Reviews (2)

A biography of of the West's most notorious outlaw gang
The lives of Jesse James and Cole Younger and their brothers are shrouded in myths created by Nineteenth Century journalists who celebrated their deeds and by themselves through the lies they told to cover their tracks and to excuse their crimes. Brant's book attempts to separate reality from legend, covering the James and Younger brothers from birth to death. Her book is not without sympathy for her subjects, but it is by no means an apologia for their manifold sins. Although Brant rightfully sees the origin of their criminal activities in Civil War guerilla warfare which carried over into the atmosphere of bitter reprisals following the war, she also chronicles their slide into simple greed and thrill-seeking. This volume is generous in its presentation of photographs of the outlaw gang, their associates, enemies, and victims, and of the places where they operated.

Excitement, adventure and human drama
Marley Brant is an excellent author, if you want to know the truth about Jesse James, his brother Frank, and their partners in crime you must read this fabulous biography. Brant sticks to this colorful history of the Outlaws in an enormously entertaining writing style. The James and Younger boys are no longer just footmates in some dusty history books but still live in the minds. The real life adventures of these men were more amazing than the fictional accounts that abounded even during their lifetimes. Their exploits in life made them immortal in death ! Marley Brant perseveres in trying to reconcile all the accrued information and misinformation with the historical facts of the James-Younger saga. This book will make you want to travel to Missouri to visit the area as it was during the civil war until 1916. A must ! ... Read more

Book Description

Divorced from the Mob breaks the mob code of silence and describes the life of Andrea Giovino, a woman born and bred into the Mafia, and her inspirational escape. Sexy and street-smart, Giovino married a mob drug runner, earned a seat at '80s nightclub tables next to John Gotti, and took an emotional and bloody ride through organized crime. Hers was also the task of keeping her children safe-keeping the guns out of reach, washing bloodstains out of her husband's clothes-and maintaining the household's front as a model of American domesticity in her quietly luxurious Staten Island neighborhood of doctors and lawyers, all the while helping manage a criminal enterprise that raked in money. A murder, a DEA set-up, and FBI wiretaps finally brought Giovino, her husband, and her brother to the brink of prison. Defiantly, Giovino chose to retain her identity, facing down threats against her life and courageously divorcing herself and her children from the Gambino world of organized crime. Now a model working parent, Giovino has penned this perspective of mob life largely unexplored by film and literature, and a headline-grabbing expose of organized crime told in a voice readers will never forget. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Divorced from the Mob
This was a great book from a Women's perspective on the mob. An amazing life that Andrea has managed to get away from. Despite growing up and not knowing the difference between life in the Mob and the "normal life", it seems that her inside intelligence has won, along with a wonderful faith in the family value.

Please read the book. It's exciting and insightefull! I'm waiting for the next book she writes.

Couldn't put it down
Great book. Well-written. It reads as if Andrea was right there in the room with me telling me these chilling stories. Unlike the Sopranos, this is real and these people aren't at all conflicted about what they do. The book does a great job of showing how someone growing up on the fringes of the mob can get so caught up in it that they become blind to how illegal their actions are. Chilling that people like this could be living quietly next door selling drugs and killing people as if it's any other business, and then you're in the middle of it as their façade of respectability comes crashing down around them. Lots of action.

Held Hostage By This Book!
Normally an in-between-the-other-parts-of-my-busy-life reader, I just could not put this book down.! Giovino's life is fascinating - what a gutsy broad, tender mother, caring human being despite the hard and , one would think, hardening life she has led. Brozek's writing truly captures her voice.,making the whole experience highly vivid, very exciting and truly touching. Hoping for a sequel!

A MUST READ! A GREAT GIFT! ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A Families personal thoughts on the Ambush of Bonnie and Cly
Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed a couple of years before I was born but as I was growing up I was continually asked if I was related to Frank Hamer, so that everyone will know, Frank Hamer was my great Uncle. I have read and reviewed many books and video tapes of the lifes of Bonnie and Clyde and I was very very impressed with way James Knight has written this book. It tells the story as it happened, neither embellishing them as Robin Hoods or playing them down as cold blooded and ruthless killers. I came away from reading the book with a lot better understanding of the minds of Bonnie and Clyde. This book also is the only published item that I have ever seen that identifies two of Frank's brothers in a picture and tells a little of his brothers which were also Texas Rangers. After reviewing the book I let my sister read it and she said the same thing as I have, James Knight has done an outstanding job of telling the story in a very factual and interesting way. His research is outstanding as shown by the minute details he puts in books. I would recommend everyone that is interested in Bonnie and Clyde to read this book to get the real story.

Harrison F. Hamer

Outlaw Star-Crossed Lover Tale is finally told with accuracy
When I was 12 years old back in 1967, my mother allowed me to watch my first "adult" movie - "Bonnie & Clyde". I wanted to see it largely because of the trailer that showed lots of automatic weapon fire (I was a "gun nut" even at that early age) and also because of the stories of the outlaw couple that my Grandparents remembered during the Depression and told me out on their porch on the old farm. I was so mesmerized by the film that I sat through all three matinees and I noticed a strange sight: Lots of people got up and left right before the last scene where Bonnie and Clyde get shot apart. The movie was certainly important: It launched the careers of Beatty and Dunaway as well as Gene Hackman and Gene Wilder. As I recall, it became somewhat of a cult movie on the order of "Easy Rider" and "Billy Jack" - the anti-establishment hero against the cruel society - the "Haves" vs. "The Have Nots". So my interest was peaked, but alas, there was little factual information for a young researcher to grasp - but I didn't have long to wait because less than a year after the Warner Brothers movie, "Playboy" ran a story by outlaw W.D. Jones who rode, robbed and murdered with Bonnie and Clyde. How very different from the movie this account was! My search for the "real" Bonnie and Clyde had begun! Knight's 2003 book is outstanding in its search for the "real" outlaws as well. Knight digs deep with a Rhodes Scholar's intensity - interviewing surviving family members, visiting every outlaw scene in several states, sifting through original documents, displaying more photos/poems/wanted posters than any other B&C book and it makes this fat 230 page volume not only a reseacher's "dream", but it reads like a rich novel. Every gun fight is carefully described - down to each side's weapons (a fact I especially like), every movement of the gang is chronicled throughout the two years they terrorized over eight states. And let's face it: Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were very simply "Tattoed Southern White Trash" from the wrong side of the tracks in West Dallas (Clyde was raised in a campground) and they did deplorable deliberate acts like shoot law enforcement officers who were down on the ground, robbed poor folk and blasted innocent storekeepers and civilians. They cut a bloody and awful swath through the South that can only be likened to "Sherman's March". It was bloody and they met the same end they gave others. A bit of poetic justice... I'm very, very impressed with Knight's effort - he scorns and avoids the "tabloid approach" of simply writing off the pair and their deadly cronies as "one dimensional cartoon gangsters" and delves into their complexity, ironies and paradoxes (one day Clyde would shoot the face off a lawman and the next day kidnap one and ride him around in the car for 400 miles joking along and then release him unharmed). Knight's "Endnotes" are outstanding in this treatise and provide a rich layer of research and facts for a serious reader - these are worth the price of the book alone. Also endearing is a detailed list of all victims, lawmen who ran after them, fellow outlaws who rode in the cars and the Parker/Barrow families. This a great, great read! I could not put it down and spent a wonderful night reading the book with pop-eyed excitement. Knight was especially good to me in answering some questions I had after the reading. This is a top-flight, highly academic - but entertaining read - DO NOT MISS IT! It's tight, right and at places you feel like you're right in the old Ford V-8 with the gang cradling a BAR! - Scott T. Weber

