Amazon.com

Creativity is highly prized in the business world but once that creativity extends to bookkeeping, things can get a bit sticky. Bruce McNall's creative career afforded him celebrity status, millions of dollars, an opulent lifestyle, and, in the end, a five-year prison term. His memoir, Fun While It Lasted, which shares the same breeziness hinted at in its title, is both entertaining and a bit depressing.McNall parlayed a boyhood interest in rare coins into a profitable livelihood even before entering college. Within a few years, he was traveling the world, buying up coins from shady dealers and reselling them to Hollywood's elite. McNall played fast and loose with his prices and accounting and profited handsomely off a market that he helped create. From coins, he branched out, trading in thoroughbred racehorses, and buying the L.A. Kings hockey team. Ultimately, the FBI caught up with him and McNall was jailed for fraud. In reflecting on his life and crimes, McNall heartily endorses the assessment made by a Los Angeles Daily News reporter: "In the end, Bruce McNall wanted too much to be liked." And while that explanation is awfully sweet, if one judges by his choices and lifestyle it seems like his problem was plain old greed. Despite his financial success and stunning talent as a salesman, McNall always seemed to crave more money and power and was willing to break laws and lie to achieve them. Because it details a life more dramatic than most, and because its compelling central character ultimately gets his comeuppance, Fun While It Lasted, co-written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael D'Antonio, manages to be both a fun adventure and a cautionary moral tale. --John Moe ... Read more

Reviews (6)

As Much Fun as a First-rate Magic Show
Just as he did in making LA Kings games a wonderfully popular attraction for hockey fans, McNall is providing heaps of fun for us in this memoir of his rise and fall. When watching a magician at work, we know the purpose is entertainment, rather than truth-telling; so, too, this volume is not a true soul-bearing confessional that reveals the internal demons that led McNall to a life of huge financial crimes. His deepest confession -- that he simply wanted to be liked too much -- clearly is a superficial revelation, but we know that McCall intends here to get us to like him (not to really understand him); although a different kind of book that truly exposed the dark side of his being would have been an important contribution, McCall instead succeeds in providing us here a thoroughly enjoyable few hours attending to his breezy recounting of his many colorful, if unlawful, achievements and a summary recounting of how they inevitably led to a 5-year detour behind bars. The worlds he traversed -- trading rare coins, breeding and racing thoroughbred horses, feature-film-making, and building winning sports franchises-- provide enough entertaining vignettes for many books (and many lives!), and we can be thankful that he crammed so much writing into such a manageable and readable volume.

Doing crime, doing lunch
It's hard to say which was worse. The man's fixation with his B list celebrity friends even as his life was crumbling around him. (Alan Thicke visited him in jail!) Or his rationalizing a 10 year pattern of fraud even as he claims he is taking responsibility for it. (his first coin collecting partner deserved to be swindled because he drove too hard a bargain; the Hunt brothers weren't really harmed by the fraud he worked on them; the banks practically forced him to defraud them).

The book seems to be written not to understand or explain why he committed frauds in excess of $200 million but to have us know that Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn are very,very dear friends. He mentions hockey players on dozens of pages while his children barely rate a mention until they are dragged in for bathetic effect when he is carted off to jail.

Like Oscar Wilde in Reading Gaol, McNall in prison obviously plumbed the depths of his soul in order to understand himself. Why did he commit these massive frauds? Because he wanted too much to be liked. That's what he really said.

His tepid story telling is no compensation for the fact that McNall clearly still believes that doing lunch matters more than doing crime.

Great book and an easy read
What an amazing life and well written story! This book does a great job of describing Bruce's quest for the next big high -- from a rare coin, a win at the race track, or turning the Kings into a ice hockey powerhouse.

Easy to read and a very interesting, I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Taking Responsibility?
After reading this book, I don't know whether to despise or feel sorry for McNall. While he apologizes a number of times in the book, the apologizes seem to be for getting caught and embarrassing his friends and family rather than for the illegal acts. In his mind, the ends always justify the means.

Is the book accurate. It's probably as truthful as McNall lived his life.

