Book Description

It is the late sixties, a time of intense social and generational upheaval. Into this maelstrom came a man who broke the mold. A working class, Brooklyn-born, Italian cop with long hair, a beard, and a taste for operaand ballet. Most of all, Frank Serpico was a man who couldn't be silenced -- or bought.

For years a culture of corruption had pervaded the New York City Police Department. Police payoffs, protection, and shakedowns of gambling rackets and drug dealers were common practice. The so-called bluecode of silence protected the minority of crooked cops from the sanction of the majority.

Reviews (12)

A Great Man, But a Very Biased Story
I'd like to begin by saying that Serpico is a very great man. Without question he is one of my heroes. I respect his complete integrity. I think this book should be required reading. It shows the importance of integrity. However, I have one major criticism of the book. When Peter Maas wrote it, he had his own agenda. He wrote the book after he wrote The Valachi Papers. Valachi placed Italian-Americans in a negative light. So Maas wanted to focus on an extremely positive American of Italian descent. The only problem is that he did so at the cost of giving fair credit to other people who were involved. In the book and film, Serpico's former friend, David Durk, is reduced to a very secondary role. In fact, the book suggests that Durk's reasons for fighting corruption alongside Serpico are politically motivated. I've read other books about Serpico and Durk. Serpico was certainly incorruptible and a paragon of virtue. However, he would not have gone to the Knapp Commission if Durk had not persuaded him to do so. The two fought corruption together. A proper book would have been entitled SERPICO AND DURK. Maas story is quite exciting. Serpico was very much a street cop. Durk, on the other hand, although equally incorruptible, was a desk cop. They are both men of the highest caliber, and both deserve equal praise. Although I'm disappointed about the treatment of Durk, I still think Serpico is must reading. (P.S. Amazon, you should refer readers to Durk's biography, which is entitled CRUSADER. It's certainly not nearly as exciting as SERPICO, but Serpico does play a large part in the book.

The Book that made Pacino Great!!!
Peter Maas artistically tells a story of a man who always wanted to be a "good cop." Unfortunately, the dream is shattered when Frank Serpico confronts wide-spread corruption in the NYC Police Department. The famous Knapp Commission is a result of Serpico's complaints about corruption on the force.

Unfortunately, Peter Maas's story could be told about many large urban police departments. Make no mistake about it, corruption, bigotry, and racism are all a part of law enforcement. It was the case back in the 60's - 70's, and it is still the case today. Consequently, Peter Maas's story about "one good cop" fighting a sea of corruption is still relevant today.

The story drags at times. But, otherwise, it is quick reading. It is definitely a story that needs to be read. Hence, I recommend this book. Police corruption is still a current topic. But, more importantly, Serpico's story is one of hope. At least there is "one good cop" out there trying to make a difference. And, knowing this, has made a difference in the way I view law enforcement professionals. That is, they are not all bad.

Extraordinarily fascinating!
Serpico! The name that brings chills to my bones. Serpico and Donnie Brasco are my two heroes in the world of criminal justice. Serpico's life mission is not just cleaning out the bad guys, but bad guys posing as good guys, COPS! And the way he risks his life in the process, simply tells a story of a moral beam behind the corruption of the so called blue wall of silence.

Another Good Book by Maas
I would recomend this book.It is well written and enjoyable to read.Serpico I believe is a hard person to write about so some of the fact are kind of fuzzy.What I would have liked to read is what happened to Serpico after he dissapeared.There is nothing in the book about this though.If you are interested in NYPD true stories this is the one to start with .There is another book that kind of goes with this one called Varnish Brass-the decade after Serpico it is by Barbra Gelb

Should be read by all Americans
Along with Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," this book should be familiar reading to all Americans. While the 1906 classic exposes the horrors of capitalism, this 1973 masterpiece details the corruption and graft in an institution we have been taught to believe is always noble and honest. The setting and scene is New York, the largest police force in the country.
Serpico finds the bad guys and brings them in for booking, only to have his fellow cops pander and play with the gangsters, as if the latter have a closer association than they do with Serpico. Throughout the organization of the force, corruption is rife. Little deals and major attitudes and processes that undermine the civil security force are nicely interwoven into this book, which details Serpico's path through the ranks from a cadet, to a beat cop, to a detective, until the last trial, when Serpico's shooting (possibly by his own force, an incident that opens the book) is more fully examined.
Horrible to contemplate, too credible to ignore, this book is a must for all Americans. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

True story of a man's quest for freedom
The story of Robert Burns is an amazing one. Told in the first person, he recounts his life after service in World War I, being sent to a Georgia chain gang, and escaping successfully twice. Although at times he seems to be playing for your sympathy, it is still nonetheless an excellent true story of a man dealing with harsh conditions and overcoming them. The end of the book doesn't tell what happens to him. In a nutshell, he is caught and sent to Georgia and is before a committee, which brings the man he originally robbed in the store. The man says Burns should not be imprisoned and he should be free. Burns is released and lives the rest of his life as a successful businessman. ... Read more

Book Description

From the start, the man New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik called "a hurricane," Jerry Speziale was a different kind of cop.A former juvenile delinquent, Jerry was a loose cannon whose antics got him into the crack dens and shooting galleries of New York's meanest streets - and onto an elite DEA narcotics task force charged with taking down South American's powerful Cali drug cartel.