Eyewitness accounts not seen elsewhere
Bonnie And Clyde: A Twenty-First Century Update by James R. Knight (with the assistance of Jonathan Davis) offers a new look at the historical research gathered to date concerning what is arguably America's most famous outlaw couple. Eyewitness accounts not seen elsewhere are the star highlight of this thought-provoking and strongly recommended historical biography, which includes black-and-white photographs and a tell-it-like-it-really-was narrative tone.

THE BEST BONNIE & CLYDE BOOK TO DATE!!!!!!
Finally a promising new look at the most famous outlaw couple in history. I'd like to praise the authors for bringing forth the best written book on Bonnie & Clyde to date. Authors James R. Knight and Jonathan Davis have done an excellent job presenting this updated, factual and honest look at the Barrow gang.
I have read several good books written on Bonnie & Clyde over the years but this one is the best yet. I highly recommend this book to readers interested in learning the inside story with accounts from Marie Barrow and the serious in-depth research by the authors. Good book for collectors! Thank you
Recommended by Tony Stewart, Author of Dillinger, The Hidden Truth."

The One We've Been Waiting For
Jim Knight and Jonathan Davis have crafted the definitive biography of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Combining their own meticulous research and insights with the best of what's been written before--with a special nod to John Neal Phillips' "Running With Bonnie and Clyde"--they have put together a dramatic and exciting but completely factual volume, crammed with previously unknown information and previously unpublished photos. Errors and misconceptions of the past (recycled in nearly every other volume on the Barrow gang and '30's outlaws) are blown away like a burst from a B.A.R. and the truth stands revealed as the gunsmoke clears. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Two mobs Up !!!!!
This has been an excited experience by reading such great book. I concider there should be more books like that which inform and let people know about the truth involved in these events such as Gotti and Gravano connections. ... Read more

Book Description

These stories are as real as they come, it's a rude awakening to life or an existence in the underworld-life underground world, one of money, sex and drugs. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

This has helped me out quite a bit.
I live in a nursing home, and this book has taught me how to deal with all the old biddies that live here. I am getting more attention than ever in the love department. I have also learned how to place myself at the top of all the other old men here, without even having to resort to any weaponry like the fellows in this book. The concepts are really the same; instead of cruising around in a Cadillac, I cruise up and down the halls in my wheelchair. The book has made this managed care facility worth living in!

AIIGHT!
THIS BOOK WAS A SLOW READ FOR ME. ALTHOUGH I READ IT IN 2 DAYS IT STILL DIDNT CAPTURE MY ATTENTION LIKE I HAD WISHED IT WOULD. SOME OF THE STORIES IN THE BOOK ARE MORE CON GAME STROIES THAN PIMPIN. OR HOW A PIMP CONNED HIS WAY INTO PIMPIN ON A BROAD. ALLL IN ALL IT WAS PRETTY GOOD BUT I JUST HOPED FOR MORE. ITS NOT WRITTEN IN A STORY OR HOW TO FORM. ITS MORE OF A BOOK OF DIFFERENT STORIES AND DESCRIPTIONS.

Very good piece....
The pimps bible is a good addition to the other titles such as "Pimp" by Iceberg Slim. He talks about different areas of the game as well a breakdown of the 52 types of pimps. He not only runs down the traditional Pimp but the various flavors of Pimps such as the con pimp, the working pimp, etc.

You can't lose investing the (price) into this book. You'll get your money back and more from the insight and wisdom from what he considers himself, The Master Pimp.

Take it easy, but not too easy...There's plenty of scratch to be made.

Gotta get back to countin this scratch....Be cool now and stay on top of your Pimp education. Check out "American Pimp" and "Pimp's up, Hoe's down" on video. These two are a must have. I'm out.

ALFRED "BILBO" GHOLSON: KING OF THE PIMPS
Greetings...It was a great joy watching "BILBO" work the room at a recent book party for "THE PIMP'S BIBLE: THE SWEET SCIENCE OF SIN"...His charm and romance captivated the long line of fans waiting for autographs...Young and old, male and female awaited their turn with the "KING"...someone asked, "If you were not a Pimp, what will you have done with your life?"...A gallant smile emerged, "I would have been a great boxer like Sugar Ray or Joe Louis."...getting up from his chair, "BILBO", tall, lean, and over six feet, jabbed the air displaying deft moves to the delight of the large crowd...Dressed in a purple silk suit, his prescence and power a sight to behold...With a deep raspy voice, he worked the room with elegant grace...showing off the skills that enable a man to control 25 women at a time...In an age when men have a problem handling one female, "BILBO" is at ease with a bunch at a time...Hey, the more the merrier...You just have to be brave enough to tell women that you have and like a lot of women...When you lie to women about having other women is the first sign that they are in control...You don't have to be a PIMP, but read "THE PIMP BIBLE: THE SWEET SCIENCE OF SIN" and learn how to romance and love the one you with..."BILBO" knows what girls like ...Wandack

This may well be the worst book ever "written"
I'm as fascinated with sex, prostitutes and pimps as the next guy; I have a small collection of (more-or-less scholarly) books on such, in fact. Unfortunately, the Pimp's Bible is unreadable and uninformative; it redefines the word "boring". In keeping with such, even the photographs appear to be Xeroxes. There's nothing here, folks. Absolutely nothing. ... Read more

Book Description

Meticulously combining previously scattered accounts with abundant fresh research, AFTER CAPONE provides a comprehensive and arousing portrait of underworld boss Frank Nitti and his gang's far-reaching power emanating from Chicago in the 1930s. The last word on the life of the cunning mob boss, his life experiences, the people around him, and organized crime in Chicago after Al Capone, this in-depth analysis, based on many years of research and supported by original sources from state and federal archives, is the definitive reference on Nitti's violent life and times.