A Wild Ride
Following Bruce McNall's storied, and seemingly successful, career, it came as quite a surprise to hear of his legal woes and incarceration. This book chronicles all in a highly readable manner. ... Read more

Amazon.com

On June 26, 1995 the people of Golf Manor, Michigan returned from work to find a federal EPA crew dismantling a potting shed in Patty Hahn's back yard. In subsequent days, the crew, wearing protective suits, carted away the refuse in sealed barrels emblazoned with radiation symbols. The EPA workers refused to disclose what was happening, only offering vague reassurance that everything was ok. Ken Silverstein shows that things in Golf Manor were not, in fact, ok. David Hahn, a 17-year-old aspiring Eagle Scout, had constructed the rudiments of a nuclear breeder reactor in his backyard and had contaminated himself and the immediate area with potentially deadly radioactive material. In his brief, briskly-paced account of the events, Silverstein weaves together science, history, and testimony from David and his family in a tale both frightening and tragic.

For David to get so far, Silverstein shows, he had to be the victim of carelessness and neglect at all levels of society. David Hahn's parents were divorced, and David used the separate households to conceal the magnitude of his work. His school teachers paid little heed when David, nicknamed Glow Boy by fellow students, suggested he was collecting radioactive substances. Most alarmingly, corporations and government agencies blithely supplied David with the materials and information he needed to expand his work to dangerous levels. Interspersed with his account of David, Silverstein exposes the culture of deceit surrounding the history of nuclear power, a culture that easily seduced an aspiring young scientist. David was left with little in the way of mentorship other than such one-sided testaments to the benefits of science as his trusted Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments.

The book, which grew out of Silverstein's 1998 story in Harper's Magazine reads like a suspense novel blended with breezy accounts of America's history with the atom. It is, in some ways, a coda for the nuclear age. In his final pages, Silverstein shows that power production from nuclear reactors has slowly ebbed over the last decades, breeder reactors world-wide have been shut down, and public apprehension has finally out-stripped naïve scientific exuberance for atomic energy. But is the danger truly receding? Surprisingly, The Radioactive Boy Scout does not address any changes in security that have evolved from David's incident. In fact, Silverstein hints that David himself may still be dabbling with radioactive materials. In the post 9/11 era, the prospect is even more frightening.--Patrick O'Kelley ... Read more

Reviews (20)

The Atom is Our Friend
There's something not quite serious about The Radioactive Boy Scout. The book jacket has a cartoonish design and each page has a little atomic symbol by the page number. It's a small book, almost like a children's reader. It seemed to me as if it would be a quick, fun read.

Well, it was quick, all right. Author Ken Silverstein originally wrote this as an article for Harper's Magazine, according to the blurb. The article has been padded with several chapters on nuclear power, chemistry, and the history of the Boy Scouts. But The Radioactive Boy Scout is hardly a cartoon or a fun little story.

Although this is a story about how one teenager nearly built a nuclear reactor in his back yard, Silverstein wants us to know it is more than that. He emphasizes how David Hahn, the teenager, was neglected by his parents and not taken seriously by his teachers. If only someone had taken the time to take this boy under his wing, perhaps a near-disaster could have been averted. Certainly, the fact that there was no disaster takes the edge off the story, but unfortunately, we already know what can happen when teenagers don't get the attention they need.

I enjoyed the main story as well as the chapters on science and the Boy Scouts. Silverstein describes how radium-based products were sold in the early 20th century as tonics, lotions, and even suppositories, to improve one's health. He recalls filmstrips (remember?) and pamphlets that cheerfully told us to "duck and cover" in the event of a nuclear explosion. He uses a hilarious passage from P.G. Wodehouse to illustrate a common view of the Boy Scouts in their early days.

Although I share most of Silverstein's opinions on federal government, the nuclear power industry, the Boy Scouts, and inattentive parents, I think the story would have been more effective if he had left his editorial comments out. Describing David's father as "pathologically oblivious" is unnecessary. True, but unnecessary.

Left-wing agenda
I wish I'd noticed the author's association with Mother Jones and The Nation before I bought this book, as large parts are devoted to leftist digs on 1960's American culture. Throughout, there's an undercurrent of dislike for nuclear energy and even warnings(?) about nuclear accidents and George W. Bush. There are lots of boring insights into the less-than-perfect family life of David Hahn, the teenage scientist, and weird psychoanalysis of the Boy Scout organization. Indeed, the author has a real problem with the Boy Scouts, linking them to Hitler and Mussolini! I did enjoy the 40 or so pages devoted to actual experiments, and I'm sure it was originally a good article in Harper's magazine.

The Library Wasted it's Money
Apparently the author had some extra facts on the history of nuclear power, the boy scouts, and a human intrest story that he couldn't sell. So what is a person to do? Twist the facts, tell small lies, and put three seemingly unrelated stories together to make a bad book.