Under the tutelage of a smooth-talking confidential informant, jeans and tee-shirt Jerry was transformed into an Armani-clad Geraldo Bartone, the world's top drug trafficker. As Geraldo, he did things he had never dreamed of - piloting planes, captaining cocaine-filled yachts, and meeting the most powerful kingpins in the brutal drug trade.One false move could take him out of the game for good.Yet within a few years, Jerry and the other officers of the task force became the most sussessful drug unit in the U.S. history.Riding a wave of glory and success, Jerry had no idea that he would be the one scammed next.This is his story.As told by Heath Kizzier. 10 CD's 10.8 Hrs. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A must read for anyone who is interested in the war on drugs
From what seems like real danger in the begining while acting like a low life junkie ends up later looking like childs play. Later Mr. Bartone goes deep undercover and goes on to con and collect several thousand dollars in cash and drugs from key members of the Cali Cartel. Even though the situations that Speziale gets himself into are very dangerous you often find yourself laughing because he always finds a way to pin the drug bust on someone other than himself and even having the nerve to ask for retribution for his losses. Along the way he meets up with and learns from an interesting character named Paul Lir Alaxander who is as mysterious as he is savy when it comes to understanding the drug business. The book reads like a novel but the story is anything but fiction. If anyone takes the time to read this book it will be one of thier best reads ever. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This is a story from the long-ago days of Colombian marijuana smuggling--long ago, because most of the pot now smoked in the United States is grown domestically, and the top narcotics import from Colombia is cocaine. Author Robert Sabbag tells the tale of Allen Long, who got involved in this unsavory business in the 1970s because he wanted to provide high-quality cannabis for his buddies and also for the sheer adventure of it. Some readers will find Long a disconcerting protagonist--he's a drug smuggler, after all--though it may appeal to advocates of drug legalization and readers of High Times. Sabbag essentially romanticizes Long's activities, such as when he writes about the "rather consoling absence of gunplay" that marked the business of marijuana smuggling in its primitive past. The storytelling is adequate, but parts of Loaded are plainly padded. Here's a bit of sample dialogue: "This is really great pot." "You like that?" "I don't think I've ever smoked anything better." A better and more hardheaded book on Colombian drug smuggling is Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo. --John Miller ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Wild!
This was an enjoyable book about the history of drug smuggling- specifically about how marijuana Columbian Gold made its way into the US in the 70s and 80s.
Makes a great companion read to go with a viewing of "BLOW".
I love stupid criminal stories- and this one is a doozy- the big pot smugglers are kind of clueless and play at being businessmen. The Americans eventually got bumped out of the business by the ruthless Columbians. The tales of the wild smuggling runs in the jungle- planes taking off from unmarked airfields etc is standard stuff but told well.
Good read for a cross country flight.

Action; adventure; career advice?
Overall a very good read. A little slow and wordy out of the gate but once the action starts it goes through to the end. Reads like a blockbuster movie script. Found myself thinking about a career change midway through the book.

How America Got High
Following the modern day swashbuckler, Allen Long, on his adventurous trips in the smuggling business gives the reader a lesson in how North America's appetite for marijuana was fed for the decade after the 60's.

The author Sabbag concentrates on the fast-paced smuggling business, denying the reader insight into the characters risking life and limb to become the Kings of Pot. As a result, the whole book is a sustained flurry of activity. This isn't a bad thing, as the lack of character development creates the atmosphere I imagine the protagonist Long lived in - one of many contacts, and never being sure who they really are and who is going to play an important part later on in the story.

I walked away from this book with the distinct impression that smugglers, perhaps more than anything else, are adrenaline junkies. Stepping up drug interdiction efforts is to people like Long what one more school bus was to Evil Knievel; the bigger the risk, the bigger the rush.

I'm not giving anything away when I say the book ends with the quote "this would make a great movie." Perhaps that is why over half of Americans still support this War on Drugs - it's so entertaining.

All you workaday nonentities- here's your fantasy -
Surely no review is going to do justice to this fairly insane, eminently thriulling book. Sabbag goes back to the halycon days of the early 70's, and recreates drug smuggling with the most erudite of novelistic verve! That's a feat- this is 30 years later we're covering, and to place us, the bored and incompetent reader, back in that perfervid time is a feat of highwire journalistic daring. Like "Blow," that good movie and even better book, this is a hale and debonair look at that most Aemrican of enterprises, the upright white guy's ascent into and then descent out of the murky, sinister, yet grievously partying world of international big-stakes durg smuggling. Sabbag is clear that Long is our protagonist, our stand-in for all the pusillanimous white boy dreamers who toked but never sold, and his style is pure Boy's Life, rippling adventure and shifting fortunes interspersed like a Hollywood thriller. Corporate America, that global behemoth, is a study in amoral, unethical gamesplaying, so spare the world any qualms about the ultimate worth of this bad boy's bucaneering. The drugs many imbibe in this country are a mark of our depravity, yet also a condemnation of our listless and purposeless social inertia. Sabbag's book will fail to register a single sine wave as social commentary, since it is too kinetic and jargon-free to qualify as stolid academic commentary, but this is our ultimate failing as a society. This book is directly connected to our vital communal adrenaline, and stands as a wholly pleasurable celebration of human initiative, and then earned senescence (Long is an unjailed, unmarked family man at the end, unlike the haunted hipster of "Blow"). Whatever your moral positioning, this is a male beach read for the ages.

TOP NOTCH READING
I know Allen Long and think that he must be one of the most adventurous men I've ever met. This book is his tale of his younger years, running the gambit on the Mary Jane trail; taking the risks and living the life that goes with it. What makes this book so awesome, is that Allen actually did live this book! This isn't a story to be told to wow anyone; Allen is a wealthy man today and doesn't need to impress anyone. This is just a good book about something that we all would have probably loved to try back in our younger years if we just had the balls...Allen has those balls you wished you had. A must read if you want to re-live some fantasy's and live vicariously through Allen Long! ... Read more