AFTER CAPONE traces Nitti (born Francesco Raffele Nitto—his name was misspelled on early bond and arrest warrants, and the press always seemed to pen him as "Frank Nitti") from his Italian origins and entry and rise in Chicago's underworld mob to his near-fatal shooting by city detectives, his strange death, and the ultimate downfall of those associated with him. In addition to dispelling popular notions as that Nitti followed Capone to Chicago and was Scarface's cousin, author Mars Eghigian provides an all-encompassing view of Nitti's criminal activities, which stretched farther beyond Chicago than those of any other organized crime family until that time.

Following Capone's incarceration and his eventual release from prison on income tax charges, Nitti was the driving force that expanded the Chicago mob's operations. Moving away from the illegal booze that was the gang's mainstay during Prohibition, he led the mob into the legitimate distribution of alcohol after repeal, labor union racketeering, and attempts to control illicit gambling from coast to coast.

AFTER CAPONE is the first book to present the complete, never-before-told story of one of America's leading crime kingpins. A fascinating and chilling account of mob power, it stands as proof that sometimes fact is indeed stranger than fiction. ... Read more

Book Description

Diane Nichols had no idea that her husband was having an affair with a 19-year-old girl, that is until the girl called to inform her. Diane immediately confronted her husband about the affair. Angry and embarrassed, her husband killed his young mistress. But this story doesn't end here. Diane walks us through the journey that led to forgiveness, her and her husband's salvation, and miraculously, a restored marriage. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

My best friend!
I know this wonderful author. She is a great writer. I am one of her daughters best friends. These are some great people and i hope you read this great book I can't wait too begin.

Gripping
Seldom have I read a book that so completely held my interest, page after page, that had trouble putting it down. The TV and computer stood idly by until I had finished this gripping story. There's a stirring message here for everyone,

Evidence of God's Work
This a an amazing true story of a family whose lives were nearly destroyed by a thoughtless act of the husband and father. It is evidence that by putting their trust in God and the teachings of Jesus Christ people can turn their lives around to have a productive and fruitful future.The book is well written and easy to read and instills a sense of confidence that no matter how "bad"
or unfortunate a situation may be, there is always hope through belief in our Saviour.I commend Diane for writing it and wish the family Grace, Peace and Love.

She is an inspiration to anyone in this situation.
I have seen first hand the Love of God at work in Diane and her children.I have been priviledged to be one of Mariah's 5th grade teachers and have watched her change and grow into a confident pre-teen.There is a peace about this family that can only come throught the Grace of God.The book is an inspiration to anyone who has had to face this walk.It is well written in a easy to read riviting style.I couldn't put it down.Blessings on this family! ... Read more

Book Description

He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson.
He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city.
He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. . . .
--Sherlock Holmes on Professor Moriarty in "The Final Problem"

The Victorian era's most infamous thief, Adam Worth was the original Napoleon of crime.Suave, cunning Worth learned early that the best way to succeed was to steal.And steal he did.

Following a strict code of honor, Worth won the respect of Victorian society.He also aroused its fear by becoming a chilling phantom, mingling undetected with the upper classes, whose valuables he brazenly stole.His most celebrated heist: Gainsborough's grand portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire--ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales--a painting Worth adored and often slept with for twenty years.

With a brilliant gang that included "Piano" Charley, a jewel thief, train robber, and playboy, and "the Scratch" Becker, master forger, Worth secretly ran operations from New York to London, Paris, and South Africa--until betrayal and a Pinkerton man finally brought him down.

In a decadent age, Worth was an icon.His biography is a grand, dazzling tour into the gaslit underworld of the last century...and into the doomed genius of a criminal mastermind. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Very good book, but needed more detail on Worth's crime net
This book does a wonderful job of showing us several of the more appealing parts of Adam Worth's personality and world. For example, Worth's interplay with Robert Pinkerton is very intriguing. However, the book does not detail Worth's criminal network which is supposed to be one of the main reasons for Worth's fame. There are details of only a few of his crimes, and no explanation of how his European-wide criminal empire was organized or functioned. Instead, there is too much verbiage spent on his alleged fascination with a stolen portrait. On the whole, the book is very entertaining, being redolent with the same gaslit old-London atmosphere that makes A. Conan Doyle so engrossing. Note to the author: Worth made it directly to the movies in a flick called "Harry and Walter go to New York", with James Caan and Elliot Gould. Check it out, too!

overly speculative and poorly written
The subject--Adam Worth--and time period of The Napoleon of Crime are fascinating. Unfortunately, the book's attempts to delve into Adam Worth's psychological make-up and motivations are so speculative and sophomoric that they ruin the reading experience. The entire book is structured around Worth's alleged attitude toward a painting he stole at one point in his illustrious career. Again and again the author returns to the painting and Worth's attitude toward it, attempting to create a character study that is entirely without foundation--a testament to the author's ignorance of psychology. As a book or a work of art The Napoleon of Crime has nothing whatsoever to recommend it. One cannot help but speculate that the glowing reviews it received are in part a reflection that the reviewers were writing about one of their own (the author is a prominent journalist). However, if you are interested in Adam Worth, there is no other book in print about him.

The Prince of Theives
If you've found and enjoyed Herbert Asbury's Rogues Gallery, "The Gangs of New York," then by all means read this touching biography. And try to find "Gem of the Prairie" too.

Interesting and almost exciting!
I stumbled upon this book by accident. I am glad I did, even though it's not the best written prose I have read. It provides quite a good chronological view of Adam Worth's crime life. It's actually quite interesting and reveals some interesting items on other personalities through the early 20th century. It is an easy read and can be enjoyed while on the beach or on an airplane.