It is obvious that the author has had some bad experiences with nuclear power, becuase he takes at least 70 percent of the book to bad mouth america's cleanest and safest form of energy.

The title was inviting and the cover art is interesting, but the words and story are a waste of time and not nearly as controversial or interesting as he makes them sound.

I feel bad for the library wasting thier money on this, but I am sure glad I didn't waste mine.

Amazing story!
This book was just amazing. I couldn't believe that this kid really built a reactor in his mothers shed. What was really amazing was that he was never charged with any crime. He, after all, put not only his life in danger but his parents and neighborhood and school. The EPA never pressed David to seek medical attention, they just suggested it to him. I just couldn't beleive that he never even received a slap on the hand for what he had done. The icing on the cake was that he joined the Navy and after boot camp was posted to the U.S.S. Enterprise which carries nuclear war heads. What a great country we live in! Never the less a good read that will blow your mind.

Not related to Boy Scouts
I really liked the story. Unfortunately, the author seemed very biased against the Boy Scouts. Linking the boy's activities to scouting activities was REALLY a stretch. Similarly, the author seems confused by the senior patrol leader position, camp position and Eagle projects...this leads me to wonder how accurate the rest of the information is... ... Read more

Book Description

This personal account of the plight of the Palestinians offers a unique viewpoint on the continuing Mideast conflict. Starting in 1970, Jean Genet spent two years in Palestinian refugee camps. Always an outcast himself, Genet was drawn to this displaced people and their cause, though the attraction was to prove as complicated as it was deep. His final masterpiece, written and rewritten on his deathbed, is a lyrical and philosophical voyage to the bloody intersection where oppression, terror, and desire meet at the convulsed heart of the contemporary world. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

intense,compelling as he allows, Genet a poet,a writer,first
Genet allows you to feel the immediacy of the Palestinian situation with particles from lives,from ill-defined fragments of lives disrupted with no future,he stayed with a family in 1980 a half-day and a whole night where the young son,Hamza a fedayee went off at night to fight. Genet hearing gun fire in the distance inhabited his bed and was brought Turkish coffee and water in the night as a replacement for the young man,by his mother. Genet is a writer/poet,a political thinker,but never a man of politics, a deeply sensitive man,a virtuoso of the sensual image, as the starry-night reflected against the curtain in his room with the small blue table. "Of course it's understood that the words,nights,forests,septet,jubilation desertion and despair are the same words that I have to use to describe the goings on at dawn in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris when the drag queens depart after celebrating their mystery,doing their accounts and smoothing banknotes out of the dew."

Genet was allowed with special permission to visit the massacre site at the camps at Sabra and Chantila,smelling the rotting flesh, "They happened I was affected by them. I talked about them. But while the act of writing came later, after a period of incubation,nevertheless in a moment like that or those when a single cell departs from its usual metabolism and the original link is created of a future,unsuspected cancer,or a piece of lace, so I decided to write this book."

Genet has an intense need for passion of any dimension,scouring the vigours of whatever parts of fragments of the lifeworld's complexity presents itself to him. I once thought of this book as a romantic means of portrayel a betrayel of a political situation,one, the only one that excited Genet.It means something that only encounterings lives in struggle,bent into a repressive state that Genet finds the only life worth encountering,sensing and feeling about. This book was completed in 1986 after suffering from throat cancer, he died on the night of 14-15th of April,1986,while correcting proofs.

A great and unique work.
This book is absolutely essential to any understanding of the Palestinian situation. It is also the mostimportant work of Genet's entire career. ... Read more

Book Description

A sworn member of the Colombo crime family in New York City, Michael Franzese was considered the biggest moneymaker in the mob since Al Capone.

At age 35, he was number eighteen on Fortune magazine's list of the fifty most wealthy and powerful Mafia bosses in America. But then he did the unthinkable. He quit the mob.

Franzese met Camille Garcia, who turned his world upside down with her innocent beauty. He fell in love with her, married her, and began a new life that didn't include the Mafia. Nobody of Franzese's rank ever just walked away from the mob and lived to tell about it. But Franzese has somehow managed to avoid the grave after he turned his back on the past. But what made him leave the lavish lifestyle of the Mafia? And how has he escaped what should have been sure death after he quit the mob? Now, in one of the most fascinating books ever written about today's Mafia, Michael Franzese reveals the answers to the many mysteries surrounding his incredible life. Walk the streets with him and find out how and why he has done what no one else managed to do--and live.