Book Description

It's 1985 and 29-year-old family man Anthony Papa is the owner of a failing radio repair business. Offered $500 to deliver an envelope for an acquaintance, the desperate Papa agrees, unaware of the cocaine inside or the sting operation that awaits. Though it's his first criminal offense, New York drugs laws dictate a mandatory 15-year-to-life prison term.Papa's life is ruined. His wife leaves, he can't see his daughter, and he's consumed by regret and thoughts of suicide until discovering painting - a pursuit that sustains him and gradually inspires him to fight for justice. When his self-portrait is exhibited at the Whitney Museum in 1994, a burst of public sympathy catches the attention of the governor and leads to Papa's eventual release just three years short of the full sentence. A riveting story featuring a 16-page signature with color photos and reproductions of Anthony Papa's art, 15 To Life is also an important social critique of America's draconian drug laws and a clarion call for reform. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Ilich Ramirez Sanchez once called himself a "professional revolutionary." During a career in international terrorism lasting more than two decades, Sanchez--better known as Carlos the Jackal--murdered 83 people by his own count, once held several dozen oil ministers hostage during an OPEC meeting, and "freelanced" for, among others, Muammar al-Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, and the Italian Red Brigade. Before his eventual capture in 1994 and subsequent trial and imprisonment in France, the Jackal's reputation as a "terrorist's terrorist" was unsurpassed. Dozens of hijackings, bombings, and assassinations were blamed on him, whether or not he was involved (which led him to stand before a French court and accuse everyone within view of libel).

From his fervent Communist upbringing in Venezuela, Carlos was set upon the revolutionary path at an early age. He was allegedly given training in guerilla warfare in Cuba while still a teenager, and soon thereafter studied in the Soviet Union. Jackal breathlessly follows Sanchez's rapid rise up the world's ladder of professional brigands and cutthroats and his international playboy lifestyle, but seldom reveals a private side to the man--perhaps, one guesses, because Carlos the Jackal never had the time or inclination to cultivate one. Follain attempts to make an icon of Carlos ("I will stay inside jail forever or I will be shot dead if I get out," he mused to a reporter while imprisoned in France) in a valiant effort to lend a moral hook to his story, but, as he finally admits, "revolution for Carlos meant a state of mindless euphoria, chasing after women, and luxurious living." --Tjames Madison ... Read more

Reviews (3)

I like it, but...
Good, good info on Carlos and his Venezuelan roots (I should know, I'm from Venezuela) and a detailed (and sometimes breathtaking) account of his most spectacular actions and capture. But, not being a native speaker, I have a problem with Follain's grammar. I mean, it's sometimes sloppy. I don't know, still and all good book.

Interesting account of an unlikely terrorist.
Among self-described "professional" revolutionaries, few cut a more fascinating figure than Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, a k a Carlos the Jackal. Before he was captured in 1994 and subsequently tried and sentenced to life in prison in France, the Jackal, a terrorist-for-hire whose higher-profile clients included Muammar al-Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro claimed to have nixed 83 people; dozens of hijackings, bombings and assassinations were blamed on him following his association, around 1970, with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. And yet, slovenly, feckless, girl-chasing and politically disoriented Carlos, however murderous, is almost too laughable to picture as a terrorist mastermind. Reuters man Follain does a nice job here of tracing, if not demystifying, Carlos' life of crime, from his guerilla training in Cuba as a teen to the bitter, pathetic and at times hilarious end. (When moved between prisons, he made sure to notify the subscription department of Cigar Lover magazine of his change of address.)

Breaks the Myth that is the Jackal
Follain describes with brilliant accuracy a life filled with violence and terror. Carlos the Jackal's life represents the decline of wholesale terrorism and the countries who support it. Follain's book not only portrays Carlos' private life but depicts his entire operation. Overall, a great book. ... Read more

Book Description

What does AT&T, MCI, Sprint, PageNet, MobileCom, GTE, Celluar One, Skytel, Mototola, Compaq, and Dell Computers have in common?They were al victims of america's largest Hi-Tech criminal organization that call themselves Hi-Tech Hustlers.This organization that is responsible for over $500 million dollars in theft, corporate losses and damages in the 12 year span.

It was not until one of the founders of the organization, Gregory Evans was caught and indicted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for hacking and defrauding AT&T, MCI, Sprint and many others for more than $24 million in a 6 month Hi-Tech crime spree.

While behind bars, Gregory Evans had written some personal memoirs about his Hi-Tech organizations and the Hi-Tech capers that cost companies and consumers millions of dollars.

This exciting book reads like a blockbuster movie, even though names, dates and places have been changed to protect the guilty you will find yourself mesmerized, dazzled and entertained. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Well Written
The way Evans wrote Memoirs of A Hi-Tech Hustler gets readers involved.While reading this book it felt like I was a fugitive trying to keep up with this author.The flow of this book makes this possible. If you're interested in fast paced books you should definitely read Memoirs of A Hi-Tech Hustler.

Thought Provoking
I found it interesting how once Evans was caught and indicted for his hacking crime that he didn't let being caught stop him.He instead spent time behind bars thinking and writing about his crime.I'm sure the days seemed to have went by quickly the closer he came to finishing his book.

Humorous Book
This book was very humorous it made me remember being a kid again and doing some of the same kinds of things that the author did. As a child I was very curious and was always getting into things that I wasn't supposed to. I was punished for these things and knew wrong from right but I still attempted to try things.As an adult It becomes our decision to do things based on our own judgment rather it be a good judgment or not.We still have to learn from our own mistakes.This authors' curiosity brought him where he is today. I can tell by reading this book that this author was determined to get somewhere with the knowledge that he had because he knew that what he was doing was a crime but at the time he was doing it for the wrong reasons-to make money.It's just ironic how a crime that was illegal now is legal if you're actually doing it for an actual company.

Something new & interesting
The book Memoirs of A Hi-Tech Hustler reminds me of a cartoon.The main character-Evans is in a sense a hero. He basically educated himself in hacking systems. He now protects his own system(s), as well as creating software to help the public systems from being hacked. He didn't need a degree to outsmart people. In this case it seems like the bad guy wins. Most people feel that it's unusual for the bad guy to win. So it's ironic that Evans won. I feel this book is comedy because some of things that occurred in this book were that Evans was now able to run into the people such as police who gave him a hard time back when it was a crime for Evans to do what he now makes a living doing.I can relate to how good Evans felt when he was able to confront the police that was at one time busting him for doing wrong. Now Evans is on top of his game and what he does is legal.Trust me when I say, `You should read this book!.'