A magnificent obsession
Evoking all the moral ambiguity of the Victorian Era, Macintyre offers an intriguing portrait of its most accomplished criminal. Adam Worth, alias Henry Raymond (a name appropriated from the recently deceased founder and editor of the "New York Times") masterminded a series of crimes on three continents, rarely participating in them directly and deploring the use of weapons as a failure of the intellect. While his ill-gotten gains allowed him to live unscathed for some years as an English gentleman, the crime central to this biography was one from which he derived no financial benefit for a quarter century.
His personal theft of a Gainsborough portrait of Georgiana, Dutchess of Devonshire, began an association which, in the author's estimate, became an obsession. At the time, Worth was involved in an amicable menage a trois with his partner, Piano Charley Bullard, and an ambitious Irish woman, Kitty Flynn. Kitty elected to marry Bullard but both men enjoyed her favors and two daughters born during the marriage were widely viewed to be Worth's. A year before the theft, she had left for New York, divorced Bullard, and become engaged to another man. It was her action which "pushed Worth into matrimony, but of a very different sort: his elopement with the Dutchess was now transformed into a full-fledged marriage..."
In addition to the rogues' gallery about Worth, all interesting in their own right, two figures stand out: William Pinkerton and J. Pierpont Morgan. Together, they provide the socially respectable base with Worth at the incongruous apex. Pinkerton's avowed purpose of ferreting out wrong-doers did not preclude his admiration for Worth's achievements and he would ultimately become a trusted friend, serving as intermediary for the return of the portrait to its rightful owners. The robber baron Morgan, who would purchase the painting upon its return, appears as Worth's socially respectable counterpart, his outward veneer of propriety concealing sexual incontinence "to an almost pathological degree."
Macintyre has done a fine job in describing the impact of both Worth and the portrait on popular culture: Conan Doyle's Professor Moriarity is the fictional embodiment of the master criminal and successive generations have been fascinated with Georgiana as represented in the painting.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable biography, written with wit and considerable compassion for its complex subject. ... Read more

Book Description

Edwin P. Wilson was the Great Gatsby of the spook world, the rogue CIA agent who had already begun to amass a fortune while still in U.S. intelligence. His lavish estate outside Washington, D.C. was a favored gathering place for senators and congressmen, admirals and generals, and for key intelligence officers. Both the CIA and the FBI were aware of Wilson's secret, illegal weapons-trafficking activities with Libya's Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, but they had done nothing to stop him. To everyone who knew him, Edwin Wilson seemed above the law.

Then, U.S. attorney Larry Barcella discovered Wilson's sinister machinations, and in a chase that would go on for nearly four years and over three continents, Barcella began a manhunt that would not end until Wilson was brought to justice.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

good read
Maas is a good story teller and he keeps your attention the whole while as he takes you from the beginnings of Wilson's thirst for money at age 8 to his acquisition of prime property in the Washington, D.C. area as a result of his secretive and illegal dealings with foreign powers. Though CIA senior officers were members along with him in phoney corporations he set up to conduct his "import-export" business), any official connection to the CIA while all this was going on isn't clear. Yet the prospect of any CIA connection to Wilson's shipments of thousands of pounds of C-4 (plastique) to Libya and Mohamar Kaddafi is, indeed, very troubling. As the author pointed out, when jets started falling out of the air (Lockerbie) and discos blowing up (Rome), you couldn't help but feel that if not for Wilson, many of these things might not ever have happened. It seems that whereever 20th century evil was to be found, the CIA was either right there, or not too far behind.

This doesn't give you any great insights into the inner workings of the world of spooks, but it is certainly an interesting read and does afford at times a look at how the Justice and State Departments work--or fail to work. ... Read more

Book Description

With deadpan humor and obvious affection, Five-Finger Discount recounts the story of an unforgettable New Jersey family of swindlers, bookies, embezzlers, and mobster-wannabes. In the memoir Mary Karr calls “a page-turner,” Helene Stapinski ingeniously weaves the checkered history of her hometown of Jersey City—a place known for its political corruption and industrial blight—with the tales that have swirled around her relatives for decades. Navigating a childhood of toxic waste and tough love, Stapinski tells an extraordinary tale at once heartbreaking and hysterically funny. ... Read more

Reviews (41)

The Town and the Family
In "Five Finger Discount," Helene Stapinski has given us a memoir of both a town and a family. Jersey City, NJ, has long been considered the most corrupt town in the US, and from Ms. Stapinski's history of crime and politics the town deserved its appellation. It also seems her family deserved its place in the town, with a history of petty crime that started with the grandparents and ran its way through the generations. Although "Five Finger Discount," is localized, I think Ms. Stapinski has written about many Northeastern, immigrant, industrial communities. I grew up in Erie, PA, and her stories were not foreign to me. The numbers, the goods fallen off the backs of trucks, the crooked politicians and police figured enough in my life, and in the life of the Polish ghetto we finally escaped that "Five Finger Discount," could have easily been about Erie, if not in kin, at least in kind.

The one shortfall of this memoir occurs within the memoir of place. For a non-Jersey-ite I felt the extent of the history of Jersey City slowed the narrative. I could have done with less. For folks who live in the region, however, I'm sure the history will prove fascinating. Whenever my interest would lag, though, "Five Finger Discount," would return to the family. The strength of the memoir lies in the melding of both, but for me the family stories proved more rewarding than the sociology.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in a good family story mixed with true crime.

A riveting, moving, and groundbreaking memoir
This memoir of growing up in Jersey City breaks new ground. So many recent memoirs have focused, to a degree that borders on narcissism, on the author and his/her immediate family, ignoring the world outside.

But in "Five-Fingered Discount," the author's life is set in a larger, richer context: a legendarily corrupt, decaying industrial American city in the 1970s. Stapinski shows us the fascinating ways in which family history is influenced by political history, and the mores of political leaders become social mores. This memoir expands our understanding of the relationship between the self and society, and gives fresh currency to the cliché that "the personal is political."

It is also wildly entertaining. If you can imagine some of the characters and situations from "The Sopranos" in a memoir that's as nearly as compelling and readable as "Angela's Ashes," you might have some sense of what this book is like. Stapinski has great material, an she makes the most of it. Her family is populated by a colorful cast of grifters, con artists, hustlers and madmen. And Jersey City itself is a town so corrupt that the local newspaper once ran a headline reading "No City Officials Indicted Today."

Stapinski's stories are wonderful, and she is a gifted storyteller. But what really holds this book together is her moral vision. She depicts Jersey City's moral squalor, physical ugliness, provincial mindset, and stupidity ("Jersey City logic") with biting wit and gimlet-eyed clarity. My parents, who were born and bred in Jersey City, have read this book, and they tell me its portrayal of near-universal graft and corruption rings all too true.

Yet the author shows deep affection and empathy for many of the people who have lived there. I was especially touched by her portrayal of her very hard-working, very loving parents. So many recent memoirs have been virtual calvacades of family dysfunction - when was the last time you read about a loving, healthy parent/child relationship? Stapinski depicts her parents in a very believable, unidealized way, with a great deal of love and understanding. Anyone who claims this book is overly cynical could not have read it very carefully, because in the parts about Stapinski's parents, husband, and baby there is abundant evidence of her big heart.