Journey with him through a life defined by two blood covenants...
...The first bound him to the mob. The second set him free. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

OK
For those who like books about the mob this is a reasonably good book. Be prepared though, Franzese is VERY determined to convince you that you should become a religous fanatic like him, and that because he is a true believer today, all his past sins are now forgiven. It is understandable why he would have that view on things, but depeding on your belief system, it becomes a bit of a drag in the end.
However, he is a great story teller and the book is easily read.

Goodfellas in writing
If you are not interested in snoring through 404 pages of garbage, add Goodfellas to your Netflix rental que. I mean this guy must have seen that movie ten thousand times, because his story goes line by line and phrase by phrase from that box office thriller and he still proclaims he had nothing to do with the death of numerous people close to him. I think he talks about religion far too much considering that he robbed people and did several stints in Federal prisons across the country. I don't buy much of his nonsense. I tell it how it is and that is the truth.

a real cop out
A lot of people are not going to like this review!

After having read Franzese's first book, "Quitting the Mob", I found this one to be full of the same holes as the first one, only more so.

For example: Franzese, by his own admission, stole hundreds of millions of dollars. What happened to it? How come the mob never came after him after he testified in front of the grand jury? What did he do to break parole and get sent back to prison?

The real problem I have, though, is this: If Michael is really sincere about his faith and repentence, then how does he deal with his admissions on pages 400-401? MF admits that he infiltrated casinos, defrauded several major companies, stole hundreds of millions in his daisy chain scheme, etc, etc. If he is really sincere, why doesn't he pay this back????? (or, at least attempt to)

In addition, MF intimates that he was involved in several murders, as well as numerous beatings. Is he making restitution? Don't make me laugh.

I'm really not very interested in some career criminal telling me the uniqueness of the bible. I can't help thinking that this entire conversion is just another scam by Franzese.

And I Only Read FICTION!
This is a fantastic book! It reads like a fast paced novel but is more incredible as a real life story. His previous life is only outshadowed by the life he now lives. Amazing.

False Review
There is no apparent truth to Michael Murphy's review of the book Blood Covenant. He falsely states that the author was recently indicted by the feds for new offenses. This is not true. Don't know if Mr. Murphy provided this false review intentionally or by mistake. Whatever the case, the statement is false and misleading to perspective readers. I suggest you seek other reviews on the book before deciding to read it or not.... ... Read more

Book Description

History remembers Arnold Rothstein as the man who fixed the 1919 World Series, an underworld genius. The real-life model for The Great Gatsby’s Meyer Wolfsheim and Nathan Detroit from Guys and Dolls, Rothstein was much more—and less—than a fixer of baseball games. He was everything that made 1920s Manhattan roar. Featuring Jazz Age Broadway with its thugs, speakeasies, showgirls, political movers and shakers, and stars of the Golden Age of Sports, this is a biography of the man who dominated an age. Arnold Rothstein was a loan shark, pool shark, bookmaker, thief, fence of stolen property, political fixer, Wall Street swindler, labor racketeer, rumrunner, and mastermind of the modern drug trade. Among his monikers were "The Big Bankroll," "The Brain," and "The Man Uptown." This vivid account of Rothstein’s life is also the story of con artists, crooked cops, politicians, gang lords, newsmen, speakeasy owners, gamblers and the like. Finally unraveling the mystery of Rothstein’s November 1928 murder in a Times Square hotel room, David Pietrusza has cemented The Big Bankroll’s place among the most influential and fascinating legendary American criminals. 16 pages of black-and-white photographs are featured. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Rothstein: A master criminal of the Jazz Age
This is a wonderful book, evocative of the Roarin' Twenties. Grab your fedora and get ready to join Mr. Big in his private booth at Lindy's. "Rothstein" is a journey back in time through this well-researched and well-written account by David Pietrusza. Obviously it's a biography about gambler and fixer par excellence, Arnold Rothstein, variously known as The Big Bankroll, Mr. Broadway, The Brain. He is the mastermind who is credited with rigging the 1919 World Series that became known as the Black Sox scandal. But this book is much, much more. Pietrusza transports you to those days of yesteryear in Manhattan in which Damon Ruynon's guys and dolls frolicked and boozed. It was an era of Prohibition, chorines and hoods with colorful nicknames. The Jazz Age may have become glorified, but it was a deadly serious time for this dapper mobster, with the emphasis on deadly. After all, he also was the overlord behind what became the modern American drug trade. The author details the complexities behind the Big Fix of the Chicago White Sox and breaks new ground in how it actually happened. As Pietrusza notes, this was "the ultimate corruption of American heroism, period." He also solves the murder of Rothstein in clarifying detail. A.R. is pictured as the creator of organized crime, involved in bootlegging, bookmaking, loan sharking, fencing, Wall Street and real estate manipulation and, of course, all forms of gambling from craps and cards to the race track. As the book's subtitle claims, Rothstein was indeed a criminal genius.