Family Man
I particularly liked the fact how this author incorporated some of the lessons that he learned from his own son(s) in this book.Most people don't take the time to listen to their own children when they ask questions or show concern about things in life.Evans is showing us that we can learn from children just as much as they can learn from adults.We need each other.Besides, children see things that an adult may overlook most of the time.For instance; in Evans' book he mentions how a friend of his had a bullet proof car and one of his sons asked, their dad Greg how he knew if the car was bullet proof if no one hadn't ever shot at the car before? That's a good question coming from a young child.Greg learned a lesson from his son that day which I believe was one of the lessons that got him where he is today.There are so many people who are so sure of themselves about things that they've put a lot of time and effort into, but most of the time there's someone else such as a hacker that can easily break a code in only a matter of minutes such as Evans.Corporations who have had their systems hacked in the past could have benefited from Evans sons' lesson if they would of known what that lesson was.Society could prevent a lot of mishaps if children weren't failed to be heard when they attempt to tell adults things. ... Read more

Book Description

For more than two decades, Vanity Fair has published Dominick Dunne’s brilliant, revelatory chronicles of the most famous crimes, trials, and punishments of our time. Here, in one volume, are Dominick Dunne’s mesmerizing tales of justice denied and justice affirmed. Whether writing of Claus von Bülow’s romp through two trials; the Los Angeles media frenzy surrounding O.J. Simpson; the death by fire of multibillionaire banker Edmond Safra; or the Greenwich, Connecticut, murder of Martha Moxley and the indictment—decades later—of Michael Skakel, Dominick Dunne tells it honestly and tells it from his unique perspective. His search for the truth is relentless.

With new essay, “Mourning In New York,” about September 11, 2001. ... Read more

Reviews (71)

Good Book - Great Read
Dunne's new book is fascinating and difficult to put down. It is a collection of stories he wrote for Vanity Fair, covering the trials of O.J. Simpson, the Menendez brothers, and other cases.

My only complaint -maybe "suggestion" is a better word since the book was so good- is that he should have included a timeline and synopsis of each case. The stories make sense only if you really followed the case.

I think everyone would not have a problem with the OJ chapters, but I got lost on some of the other cases while reading his stories. He should have put the dates his stories appeared, so the reader can see where in the timeline of events the story fits.

Other than that, I thought it was a great book. Dominick Dunne is eminently interesting, and I love the way he writes. He would be a great dinner guest!

A Witty Insightful Commentary On Crime & Punishment
There's a feeling when reading Dominick Dunne of partaking in a rather sinful indulgence. His non fiction stories resound with the phrase, "truth is stranger than fiction." "Justice" is his collection of heinous crimes, the subsequent trials, and surprisingly varied outcomes. If you've never read Dunne's work in Vanity Fair, for which he's a regular contributor, you're in for a treat. His stories are much more than your average crime and punishment retelling. They are reflections of our society in all it's grandeur and gaudiness. Over dinner soirees and cocktail parties, in the Hamptons, or Lincoln Center, his is the ear that's bent with gossipy and lurid tidbits that fuel his "cases" with sometimes jaw dropping confessions. Almost half of the book is devoted to the O.J. debacle, and if you're not interested in rehashing that, I'd suggest reading his previous anthology "Fatal Charms & The Mansions of Limbo." Which brings me to why I only gave the book four stars. I felt a little cheated that the first three stories in this collection had ben previous published in another book. I understood why his daughter's story needed to be in here, but felt the other two were merely recycled filler. But besides that a fun,entertaining bit of escapism.

In 2003, deserves a 2nd look!
Many people who have reviewed Dunne here have missed the fact that this book is a collection of essays with updates of his work for Vanity Fair. So if they appear repetitive, you probably subscribe to Vanity Fair.
For the virgin Dunne reader, I'd start with this book. I just finished JUSTICE at a cottage in the great Canadian North. What a quick, easy read.
I do think Dunne should have edited from essay to essay, as there are repeated names and facts from one to the next. Regardless, I can't think of another famous person I'd like to interview for his opinion on the world of the rich and famous. Dunne is a millionaire, hob nobs with his fellow kind, yet calls it like it is.
Some suggest he dwells in the land of good versus evil. I suggest, Dunne travels by gut instinct.
His honesty is refreshing.
I was fascinated with the extensive coverage of the OJ trail...
Again, I disagree with my fellow reviewers---I wanted more, more, more.
The newspaper and tv coverage gave the "official" view...Try a front row seat -- that's what the Judge gave Mr. Dunne.
This book isn't everyone's cup of tea, but its readers are sure to acknowledge Dunne has reinforced the concept that justice is a relative term.

Dropping names and opinions
Dunne is a hack when he tries to discuss the criminal justice system. His opinions are obviously not always incorrect, but he reveals a lot of misconceptions about the law and trials. His biggest asset seems to be that he knows and is known to many wealthy, famous or whatever individuals. One gets the impression that he is a groupie of both criminal trials and the rich and famous and inflates his own status. This collection of articles varies from really poor to average in intelligence and content.

This is really a book about the trial of OJ Simpson
While I did enjoy "Justice," it was not what I expected. I wasn't aware that the book is a grouping of Mr. Dunne's articles from "Vanity Fair." The book was off to an excellent start with a chapter about Dominique Dunne that made me cry. However, it quickly moved into numerous chapters about OJ Simpson (this was the bulk of the book). The book is worth reading if you are an OJ Simpson junkie. If you are not, I recommend skipping that part. I also could have done without Mr. Dunne's constant references to all the famous people he knows. ... Read more

Book Description

Communists vilified her as a raging neurotic. Leftists dismissed her as a confused idealist. Her family pitied her as an exploited lover. Some said she was a traitor, a stooge, a mercenary, and a grandstander. To others she was a true American heroine -- fearless, principled, bold, and resolute. Congressional committees loved her. The FBI hailed her as an avenging angel. The Catholics embraced her. But the fact is, more than a half century after she captured the headlines as the "Red Spy Queen," Elizabeth Bentley remains a mystery.