This book has some flaws - the writing is occasionally careless and slapdash, and sometimes the narrative loses its drive and focus when Stapinski tells stories that she was not involved in and that happened to someone else. But it remains an impressive achievement. Though, in my judgment, "Angela's Ashes" is still the gold standard in the current memoir boom, "Five-Fingered Discount" is not far behind.

All too true
I grew up in the Greenville section of Jersey City in the 60's and 70's and I think that Helene Stapinski's depiction of Jersey City is spot-on. Not only was it a dreary and dirty place to live, it was also filled with some of the most narrow-minded, intolerant and racist people I ever had the misfortune of knowing. I attended Catholic grade school and high school there, but after graduation I moved away, and my family did the same a few years later. Despite assurances by some of my relatives that the place had changed, I went back to visit a friend who teaches at St. Peter's College and it was still the same Jersey City, complete with the same tight-faced people riding the #10 bus down Kennedy Blvd. Stapinski's book may not be popular among the locals, but her depiction is true.

Jersey City crime family
Stapinski escaped a Polish-Italian American legacy of petty crime and violence when she fled to college in Manhattan and a career in journalism, but she never entirely escaped her roots in Jersey City, a smelly city in the age of urban deterioration. This salty account of her growing up years across the river from New York joins the ranks of other memoir, coming-of-age tales that are so popular right now.

What a family !
Helene Stapinskis story of her Polish immigrant family is a real eye-opener into the way of life of a New Jersey family of crooks. Tony Soprano eat your heart out ! Almost without exception, the males in the family are either in jail, going to jail or coming out of jail and are into every lurk and perk possible.The boys in the extended family have no hope from childhood, growing up in a depressed neighbourhood amongst ugliness in the old buildings and deserted factories. Getting food and "swag that fell off the back of trucks"is a way of life and conditions them to thinking that stealing is ok if you're not caught, right from childhood. I found it an interesting read as it exposed a world totally foreign to me and almost nonchalantly recorded the chicanery of the local political systems. It could have been a very depressing story except for the way that she describes the strength and weaknesses of the women of the family who hold the whole structure together. ... Read more

Book Description

Robert Hanssen was a twenty-five-year veteran FBI agent whose job was to help track enemy agents and make sure that American security was maintained. He was a good man who went to daily mass, sent his kids to Catholic school, and was devoted to his wife, Bonnie.

Or so it seemed.

Now, veteran reporters Ann Blackman and Elaine Shannon tell the truth about Robert Hanssen, the most damaging FBI agent in history, a sly traitor who for more than two decades eluded spy hunters while selling out his country.

On the surface, this awkward son of a Chicago cop was a most unlikely spy. But behind the façade of normalcy, Hanssen was a seething, arrogant man who had spent his life harboring resentments and weaving a web of lies. The "loyal" FBI agent spent two decades selling some of our nation's most valuable secrets, brutally betraying other agents. The "loyal" husband had a bizarre relationship with a stripper. The "loyal" Catholic worked on behalf of an atheistic ideology. Single-handedly he devised and operated his spying operation from within the ranks of the most exclusive, sophisticated, and carefully guarded counter-espionage organization in the world. Blackman and Shannon show how and why he was ignored, even after misgivings about Hanssen's attitude and personality. They also describe the destruction wrought by Hanssen over twenty-one years as a double agent, and how, after he confessed to his wife and priest, no one did anything to stop him.

Digging deep into Hanssen's past, Blackman and Shannon have discovered remarkable evidence that helps explain how he decided to betray his country and create a shocking double life. A virtuoso piece of investigative reporting, The Spy Next Door doesn't just read like a spy thriller-it is a spy thriller, full of stolen documents, battling agents, secret dead drops, lies, and deception. At its heart is one of the most fascinating and mysterious characters in American history, a man who hid the dark side of his personality from everyone-until now. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

A good read, but is something missing?
I enjoyed this fast paced view into the life of a turncoat. Some interesting introductions to Opus Dei too. However, I found one glaring inconsistency that makes me wonder if something is left unsaid...

The fouth page into Chapter 17 (page 199 in my hardcover edition) the authors detail an investigation into a suspected spy at the FBI. Interviewing his children they "...seconded their father's assertion that his computer skills weren't remotely sufficient to have enabled him to encrypt messages to the KGB on diskettes."

In my reading of the book this occurs before October 1999. This is a full year earlier than the November 2000 acquisition of the KGB files that contained the encrypted diskettes. At the time of the interview the intelligence services did not have the details of Hanssen's betrayal. They supposedly knew nothing about the diskettes.

Did I miss something in the story? Or did the intelligence services know more about the betrayal before October 1999 than the book tells us?

Anyone else find this curious?

A Great Story
This book was a good read. It seemed to be more thoroughly researched(although there are still open questions) and was not simply rushed out by two greedy authors capitalizing on recent events.

I understand that Bob and Bonnie Hansen's position was not represented in this book. I would've liked more concrete evidence rather than author speculation, but that is implausible in this case.

With the amount of research and time that was invested in this book, I am reasonably satisfied with the result and give this book 4 stars

Interesting, but thorough?
I have to rate this book at 3 stars. Why? At only 230+ pages, I have to wonder if the book wasn't a rush to judgement and was not as thoroughly researched as it could have been. Basically, the book is a good, quick read and gives the reader an overall view of Bob Hanssen and his exploits as a spy. However, there are a few things that make me believe the book could have been better.

First of all, there was a lengthy dissertation about Opus Dei. Shannon never really adequately explained how the Opus Dei may have contributed to Hanssen's behavior as a spy. Secondly, she mentioned his interest in internet pornography. Well...so how did that affect Hanssen's behavior? She doesn't explain that, so one wonders what was the point of mentioning his interest in pornography in the first place. Third, as another reader mentioned, there are no bibliographies nor an index, nor are there any photos. I have to question Shannon's notes if she doesn't reference them.

Nevertheless, the book is worth a read. I think the book would have benefitted from a better psychoanalysis of Hanssen. ...

Very Interesting
I was intrigued by the information in this book.I wanted more detail and a clearer understanding. I remember searching for this book and waiting for it to arrive. I was a little disappointed that it was not better, having seen several interviews with the authors.
I have found that "Spy" by David Wise is a more detailed and better written book. I believe Robert Hanssen and his family cooperated with Mr Wise.