A trip back to Broadway in the Roaring ¿20s
Rothstein tells the story of the underside of the glitzy Broadway that reigned from the turn of the century to the end of the 1920s. Arnold Rothstein is best remembered today as the man behind the 1919 World Series fix, but that was just one example of A. R.'s greatest ability, putting himself in a position where he could not lose. He got into nearly every conceivable area of crime and knew just when to get out, or exactly who to pay off to keep the income coming. He knew what the odds were when a sucker veered from this path, yet "The Big Bankroll" met his end after losing too much at cards and then refusing to pay his debt. Author David Pietrusza, who did a similarly masterful job with Judge and Jury: The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, helps the reader return to a world where mobsters, athletes, Tammany Hall politicians, and Broadway actresses rule the city. Everyone else better get out of the way, turn their head, or put out their hand for a bribe. Pietrusza's research is exhaustive and brings about new conclusions on Rothstein-including significant forms of income few ever knew about in his lifetime-and hands us A. R.'s killer in a 75-year-old unsolved murder case. The author even provides a preface that introduces the many underworld characters involved in the story, as well as an epilogue that tells the reader what happened to everybody after A. R. got his.

A Splendidly Researched Work, Told by a Keen Craftsman
Arnold Rothstein was a real scum ball, but extremely clever, ruthless and amoral, too. The author deserves great credit for bringing him, and the crime-infested era that he lived in, to life. I was surprised to learn that Rothstein funded the first Drug Cartel in this country during the 20s. He also gave another sinister character, Meyer Lansky, his start up the crime ladder. This book also fully captures the take-no-prisoners politics, the changing economics, and the evolving popular culture of that roaring epoch. I particularly liked how "The Great Mouthpiece," attorney Bill Fallon of NYC, was portrayed and the description of his legal exploits, in the court room, on behalf of some of the most notorious defendants in crime history. Rothstein's main claim to infamy will forever be that he was the fixer of the 1919 World Series. For that damnable offense alone, (a crime against the American dream), he deserved to languish in the deepest parts of a fiery hell. Kudos to author David Pietrusza for a splendidly researched work, told by a keen craftsman of his art.

Arnold Rothstein--A Lonely Man
After reading David Pietrusza's book on Arnold Rothstein I have come to the conclusion that Rothstein was a man with only one love in his life, that of gambling. He doesn't appear to be an individual who was able to develop any genuine feelings of affection to another human being. Any interest in another person was limited to what they were able to do for Arnold. His only interest in sports was limited to what the gambling odds were. Although married he spent his evenings, not at home, but sitting at a table at Lindy's Restaurant conversing with business associates, not friends. The author also relates Rothstein's role in developing the drug trade in America. Gambling and bootlegging were activities that you need not be embarrassed about. Trafficing in drugs, however, was something that was considered dirty and he masked his interest in the drug trade. The book also goes into detail of Rothstein's role in the 1919 World Series and others involved in the crooked World Series. Details of Rothstein's death by shooting in the Park Central Hotel in New York by George McManus are also provided. The author admits that some of the details are speculation, and will never be known for sure. This is a book that will take you back to the era of turn of 20th century New York and through the 1920's. It is also the story of people from the world of sports, theatre, politics, and the gangsters that made up this time period. The book is most certainly worth your time and money.

Spend Some Time With a Criminal Genius
As a baseball fan, I can tell you that David Pietrusza's "Rothstein" is a fascinating look into the Black Sox scandal. Most other books look at the 1919 World Series from the point of view of the ballplayers and fans, but this book looks at the series from the perspective of the criminals behind the scenes.

But this book is so much more. Rothstein was New York's criminal genius of late 1910's and early 1920's, and was involved in a wide web of criminal activities. Pietrusza gives you glimpses into Rothstein's childhood memories, everyday life, and many of the biggest fixes and "businesses" that Rothstein set up. Along the way, Pietrusza describes the city leadership and police force of the time, making it a bit easier to understand how the man who bankrolled the biggest crimes in New York-the same man who shot three policemen-could have died without having any fingerprints in police files!