New England-born, conservatively raised, and Vassar-educated, Bentley was groomed for a quiet life, a small life, which she explored briefly in the 1920s as a teacher, instructing well-heeled young women on the beauty of Romance languages at an East Coast boarding school. But in her mid-twenties she rejected both past and future and set herself on an entirely new course. In the 1930s she embraced communism and fell in love with an undercover KGB agent who initiated her into the world of espionage. By the time America plunged into World War II, Elizabeth Bentley was directing the operations of the two largest spy rings in America. Eventually, she had eighty people in her secret apparatus, half of them employees of the federal government. Her sources were everywhere: in the departments of Treasury and Commerce, in New Deal agencies, in the top-secret OSS (the precursor to the CIA), on congressional committees, even in the Oval Office.

When she defected in 1945 and told her story -- first to the FBI and then at a series of public hearings and trials -- she was catapulted to tabloid fame as the "Red Spy Queen," ushering in, almost single-handedly, the McCarthy Era. She was the government's star witness, the FBI's most important informer, and the darling of the Catholic anticommunist movement. Her disclosures and accusations put a halt to Russian spying for years and helped to set the tone of American postwar political life.

But who was she? A smart, independent woman who made her choices freely, right and wrong, and had the strength of character to see them through? Or was she used and manipulated by others?

Clever Girl is the definitive biography of a conflicted American woman and her controversial legacy. Set against the backdrop of the political drama that defined mid-twentieth century America, it explores the spy case whose explosive domestic and foreign policy repercussions have been debated for decades but not fully revealed -- until now.

Reviews (3)

Good, first bio on Liz Bently
Although the life of Elizabeth Bently deserves a bigger book, I enjoyed this first biography of the enigmatic but fascinating commie spy, Elizabeth Bently. The author attempts to explain this Vassar educated American woman who became a Russian spy, but Bently still remains a vague phantom. Since I'm fascinated by that whole period--of Joe McCarthy, Alger Hiss, the shocking presence of real-life commnists in American government back in the 30s and 40s--I found this book very readable. You might also enjoy related books, especially Ann Coulter's best-selling, "Treason," which really delivers the goods about how the Communist scare of the 40s and 50s was not the imaginary fear of paranoid Americans. It really was something to cause genuine fear. Elizabeth Bently revealed just have intensive this spy network was.

Mixed Sentiments
As indicated, I have mixed sentiments about this book. The story is engaging enough, and Kessler delivers it in a readable, comfortable manner. However, it often seems as if she is acting more as an apologist for Bentley, rather than giving a fully candid evaluation.
Bentley's career as teacher, communist, spy, and FBI informant is enticing and worth investigating, but there are some irritating flaws. Most prominent is the lack of footnotes; there is an endnote page, but no numbers in the narrative that correspond with it. There is also the unnerving sense that something is constantly amiss. For all her organizational skill, and apparent value to the Soviet spy network, Bentley is repeatedly duped, manipulated, and outright naive. The author never adequately resolves this paradox, and thus somewhat undermines its historical credibility. In fact, she ( Bentley) almost never seems to understand the implications of her actions, and is striking for appearing so intellectually shallow. Indeed , not very clever at all.
Despite these limitations, it is entertaining, but should be read with the cautionary anteenae in place.

Fascinating study of an enigma
The subject of the book is hard to understand, even with all the facts laid out so admirably. Kessler's writing style commands attention without getting in the way of the facts, but those facts are so twisting that at times even the most diligent student of history may be confused. That's a small quible, however, in an overarching work of vigor and suspense. Well worth a read. ... Read more

Book Description

This autobiography has made London's most infamous celebrity gangster - and the inspiration for the character Big Chris, played by Vinny Jones, in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - an international star.Read about Dave Courtney's shady and amoral past, his time in jail, the violent encounters that put him there, and why he has decided it's time to get out of the crime business.Meet machete-wielding Chinese waiters, unlicensed boxing promoters and debt collectors.See Dave bitten, beaten, stabbed and shot; and learn that prison didn't do anything except to make him determined always to be better at not getting caught. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Why stop the ride ?
Great book. It had me on the edge of seat at times at others I just laughed and laughed. read about Dave driving a Taxi for cover and how an old lady climbed in the back while it was full of nicked gear !

Well worth reading

A Wild Ride
This was a real fun book, written by a guy who's lived the kind of life us normal every day joes only wish we could have. A lot of really funny lines and stories. This is Arnold Swarzenegger in real life. A man's man.I'd really like to sit down and have a beer with this dude.Hopefully it's all true.

Stop the Ride I Want to Get Off: An Autobiography
Buy this book!!!! Don't hesitate, I had my copy shipped from the UK and that took weeks not to mention $$$$Keep your eye open for "Hell To Pay" Dave's new movie due out soon.
If you like Guy Ritchie you'll love Dave Courtney!!!!
By the way this book gets three thumbs up!!!! Awesome! ... Read more

Book Description

To escape from a Texas jail or prison once is unusual. To do it four times is incredible. To do it four times in five years and always on a Friday the 13th is the stuff of legend. Welcome to the world of Steven Russell. Con artist. Thief. Swindler. Embezzler. Hopeless romantic.

A husband and father, Russell was a church organist, prosperous businessman, and onetime Boca Raton cop before turning to his life of crime. Arrested for a string of felonies, with a specialty in fraud, his real expertise turned out to be his uncanny ability to escape from jail. Between 1993 and 1998, he orchestrated a string of prison breaks that were as audacious as they were ingenious. Using whatever unlikely materials were at hand—a Magic Marker, a pay phone, a walkie-talkie, a pair of stolen bright red women's stretch pants—along with an innate talent for analytical thinking and boundless quantities of sheer nerve, Russell again and again arranged his own "early releases" from jail. Unfortunately, for Russell, staying out of jail is another matter entirely.