The spy next door.
This is a very well written book and well researched. I have read 4 of the Hannsen books because I was in military intelligence while serving in the US Army. This is well worth reading and the two women did a great job on this book. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Two Thumbs Way, Way Down
Yet another example crops up in America's self torture over JFK Conspiracy Theories. Although some of the author's notes have proved useful to me in my own research on New Orleans Crime, I could not help but feel disapointed that he wouldn't shut his fat face about the Kennedy Assassination. What the hell is he smoking! Does he take us all for a pack of idiots?! There is so much evidence Oswald was alone, that any attempt to pin the act on a "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" would have to make it the one that Oliver Stone described. In a word, so huge and so extensive as to be nothing but a big joke. (The FBI and the CIA working together, that's the one I really loved!) Mr Davis would have been better served if he had just stuck to the story of one of America's most notorious criminals, instead of chasing off on some drug induced conspiracy theory. That is why my only regret is that I couldn't give this book no stars. This book wasn't worth the paper it was written on.

Best Yet
I have read this book, not that I really needed to, but I'm honestly just curious as to what makes Ms. Fischer think that she has any knowledge of the the workings of the Marcello family. It's just really interesting to me what people think that they know.

Interesting, but Highly Overated
For some reason it is highly difficult to find reliable information on the New Orleans Mafia. This book remains one of the great symptoms of the disease. The story I wanted to hear, that of the rise and fall of the Mafia's "First Family," consistently takes a back seat to the author's crackhead theories about the JFK Assassination. In truth, the Marcello Crime Family was not, nor did it behave like a Colombian Drug Cartel. I look forward very much to the publication of a more realistic accout of this truly fascinating subject, possibly by George Anastasia or Jerry Capeci. I trust that I will not be forced to do this myself.

G-R-E-A-T BOOK
John H. Davis doesn't leave a stone unturned, at least as far as Carlos Marcello's complicity in the assassination. If, after reading this book, you don't think Marcello played a part in this crime, ... This book puts you right into the world of Carlos Marcello, almost as though you were experiencing it with your own eyes. Also impressive was Davis' insight into the wacky world of the U.S. Government. In the years since this book was first published, it has been even further established from numerous informants that the actual shooters were three Corsican underworld hitmen from Marseille: Lucien Sarti, Francois Chiappe, and Jean-Paul Angeletti. ...

Gripping, spell bounding .
Cross referencing info in this book would make it possible to catch the real killers, it's just that accurate. You never want to put this one down!Even after you finish, you'll read it again. I read it all the time. And everytime I do I come across another important fact. This book would help the government find the killers, if in fact the government WANTED to find them. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Yeggs, Gay Cats and Bindle Stiffs
Among other things, Black's 1926 autobiography is a dictionary of the gangster-hobo lexicon of the 1880s and 90s. Black and his colleagues blow open safes with "dan," then throw back "mickies of Dr Hall" and eat chicken "mulligans" around campfires at "bum conventions." That is, after they clear out the "gay cats" and "scissor bills."

It's also a thoroughly wonderful read. "You Can't Win" tells the life-story of Jack Black, who at sixteen leaves home heading "westbound in search of adventure," which he finds, along with a band of outlaw friends, frequent stints in jail, and a gripping addiction to opium. Black hypnotized me with his exploits on the road and in prison, tales that are part how-to's on house burglary, part nail-biting crime stories, part insider's critique of the criminal justice system. Black presents a detailed portrait of a bygone American West, where a small-town quaintness juxtaposes with the rough-and-tumble lawlessness of frontier mining culture. It's a time of transition in America, and Black's narrative captures both the innocence and the sophistication. Some scenes I imagined in sepia tones: Black breaks out of rickety jails with a pocketknife and exchanges unreliable paper money for gold. But as Black runs an opium ring from inside a San Francisco prison and orchestrates a mob murder of a double-crossing ex-girlfriend, I realized Black's world has plenty in common with our contemporary one.

Looking a little deeper, though, I had doubts about the reliability of Black as a narrator. I suppose memoirs, autobiographies and histories are by necessity narratives that select and omit details, and assemble countless events into a few hundred pages with a coherent plot and moral. But it's the autobiographer's challenge to win readers to his or her version of the story by eliciting our pathos and gaining our trust. Early in the book, Black succeeds completely. His direct, plain-speaking confessional introduces the ethical code of the Johnson Family, a fraternity of safe-cracking and house-robbing "yeggs" who treat their livelihood as a professional guild. Black's unfaltering commitment to the code and this community won my respect and admiration.

But at some point I became aware of glaring omissions that interrupted the narrative continuity and unseated my wholehearted trust. The book chronicles 35 years of Black's adventures, many of which take place in mining towns, skid-row bars and gambling halls, so it's not terribly surprising how few women characters make an appearance. But his relationship with one who does, Irish Annie, drew my attention to the question of authorial reliability. Annie's a prostitute whom he helps out of jam in Chicago. Later they meet again in Canada and Black lives in her brothel, content to let everyone think he's "Annie's protector and the man about the place," but he denies any sort of romantic relationship. Then Annie surfaces a third time: "a scorned woman" who takes her revenge corroborating a story that puts Black back in jail. Whether or not their relationship was more intimate than Black admits, I began to wonder what key details, what important adventures, didn't make the "autobiography." When Black recounts Annie's murder by a friend of his, he suggests this unnamed member of the Johnson Family decided to kill Annie on his own, an independent retaliation for her breach of the underworld creed. I suspected, however, that Black's role in the crime was more direct, and his storytelling had become less so.

Nonetheless, "You Can't Win" is a captivating and lyrical adventure story. It's written with the pace, diction and style of the best hard-boiled crime novels of its own era. And it has a voyeuristic appeal as powerful as contemporary gangster tales like Monster Kody Scott's "Monster: The Autobiography of an LA Gang Member" or Richard Price's "Clockers." Like "Monster," in fact, "You Can't Win" has the added pleasure of a book that sparks your thinking about narrative devices, truthfulness and the purpose of autobiography.

Snapshot of Hidden Americana
"You Can't Win" is an economically-written autobio that scorches through a vagabond criminal's life from episode to episode, drawing a clear map of the American West and Canada at the turn of the last century, laced by railroads and dotted with crummy little junction towns, booming mining camps, cities like San Francisco or Vancouver just beginning to form themselves into outposts of civilization. Jack Black is a natural storyteller, perhaps learning how to frame an episode and bring home the punch line while sitting around the campfires of hobo jungles. He's also an expert observer of people, perhaps because of his profession of sizing up victims while watching out for plainclothes police. His style connects with Dickens, especially the quick, incisive way he delineates each of the characters who fill the book with their distinctive patter, clothes, and habits. Black writes about reading everything he could, and I think he's somewhat deliberate in his expositions. The book is also fairly Romantic - Black's editing out of his personal sexuality, his love of the outdoors, enjoyment of companionship, are 19th-Century sentiments. It reminded me of Brendan Behan's "Borstal Boy," also about incarceration and the criminal life, without the sex - where Behan is fairly obvious in his affections for his cellmates, Black is silent. "You Can't Win" reminded me of "Black Range Tales," another rare personal experience of the real Old West, written by Uncle Jimmy McKenna, a silver prospector who worked and traveled in many of the same places at the same times as Black. McKenna manages to be just as interesting (and romantic) as Black, without the heinous crimes or drug addiction. Black's best quality is his refusal, here, to feel sorry for himself or place blame for his plight on anything but his own choices.

