one another, and between holdups they often lived a quiet domestic life with their two children and, at times, Nelson’s mother.

The main focus of this biography is on Nelson’s remarkable criminal career, from sensational bank robberies and blazing gun battles up to his death at the age of twenty-five. Many misconceptions are corrected and some of the abuses of the FBI are exposed.BIOGRAPHY ILLUSTRATED; INDEXED 6 3/8” X 9 1/4”, 480 PAGES HARDCOVER ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Best Book
This book is the best book about Baby Face Nelson, I enjoyed reading this book greatly. Everything you wanted to know about Lester Gillis is in this book. Every part of his life was explained in great detail; the authors did not leave anything out. I highly recommend this book to people who are into the depression era gangsters.

awesome
this is the only book you need if you want to know about Baby Face Nelson. I can't say enough good things about this book. I only hope the authors will pen another book about Dillinger.

What A Way to Live
The era of the depression desperado was a very short lived one, but the authors do a great job researching the life of Lester Gillis, aka Baby Face Nelson. Partners in crime such as John Dillinger, Homer Van Meter, Pretty Boy Floyd, and others are included in this book close to 400 pages long. Don't let the length keep you from reading it, because I believe you will find it hard to put down. I especially enjoyed the lengthy section devoted to the fiasco at the Little Bohemia lodge near Rhinelander, Wisconsin, in which federal agents staged a shootout with gangsters. Gillis (Nelson) was responsible for killing one of the agents while another agent killed an innocent person staying at the lodge he thought was a gangster. In any event, the bad guys escaped and lived to fight another day. The price these men paid for their violent lifestyle showed in the tension they constantly lived under as they covered their tracks to avoid detection from the law. At times they wistfully envied the simpler lifestyles of the common man who had an everyday job. I'm not that familiar with the suburbs north of Chicago, but I was confused when the author mentioned that Niles Center is now Wilmette in the picture section of the book, and then on page 361 Niles Center is referred to now as Skokie. Was Niles Center part of both suburbs? This is a well researched book and easy to read. Make sure you have a good amount of time when you sit down to read it, because you are not going to want to put it down. I highly recommend this book to you.

A very accurate and detailed account.
The image of Baby Face Nelson has been only of a cold-blooded killer without any redeeming qualities. Nickel and Helmer gives us a picture of Nelson as a good family man who did not smoke or gamble, as well as a killer and bank robber.
I highly recommend this well-written and easy to read book. I know it is extremely accurate because of my research on my Pretty Boy Floyd book and another book I am working on about the Dillinger gang.
It is a long book that goes into great detail, but does not have any unnecessary padding. Much new inormation is given on criminals associated with Nelson such as Thomas Carroll and Homer Van Meter.

Baby Face Nelson: Portrait of a Public Enemy
Baby Face Nelson: Portrait of a Public Enemy
by Steven Nickel, William J. Helmer, displays an inside look on the outlaws life from early his childhood to the deadly conclusion during a shoot-out with federal agents in near Barrington, Illinois. The authors did a great job on this book! Good research, combined with lots of fascinating facts. As a proclaimed historian/Memorabilia Collector and author of the forthcoming new book entitled, "Dillinger, The Hidden Truth," I'd like to add that I was very impressed with the accuracy of events mentioned in this incredible story on Baby Face Nelson. I would highly recommend it to all readers interested in criminals of the Great Depression era. ... Read more