Over the years, it became increasingly clear that Russell's talent for escape is matched only by his knack for getting arrested. One thing always seems to trump Steven Russell's careful planning, cool head, and instinct for self-preservation—love. Russell cannot resist the urge to try and spring the great love of his life—a fellow inmate named Phillip Morris.

In I Love You Phillip Morris, journalist Steve McVicker goes right to the heart of this improbable-but-true story of crime, punishment, and passion. Thanks to unprecedented and exclusive access to Russell, his family, and his friends, he retraces Russell's journey from small-town businessman to flamboyant white-collar criminal and jailhouse Houdini. It's the darkly comic tale of a man with a spectacular ability to manipulate almost everyone he meets, yet who is himself helpless in the face of love. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

I like the book...McVicker's book pulled me in
Entertaining read.McVicker provides a good yarn. Larger then life characters and twists in a real life story.Top notch tale.

a manic joyride
The wild story of a conman who favors doctored resumes and red stretch pants as props to steal whatever he desires. He just can't outwit his sentimental heart.I read it in one sitting.

it's fluffy, sure, but a heist book is a heist book
There's no doubting that this book is compelling, both in idea and execution. The prisoner who keeps returning for the man he loves? The life history of both? Good stories of prison breaks? Hard to keep a heist lover down. A solid, fun read, perfect for passing the time with a good story.

That said, McVicker's a writer for a (good) weekly alternative paper, and this book reads like an overlong story from those pages, filled up with anecdotes that go just this shy of deep. I'm just not as impressed with the depth of characterizations or the writing as I am with writings in a similar narrative vein.

There's no escaping it: this jail break book is a great read
McVicker reels in the reader immediately with this incredible but true story of embezzlement, jail breaks and crazy love.It's a top-notch book -- and one that's nearly impossible to put down.

bravo!
McVicker effortlessly blends excellent journalism with great writing and a suspenseful tale in this compelling, readable true-life adventure. The story is poignant without being mawkish, and hilarious without condescension.

Once I started, I couldn't put it down. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (5)

SUPERB BIO!
This is without question the best biography I have come across in many years. I strongly suggest anyone who has even an inkling of interest in modern American history make it a point to get this book and read it. They will not be disapponited.

Too Sweeping, Lack of Objectivity
The first major biography of Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd is a sweeping "life and times" effort, a well-researched opus that concentrates as much on early 1900's-Depression era America as on a straight biography of Floyd. It's too bad because Floyd himself deserved a more detailed treatment, as well as a more objective one. Much of the information on Floyd came from family and friends and, while this is interesting and informative, one gets the distinct impression that Wallis got too close to his subject, blinded perhaps by the folkloric image of Floyd as a Southwestern Depression Robin Hood. This is somewhat understandable. Floyd was falsely accused in his own day of many atrocious crimes, such as the "Young brothers' massacre," but the fact remains that he was a ruthless killer as well as a bank robber and that a preponderance of evidence exists suggesting Floyd's guilt in the Kansas City Union Station massacre. Wallis ignores this evidence, accessible in thousands of pages of FBI files he claims to have read, and instead builds straws for Floyd's innocence in this crime. Such as relying on the testimony of "Blackie" Audett, a minor bank burglar of the period and notorious liar, who claimed to have witnessed the massacre but whose story is shot full of holes. Audett was in prison at the time of the shooting and one of the men he named as an "actual" killer had been murdered over two years earlier. This doesn't stop Wallis in his determination to vindicate his Robin Hood idol. In all, it's a nice professional work--a thick book with some nice photos, a bibliography and an index. It could have been much better, as evidenced by the more recent The Life and Death of Pretty Boy Floyd by Jeffery King.

A very interesting and well-researched book.
I became interested in "Pretty Boy Floyd" when I found out his mother was distantly related to my family and I was researching my family. He was raised 25 miles from where I live until his family moved to Oklahoma. There was mention of the town in the book and some of the mischief he got in to. The house they lived in still stands. I was able to use some of the information from the book to go in my family tree. The book was very well written and seemed to be accurate in the account given of his life. I felt like I had known him from the reading of this book and feel he was unjustly killed at the end. His mother was treated unfairly about the way the funeral took care of his body. The pictures in the book of his family in the younger days were very good pictures. I didn't especially care for the ones at the funeral home where he was more or less put on display. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the history and hardships that occurred during the early part of the century.I am sure I will read this book again. It was hard to put down when I read it the first time.

A GREAT BOOK
I JUST FINISHED THIS BOOK AND I'M SORRY IT'S OVER. IT WAS INCREDIBLY INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE. OF INTEREST TO ME WAS HOW CLOSE CHARELS FLOYD LIVED TO MY RELATIVES IN OKLAHOMA. I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANY ONE INTERESTED IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

An Enjoyable Read!
This was an incredibly interesting book about one of the now-forgotten characters of American history. The author does a great job in portraying Depression era Oklahoma, and how outlaws such as Pretty Boy Floyd came to be. After reading this book, it is clear that Pretty Boy Floyd was a bandit who had more in common with figures such as Jesse and Frank James than contemporary gangsters such as Al Capone. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this period of Americana. The only flaw in this book is the rather shallow characterization of Floyd himself. While not quite whitewashing Pretty Boy Floyd, the author quickly glosses over any negative characteristics while expounding on Floyd's positive traits such as his generosity and good nature. In all likelihood Floyd was a complex figure, and the book would have done greater service to his memory had it presented a more balanced view. ... Read more

Book Description

The Hoffa Wars – The Rise And Fall Of Jimmy Hoffa.

"The Hoffa Wars" is the controversial and critically acclaimed masterwork of investigative journalism on the corruption-riddled Teamster Union.