"There are things you should not know." -Pee Wee Herman
I read this book last summer and absolutely loved it. As a student of modern mathematics I was struck by the systemic approach that the author adopted to solving life's problems. The level of criminal sophistication rises on each new page. If one were able to truly generalize the ideas in this tome work would remain an unpleasant memory indefinitely. The part about him going straight in the end was sort of cool too - I guess.

One of the most captivating books ever written
I first discovered Jack Black's 'You Can't Win', as I suspect many readers did, when I found out that it was William S Burroughs' favourite book. Until I read it, though, I couldn't imagine just how big an influence it was on Burroughs - who drew upon its style, and the code of honour it describes, for the entirety of his writing career.

When you read Burroughs' foreword to this edition of 'You Can't Win', it hits you that he didn't (as you might assume with a favourite book) reread the book regularly. Rather, he memorised the book as a boy, and then throughout his life 'read' the version memorised in his own mind. Even the passages that Burroughs quotes in the foreword aren't word-for-word precise (I compared them with the text of the book proper), because they've been committed to myth and memory, and are recited in ritualistic fashion.

All of which aside, 'You Can't Win' deserves to be known as more than just 'the book that inspired Burroughs'. It's written in a plain, unsentimental style which has as much in common with the writing of Charles Bukowski as it does with the Beats - a style of writing which reached its apotheosis with 'The Grass Arena', the harrowing autobiography of the British alcoholic vagrant John Healy. (Now, someone should teach a literature class comparing 'You Can't Win' and 'The Grass Arena' - THAT would be an inspiration.) What these writers have in common is that when you read them, you instantly think: 'Now this is good, compelling, uncluttered prose.'

Many of those who have posted reviews below rightly praise Jack Black's memorable language and characterisation, which make 'You Can't Win' into a kind of turn-of-the-century lexicon and encyclopaedia of the life of American thieves and hobos. But I was even more struck by Black's remarkable resolve, self-dependency and moral fortitude, and above all his categorical refusal to feel sorry for himself, or to let the reader feel sorry for him.

Three passages in the book in particular, all of which concern prison, are horrific - two passages in which Black is punished by flogging, and an absolutely unbearable passage in which he is tortured in a straitjacket by a sadistic prison warden. If these passages had been written by a lesser writer, I could not bear to read them. But Black takes the reader firmly by the hand, conveys what happened to him, and moves on.

Describing the first flogging: 'It would not be fair to the reader for me to attempt a detailed description of this flogging.... If I could go away to some lonely, desolate spot and concentrate deeply enough I might manage to put myself in the flogging master's place and make a better job of reporting the matter. But that would entail a mental strain I hesitate to accept, and I doubt if the result would justify the effort.'

Describing the second flogging: 'To make an unpleasant story short, I will say he beat me like a balky horse, and I took it like one - with my ears laid back and my teeth bared. All the philosophy and logic and clear reasoning I had got out of books and meditation in my two years were beaten out of me in 30 seconds, and I went out of that room foolishly hating everything a foot high.'

Describing being tortured in a straitjacket: 'Every hour Cochrane came in and asked if I was ready to give up the hop. When I denied having it, he tightened me up some more and went away. The torture became maddening. Some time during the second day I rolled over to the wall and beat my forehead against it trying to knock myself out. Cochrane came in, saw what I was doing, and dragged me back to the middle of the cell. I hadn't strength enough left to roll back to the wall, so I stayed there and suffered.'

Black opens the book with a description of his own face, and fittingly enough, there is a photograph of him near the front of the book. Many times while reading 'You Can't Win', I found myself flicking back to look at that careworn, yet amiable face, and picturing Black's exploits in my mind. The afterword to this edition, which outlines Black's life after the book was published, is equally fascinating - I was moved almost to tears to read that he simply vanished in 1932, and was strongly suspected of having tied weights to his feet and thrown himself into New York Harbour.

Of course, 'You Can't Win' is a unique and priceless document of a bygone American era. But lest you find yourself feeling nostalgic for this way of life - as readers are prone to feel, whenever they read vivid descriptions of times before they were born, and as William S Burroughs is certainly guilty of feeling in his foreword - Black cautions us against precisely this kind of nostalgia (and ironically, uses an irresistibly romantic description of the past to do so):

'I'm not finding fault with these brave days of jungle music, synthetic liquor, and dimple-kneed maids, and anybody that thinks the world is going to the bowwows because of them ought to think back to San Francisco or any big city of 20 years ago - when train conductors steered suckers against the bunko men; when coppers located "work" for burglars and stalled them while they worked; when pickpockets paid the police so much a day for "exclusive privileges" and had to put a substitute "mob" in their district if they wanted to go out of town to a country fair for a week. Those were the days when there were saloons by the thousand; when the saloonkeeper ordered the police to pinch the Salvation Army for disturbing the peace by singing hymns in the street; when there were race tracks, gambling unrestricted, crooked prize fights; when there were cribs by the mile and hop joints by the score. These things may exist now, but if they do, I don't know where. I knew where they were then, and with plenty of money and leisure I did them all.'

I Couldn't Put It Down
This book was unknown to me - I received it as a gift from a friend, and it's a great read, not just for its insights into the prison system near the turn of the 20th century, but also for its vivid picture of the vast differences between the Canadian and American systems at that time - which is itself an eye-opener that accounts for the vast differences we see today between the Canadian justice/penal system and its American counterpart, or for that matter, the differences between American and Canadian society. As a Canadian, it was refreshing to see an American criminal's viewpoint about this. And it re-affirmed my faith in the superiority of the Canadian system, thanks to Jack Black's vivid and entertaining commentary. ... Read more

Book Description

To some, Jesse James was a Robin Hood, a mythic figure of righteous retribution. To others he was the devil incarnate, a bloodthirsty hooligan, and cold-blooded killer. The disparity between these views is often attributed to an almost invisible link between the marauding Missouri guerrilla bands of the Civil War and the general lawlessness that plagued the Old West.