Pietrusza writes clearly and cleanly, with attention to detail but a focus on the story. I fully recommend this book to anyone who would like to step back into 1919 and walk with one of the people who shaped that world. ... Read more

Book Description

Cowboy, army guide, farmer, peace officer, and character in his own right, John P. Meadows arrived in New Mexico from Texas as a young man. During his life in the Southwest, he knew or worked for many well-known characters including: William "Billy the Kid" Bonney, Sheriff Pat Garrett, John Selman, Hugh Beckwith, Charlie Siringo, and Pat Coghlan. Meadows helped investigate the disappearance of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain, and later bought part of downtown Tulsarosa, New Mexico, where he served a term as mayor.

The recollections gathered here and edited by John P. Wilson are based on Meadows’s interviews with a reporter for the Alamogordo News, a partial transcript of his reminiscences given at the Lincoln State Monument, and a talk he gave by invitation at Roswell, New Mexico, to refute inaccuracies in the 1930 MGM movie Billy the Kid. Meadows’s lucid presentation appeared in the Roswell, New Mexico, Daily Record where he spoke about Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid, and other experiences from the Southwest’s frontier days.

"I am not going to leave the country, and I am not going to reform, neither am I going to be taken alive again."—Billy the Kid to John P. Meadows, May 1, 1881 ... Read more

Reviews (4)

English 001
This book is an embarrassment to law enforcement personnel and to Itatlian Americans in particular. The author must have paid someone under the table to obtain a college degree. I counted the use of the "F" word and gave up around 150. The author, a managerial factotum in the FBI is forever worshipping his superiors (Louis Freeh and His Eminence James Kallstrom) to a degree ad nauseam. No wonder, now in the private sector, this flunkie and illiterate is now again serving his masters (Freeh/Kallstrom)in bank security. Perhaps he should have started there.

Lots of information; too much profanity; written for low IQ
Overall, I enjoyed Mr. Bonavolonta's story of the breaking up of the Italian Mafia. There were many facts I did not know, especially those told from an insider's perspective, plus interesting insights into the day to day operations of both the F.B.I. and the Mafia.

However, I found several of what I considered glaring weaknesses.

First, the excess profanity. Believe me, I am not a prude by any measure, and I definitely believe that profanity has its place in literature, especially when used in quotations. However, I found Mr. Bonavolonta's excessive and promiscuous use of it to be, at first offensive, then boring, and finally insulting to my intelligence. Is it that Mr. Bonavolonta felt that his audience is made up of the dense and unsophisticated, unable to understand frustration with the burocracy and unimaginative, stodgy time servers within the F.B.I. unless he calls them motherfuckers and the system bullshit, over and over and over again? Mr. Bonavolonta needs to be aquainted with the concept that, sometimes, less is more.

Second, I found that Mr. Bonavolonta's apparent view that the F.B.I. operated in a virtual vacuum while investigating organized crime and the Italian Mafia to be ridiculous and pedestrian in the extreme. There were many other law enforcement organizations involved in these wars, and to minimize or exclude them from the telling of this story does a great diservice to them, to Mr. Bonavolonta's reputation as a accurate reporter of facts, and especially to the reader.

A Gang of Mutineer FBI Agents Brings Down the Mafia!
Very few Americans realize the reach of the Mafia. For decades, the FBI even refused to admit to the presence of a Mafia. The Mob thumbed their noses at law enforcement. Punks like John Gotti became cult heroes. Then came an incredible confluence of a new breed of FBI agents and a new law, the RICO statute. RICO only required that the government prove a pattern of racketeering activity. This allowed them to go after the bosses, who had only issued orders. "The Good Guys" is an enthralling story of how a group of FBI agents in New York, and a few prosecutors, made an all-out assault on the Mafia, using wiretaps, bugs, undercover agents, and surveillance. How they brought the Mob to its knees.

The author of the book, FBI agent Jules Bonavolonta, grew up in an Italian family in which his father's tailor shop was a target for Mafia intimidation and extortion. Some of the other players you know well. Rudy Guliani, now Mayor of New York. Louie Freeh, now director of the FBI. Not known at the time, but agent Joe Pistone played a key role. He was undercover in the Mob for six years and got so tight with one of the bosses, that he, Joe Pistone, FBI agent, was asked to carry out a contract for a Mob killing!