This was the first book to present the case that Teamster’s general president Jimmy Hoffa and two Mafia figures, Carlos Marcello and Santos Trafficante, might have arranged and executed the assassination of President Kennedy – a conclusion the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations came to a year later in its final report!

"The Hoffa Wars" delivers the inside stories on:

Hoffa’s rise to power from local organizer to Teamsters general president.

Hoffa’s role in the CIA-Mafia plots against Castro.

How and why Hoffa, Carlos Marcello, and Santos Trafficante plotted to kill President Kennedy.

The violence in Hoffa’s home union local before his disappearance.

Hoffa’s disappearance: who, why, and how – and the exclusive interviews with the men the FBI claimed did it. ... Read more

Book Description

The world knows only half the story of British media magnate Robert Maxwell's well-publicized career. He was born poor but thrived on ruthless ambition, devoured his competitors and outsmarted his most formidable peers to build an international empire as a publisher, politician, and industrialist. For the first time, this well-researched book from best-selling author Gordon Thomas and terrorism expert Martin Dillon tells the other, long-secret half of Maxwell's story. We are shown how Maxwell achieved his topmost objective as a superspy for Israel's Mossad; sold PROMIS-America's state-of-the-art surveillance software stolen by Mossad-to the USSR and many other countries; recruited foremost Republican Senator John Tower to acquire for Israel top-secret, cutting-edge U.S. technology being developed at Los Alamos; cultivated his vast KGB connections and strove to involve Israel in a coup to oust Mikhail Gorbachev; and how Maxwell ultimately became Mossad's target in an elaborately prepared assassination plot. For in November 1991, as his yacht cruised offshore of the Canary Islands, the life of Robert Maxwell ended-officially, by drowning. The facts that the news media did not then report or know, what truths even the autopsies concealed, are now revealed. Eight pages of black-and-white illustrations add to this compelling work. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Errata
What Carroll and Graf Publishers desperately need is 1. a fact checker and 2. a proof reader.Shameful display of factual errors. With sloppiness of this sort, why would I ever dream of believing the basic (and unbelievable)premise.
Yvonne Adler

Excellent Research
This is the story of the downfall of Robert Maxwell, a man who had almost everything that a simple mortal could dream with, a family, a billionary business, fame, important business and political contacts but with a huge megalomaniac complex that pushed him to play several dangerous games with the espionage of Israel, the industrial espionage and the underworld factions of the East mafias but his biggest mistake was when he try to play the blackmail game which put in jeopardy the security of the state of Israel and the Mossad agent around the world forcing then to "eliminate" this personage.
Even though this is a wonderful work of investigation, I have some doubts about the sole responsability of Israel in this crime because of his several contacts within the Wall Street, the City of London moguls, the eastern mafias and the most important polititians of the world that he could put in danger with his downfall as a businessman or as a blackmailer, also it is very suspicious that many close collaborators died of sudden death or dissapeared.

The Hottest Book On The Market!
This is an E-Ticket Ride; in other words, a read with a roller-coaster effect obsorbing the reader's full attention. The revelations of Maxwell's high treason against the United Kingdom is alarming. Yet, what is more alarmimg is the complicity of the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Senator Tower's treasonous activity against the U.S. Government and his apparent blackmailing of the White House... all orchestrated by Israels' Mossad via their willing agent, Maxwell. At the literal risk of their lifes, Dillon and Thomas have metciulously recorded the breathtaking facts we seldom, if ever, see in American media. This super-page-turner is THE hottest book on the market.

A waste of time
This book reputes itself to tell the secret history of British media baron Mr. Maxwell.A better account and although a work of fiction a more plausible account can be found in Mr. Archers `The fourth of Estate'.Maxwell had connections with Israels Mossad and he did have many high level contacts in Israel and he was involved in dubious behavior with the Russians but this book goes one step to far and simply creates relationships that did not exist.Beyond Muckraking this book is mostly fantasy and conjectured accusations that for the Maxwell hator or for the uninformed may well seem accurate but the truth is far more likely to have nothing to do with Maxwell being murdered by the Mossad.In fact Maxwell simply failed in business and probably committed suicide.This is an interesting account but should be read with an eye of suspicion.

Spy Thriller
Through British citizen Robert Maxwell, vain, gross, brilliant and criminal, Thomas and Dillon paint a picture of corruption and decadence in the West, Eastern Europe and the Middle East today.Maxwell's loyalties are to himself and to Israel; Senator John Tower is in his pocket; and so forth. The United States, apart from furnishing the likes of Tower, furnishes the intelligence stolen by Israel and the subidies that keep that country in business stealing from its patron. Maxwell is a kind of super "sayanim," and the book to some degree is an exposé of the extent to which these volunteers-for-Israel around the world do damage to their host countries.

The Maxwell-Mossad team steals spy software PROMIS from the United States, Mossad puts an undetectable trap door in it so Mossad can track the activities of anyone using it, then Maxwell sells it around the world (including back to the U.S. -- with the trap door).When Maxwell finally goes bankrupt, the losses are passed on to "the little people," while Israel and Maxwell's protected heirs remain in the black, at least materially. Thomas/Dillon present, in thrilling mystery adventure mode, the theory that Maxwell became a loose canon to his beloved Israel, among other things hitting on Mossad for a bigger pay-off, and its agents assassinated him.