For more than twenty-five years Ted Yeatman combed through the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and numerous historical societies and private collections—including those of many James family members and Jesse’s great grandson—to produce this thorough examination of the careers of Frank and Jesse James. The result is a complete account of the James brothers during the Civil War, their sixteen years of notoriety, and the lives of those who outlived Jesse.

In 1866 the legend of the James brothers began with the first successful peacetime daylight bank robbery. It ended in 1882, when Jesse was killed by Bob and Charlie Ford while the three of them planned the robbery of the Platte City Bank. The fact that former gang members turned on Jesse later led Frank to surrender voluntarily to the governor of Missouri and face a trial. He was never convicted.

Ted Yeatman has created a thoroughly documented narrative that will be satisfying both to readers who know little about the James brothers and those who have read everything in print about them. Also included are dozens of heretofore unpublished illustrations and photographs of the people, places, and artifacts associated with the notorious James bandits. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Frank and Jesse James
"Frank and Jesse James" tells the story of these two most celebrated outlaws of the late nineteenth century. The story of the James brothers is fascinating and the author manages to document their story quite fully and, presumably, quite accurately. In particular, he appears to succeed in separating the historical facts, as best they can be determined, from the myth and the legend that has always surrounded the James brothers. However, I found that it took a real effort for me to get through this short book. Quite simply, I found the book to be poorly written. Turgid sentences, ambiguous syntax, and frequent paragraphs that combine seemingly unrelated ideas abound. I found that there were numerous incidents related that were hard to follow, other than in the most general sense, many of which had seemingly little to do with the main thrust of the book. The author simply doesn't write well and the editors either didn't know it or, worse, didn't care. The story of the James brothers is fascinating, but getting through Yeatman's book takes a real effort. However, I'd rate it three just on the merits of the story alone.

Fact, not fiction, about Frank and Jesse James
I have read any number of books about the notorious James boys and this one is no doubt the best. There are other books that would deceive you with made-up dialogue, and dubious "facts". I think there's probably a market for that sort of book, though, unfortunately, and some who are disappointed by this book may be expecting more of the same old legend, dished out for over a century, with a few more ruffles and flourishes. This is typical for many areas of the story of the old West, not just the James story. The author doesn't get into long-winded descriptions of the weather the night that a robbery was pulled, or what was going through Jesse's mind as he waited for a train. He wasn't there, can't read minds over a century, and the accounts usually don't say what the weather was like. Some lesser writers would have made it up out of whole cloth. You are not going to please everybody. The story is fascinating, once you get into it. Some people with a limited education or attention span may find parts tough going, though. I found it fairly easy reading, but it's a 480 page book covering over a century and a half of material. This is a complex story and there are plenty of characters that play their respective part in what is an American epic. The James boys did not leave memoirs of their deeds. There are only a few letters that survive. Much of what we have comes from court records, and newspaper accounts, as well as some scattered correspondence. It's truly amazing what other writers failed to locate in the historical record. If I had one book on the subject, this would be it.

The best work since Settle...
Ted Yeatman has produced the best work on the James brothers since William Settle's 1966 "Jesse James Was His Name". His well-documented research over two decades has paid off with what I, a long-time researcher into the subject myself, consider a "must-have" volume for any James buff. Many books on this subject have appeared over the years, but Yeatman stands head and shoulders above the rest. Many specifics concerning Frank and Jesse are open to speculation, and Yeatman avoids the pitfall of expressing his opinions as facts--a lesson most writers on this subject have yet to learn.

Wanted, dead or alive: a good storyteller
Somehow, author Ted Yeatman has made Jesse and Frank James boring. One has to admire the depth and breadth of his research into the lives of the notorious Missouri outlaws, but what was desperately needed here was a co-author who knew how to tell a good story. One bank or train robbery sounds pretty much like all the others in Yeatman's plodding account, and I could not keep the brothers' numerous gang members straight -- the author does nothing to make them come alive as individuals. The appendices and bibliographical notes are rather awe-inspiring -- Yeatman has done his homework, and then some -- but getting through this book is a hard slog.

Well researched but an amazingly tiresome read!
I could not believe how a subject so fascinating could be retold in such a ponderous manner. Yes it is very well researched-and the author deserves high praise for this. Yes the intentions are good - to tell the story in an unbiased way and uncover new information that has not yet come to light on the subject BUT the details often border on the mundane and irrelevant and get in the way distracting you from the story. There are great moments in this book but you need to go through with a marker pen to highlight them. I found that the James boys were discussed/talked about relatively little 120 pages on into the book and I'd say information relating to who/what they were and incidents relating to them in particular probably amounted to20 odd pages - the rest is about family relations and background info. interesting but presented in a muddled incoherent way. The interesting bits relating to the James boys themselves are often skipped over. Read this book by all means - I'm pleased I have it in my collection, but I think there are more direct/intimate accounts out there are on the market.

Verdict: A tremendous effort but an average result. Sorry - and I was hoping so much for this book... ... Read more

Book Description

Rabbi Mark Borovitz was a mobster, gangster, con man, gambler, thief, and drunk. He has seen it all. Now, in this inspiring memoir, he takes you on a journey from the streets to discovering his soul in a ten-by-twelve-foot prison cell.

When Mark was fourteen, his father died and his world came crashing down. Within months, he was selling stolen goods for the mob out of his high school locker, beginning a twenty-year life of crime that ran the gamut from bar hustles and con games to check-cashing scams.

Mark stole and gambled and drank, all the while trying to be the good son, the good brother, the good boy, but his life only spun more out of control until the mob put a hit out on him. From Cleveland he moved to Los Angeles, virgin territory, and amped up his hustles, schemes, and cons. Then came prison, but it only served to increase his legend, and he played every angle and then some in the prison yard.

After his release, the drinking and thieving continued unabated until, at the edge of oblivion, Mark experienced a moment of true divine intervention, a startling revelation that both saved his life and sent him back to prison, where he actually wanted to be. There he found the keys to saving his soul.

Mark Borovitz proves that you can change your life -- profoundly. He is now the rabbi at Beit T'Shuvah in Los Angeles, the House of Return, a rehabilitation facility for addicts of all kinds. Mark knows what these people feel and who they are because he was one of them. He is now, as he says, an advocate for the soul.

The Holy Thief is the remarkable memoir of an amazing man. It is a true-life gangster story, a passionate love story, and a case study in redemption. Regardless of your faith, you will find Mark's story tragic, funny, uplifting, and inspirational.

Book Description

Did Billy the Kid escape to die in 1950 in Hico Texad?W.C. Jameson analyzes the evidence, including use of new technology to produce a compelling case for Billy's survival. ... Read