And my favorite, Jim Kallstrom, who was the FBI agent in charge of the squads that did the bugging and wiretapping of the Mob in the New York City area. Kallstrom is the sometimes gruff, and always intimidating, spokesman for the FBI on the TWA flight 800 crash. I relate more to him because I did some lock picking and bugging of the Mafia as a criminal investigator for the U.S. Treasury Department - and later the same kind of work as a CIA agent in several foreign countries.

The book is a behind-the-scenes look at how Mob figures were targeted, bugged, wiretapped, and surveilled, and is like no other real-life story I have seen in print. It is full of gripping suspense and unexpected humor, like when an agent got caught under the bed of a bigtime mobster and told the wiseguy that he was the exterminator man. And the guy bought it! No Einsteins in this group.

But too, this is a remarkably frank book in which Jules Bonavolonta and other agents express their complete contempt for the "pencil-necked geeks" at FBI headquarters. They rail against the bean counters who want instant statistics to parade before the Congress and the press. This group of mutineers put their careers on the line every day in their passionate belief that they had to do some long-term work to infiltrate and expose the Mob. As a man who worked for both Treasury and CIA, I respect this small group of FBI agents as much for their willingness to tell the bosses to go climb a rope, as their determination and courage in finally making the cases that brought down the Mob families in New York.

I'm a novelist, but I would have a tough time topping the story told in "The Good Guys." At times, it is hard to believe that it is a true story. It would be impossible for you not to enjoy this book.

Richard C. Rhodes rcr@gte.ne

A riveting read
The author grabs your attention from the opening words and you are sucked into the inside workings and politics of the FBI as you have never before seen. The book does an excellent job of describing what makes the mafia tick, how agents from the FBI made it their job to figure this out and develop a strategy to bring down the mob. Jules Bonavolonta tells an emotionally charged personal account of his war against an organization that gave all good, hard working Italians a bad name. By the end of the book, you are cheering for Jules and revelling in his eventual triumph. This book is filled with exciting first person stories which take you on a roller coaster ride - from hearbreak to fear to discouragement to elation. A must read ... Read more

Reviews (14)

rewiew for foreigners
I WRITE THIS REWIEW FOR THOSE WHO TRY TO FIND A BOOK ABOUT BILLY
THE KID AND THEY DONT HAVE ENGLISH AS THEIR MOTHER LANGUADGE.
THIS BOOK IS EXCACTLY WHAT YOU LOOK FOR.ITS EASY TO READ,SIMPLY
WRITING AND UNDERSTANDABLE BY SOMEONE WHO KNOWS STANDAR ENGLISH.
UTLEY KNOWS VERY WELL NOT ONLY THE STORY BUT AND HOW T0 TELL IT
AND MAKE US UNDERSTAND HOW THE LIFE AND THE ATTITUDES WERE AT
OLD WEST.THE BOOK IS SEPERATED IN SMALL CHAPTERS OF ABOUT 10-14
PAGES EACH AND THAT MAKES THE READING RELAXED AND EASY.THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THE MAPS.THEY NEED TO BE BIGER AND WITH MORE DETAILS.

OUTSTANDING!
Fast moving, action packed, superbly researched and easy to read. A standard bearer for all future books based upon the life of Billy the Kid. Robert M. Utley has been uncomprimising in his efforts to convey the true exploits of the 'Kid'. The author displays an extensive knowledge in this field, and it is hard to fault the texts contents. Plenty of other sources are cited and scrutinized by the author, for further reading and information in closely related topics ie. the Lincoln County War.

Clearly, one of Robert M. Utley's strengths is how well he argues the evidence, an ability he exerts throughout this truly enthralling biography. This only adds to the enjoyment of the book. To be fair there are several areas that could be expanded upon, such as 'the Kid's' earlier relationship with Pat Garrett, but there is no evidence to suggest that this work was to be completely exhaustive. But certainly this book is an exceptional building block for further research and any emerging new evidence. If you are interested in the life of Billy the Kid, and you've not read this book...READ IT! You will not be disappointed.

THE KID RIDES ON
I became curious about William Bonney, AKA Billy the Kid, when I first saw the movie Young Guns starring Emilio Estevez. I loved the movie but wanted to know how much of the story was Hollywood hype and how much of it was history.