The authors, both top-notch investigative journalists, base their study on official documents and on interviews -- what they uncover is bound to shock and put on the alert anyone who loves his country, respects honesty, good will and just about any other virtue within its borders. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Long Live Billy the Kid
This is a great book for history buffs.If you've seen the movie, "Young Guns II," you'll remember Bushy Bill Roberts who claimedhe was really Billy the Kid.History has made Billy the Kid into a legend,creating much mystery about the famous outlaw.Most people believe that hewas shot by Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, New Mexico in 1881.After readingthis book by Helen Airy, it's hard to believe that Billy the Kid was shotat his early age of 21.Airy will convince you that he lived to be an oldman going by the name of John Miller, his not so famous alias.Read aboutinteresting "facts" on the Kid that may lead you to believe thathistory has it all wrong. ... Read more

Book Description

The imprisonment of outlaw John Wesley Hardin in Texas marked the end of his journal, which remains the only authentic autobiography of a Cowboy. After his first murder at age 15, Hardin proceeded to live a life on the run, the archetypal wanted man, pursued by lynch mobs, bounty hunters and assassins. A unique, gripping first-person account and seminal document of this period of American history. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The real thing
I like elegant language, and I don't like violence. JWH's autobiography has none of the former and plenty of the latter, yet it is exactly right for what it is, the autobiography of a notorious gunfighter who thought the easiest way to solve any problem was to kill the problem. You only had to look cross-eyed at Hardin, and you were a dead man. Yet, as John Wesley tells his story, every one of his forty-odd killings was justified. The reader almost feels sympathetic...

The Real Deal
....

That aside, this is a wonderful book. it is not well written, but Hardin never claimed to be a writer. This is the only known autobigraphy by an actual American West gunslinger, and Hardin, according to both himself and history, was one of the greatest.

There seems to be a fair amount of exaggeration and plain old tale telling, but I think you'd find that in any autobiography. This is both an insightful view into a time long gone and an entertaining read. If you've ever watched a western, read one, or just plain pretended you were an outlaw when you were a kid, then you owe it to yourselfd to have a copy of Hardin's book on your shelves.

Highly recommended reading for western buffs
Gunfighter is the autobiography of famed western gunfighter John Wesley Hardin. It was 1868 when John killed his first man at the age of fifteen and became a wanted outlaw. He took up a life of cattle drover, gambler, and killer whose bloody trespass through Southern states after the end of the Civil War brought him into contact with Wild Bill Hickok, the Texas Rangers, an emerging Ku Klux Klan, lynch mobs, bounty hunters, and assassins. His journal/autobiography ends abruptly in 1889 and was first published in 1896, a year after his assassination and remains the only extent and authentic autobiography of a western gunfighter. Out of print for the last four decades, this new edition of a western classic is enhanced with an informative introduction by Mark Manning and highly recommended reading for western buffs and students of American frontier history. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

This vanity farce sucks....
This could have been a good book, but it is nothing but a farce where Franzese would have the reader believe that he was some poor misunderstood victim, harassed by law enforcement until he was put in the position of "well, if they are gonna accuse me of it, I am just gonna do it!", which is obviously so much baloney.Then, he does admit to "white collar crime", but strangely every time the government hauls him into court, Franzese would again have us believe that he was wholly innocent of all of the charges.He sets himself only in the very best light, like some sort of misunderstood, valiant and progressive J.P. Morgan, a modern day Robin Hood, and it is to the point of sheer unbelieveability.Franzese is still the same scammer as he always was, and he carries it on as usual in this book with the complicity of Matera.I can't believe Matera wasted his obvious talent producing this drivel.It's Franzese vanity press, plain and simple.And, as far as Franzese being a "changed man", a reborn straight arrow?PFFFFFTTT!!! Search thesmokinggun.com for Franzese and read about his post conversion shenanigans if you'd like to see the "new man"....meet the new boss, same as the old boss.Yep, these guys took what could have been a great story and turned it into the same stuff you find on the floor of a hog pen, and they expended the same amount of energy doing it that they would have had to in doing it right!Maybe, with a little luck, the real story will come out, and I bet it'll be a good one.Until then, take my word for it, this book is irredeemable from page one through the end....don't even waste your time.I regret that I have to give it a one star rating, because it sure doesn't even deserve that.

Awesome Book
I am not a huge reader, but i finished this book really quickly.In a rare instance, you are shown the inside reports on how the mafia works and how some of the stereotypes are just that, stereotypes. If you have any interest in true crime books or books that can show that people can change, this is the book for you!Trust me, I don't like reading too much but found myself looking forward to reading this book.

One of my favorit books of all time
In Quitting the Mob Michael Franzesetells his story with the help of Dary Matera.Of his love for his father who brought him into the family after seeing his son not being scared of going a little out side of the law to make money.How he was raised to the rank of capo in his mafia family making millions of dollars for his bosses.And left it all for the love of a woman.

Great Book!
I knew Michael after the whole thing finished, he was indeed a changed man. Great book, good job Michael & Dary.

Great book!! I have read it three times.
Each time I have read the book, I see something else that I did not see. Michael's father Sonny, was as dedicated as they came. It's amazing that someone could have led the life that he had lived and still live to tell about it. I would imagine it would be fun just to sit down and talk with Michael Franzese about all the things that he had expierienced. If anyone knows how to reach Michael Franzese please drop me a line. ... Read more

Book Description

Jesse James’s breakout book, I Am Jesse James, introduced a wider audience to the manbehind the motorcycle. With Motorcycle Mania 3, the companion book for the DiscoveryChannel special, fans will get an even more intimate look at Jesse as he struggles with hisskyrocketing success. With his shop besieged by tourists, his schedule packed tight, and hismarriage crumbling, Jesse turns to his friend Kid Rock for some much needed relaxation—a roadtrip to Mexico.

Jesse dreams of the open highways and unspoiled country south of the border, ready and waitingfor his two new bikes, an orange and chrome custom for Kid and, for himself, a specialty choppermade entirely of copper—a metal Jesse has never worked with before. They’re going to takethese bikes from Texas to the heart of Copper Canyon— a crevice four times the size of the Grand Canyon. After a run-in with the local federales, a madATV dash over windswept sand dunes, an invasion of European hippies, and Kid’s ubiquitouscalls of "Una cerveza más, por favor," Jesse and Kid emerge from Mexico and return to thespotlight with a bolstered joy for living and a better appreciation for the country they call home. ... Read more