Accordingly I found Utley's book on Billy the Kid and found, to my satisfaction, that not only was much of the Young Guns story was accurate but that the life of Billy the Kid was as interesting and complex as any to be found in the annals of the Old West.

The debate rages on as to whether young Billy was a poor, misunderstood folk hero or whether he was an ignorant, bloodthirsty miscreant who needs to be vilified and forgotten. Utley's well-researched and well-written book takes a multi-faceted approach to considering the complex history of young man who, despite is very short life and his even briefer career, continue to spark the imagination over a century after his death.

Good, If Slow-moving.
First of all, let me say that this is one of the only Billie The Kid/Lincoln County books I have found that actually explain the confusing circumstances around the Lincoln County War understandably. That coverage is excellent, and alone makes this a great book.
Besides that, it is still a pretty good book, one of the better ones, and it gets the truth straight, not filling it up with made-up stories of Billy's heroics (See: "Authentic Life of Billie the Kid"). What it does fill up with, though, is lots of unnecessary background info, which is interesting but makes for very slow reading. Robert is good at going into Billy's mind and personality. I like espcially the way he writes seemingly without bias: you can't tell if he leans towards the Billy-as-hero side or Billy-as-killer side, which is -so- refreshing.
It's slow moving, but Robert gives you the straight story and forgets nothing, leaving no rock unturned. Great for beginning William Bonney enthusiasts.

Excellent Portrait
Robert Utley has done a superb job in his factually-based portrayal of Billy The Kid. The work is replete with extensive notes and an exhaustive list of sources. He brings to life the exciting, real life drama surrounding the Lincoln County War and the Kid's role in that saga.

Although Utley is careful not to paint Billy as a mythical hero or leader of men, desparados or otherwise, I was able to conclude from the story that his life serves as a symbol for many aspects of the turn-of-the-century American west and is the stuff of legends. One of the symbols Utley suggests as disturbing is "an enduring national ambivalence toward corruption and violence."

I especially liked how Utley reconstucted the drama of Billy's daring break-out at the Lincoln County jail and the supporting material he provided to back up his account of the bloody events that transpired on that day. I agree with Utley, that although there was exciting drama surrounding his short-lived life, up until that point, Billy had not really done very much relative to others of his ilk to earn his notoreity as the most dreaded desparado of the American West.

Billy the Kid's story is in many ways a tragic one of good boy gone bad and of the difficulties that arise when one finds oneself caught ill-prepared and unsponsored in the transition from frontier to civilization. As Utley concludes, "Despite superior qualities....the Kid met failure at most every turn. He failed because he lacked powerful friends and because he did not shed the wartime habits of open rebellion." This proved to be Billy's tragic undoing at a time when the movers and shakers of the west wanted to rely less on violence and place a mantle of respectability in front of their quest for power and wealth. ... Read more

Book Description

The Animal in Hollywood recounts in frank and chilling detail mob enforcer Anthony Fiato's explosive career in the mafia on both coasts. ... Read more

Reviews (27)

Anthony Fiato is really scary, and this book is really good.
This book followed the experiences of Anthony fiato, mobster-turned-informant. Sometimes it's funny; sometimes it's incredibly violent. A good read, and all the more interesting because it includes celebrities like Denise Brown, James Caan and Robert Mitchum.

A Rat is a Rat
Fiato is like most informants they always find ways to rationalize their treachery. There is a saying on the street " If you cant do the time dont do the crime" Fiato and people like him enjoy the life until it comes time to pay, then they turn on people that trusted them. Fiato is just one of many Rats that turned and will continue to turn when faced with paying the price of their actions.

A real tough guy
Anthony was on the radio, and he is facinating. his story was unbelievable, in the sense that he accomplished so much, in a town that is so easy to get caught. He is no dummy like most Mafia guys What guts he has to wear a wire on over sixty
Mafia members sworn to kill like himself

A real mobster
I have to say this was a very real depiction of the mob in Hollywood. Having lived most of my life in LA,I heard of Anthony for years. He was the only mobster that made it in LA. He was a bold and violent criminal no other name comes to me when I
think or a real leg buster. THE OTHER MOB GUYS WERE MICKEY MOUSE NEXT TO HIM

hardcore enforcer
the mob in LA was weak EXCEPT FOR Fiato what a life this guy had, money, broads, Armani, Porshe Beverly hills he was walking around in front of all the mob toughs in LA, WITH DENISE BROWN, even AFTER he ratted most of them out. That proves he was fearless. Mafia enforcer Fiato, and Puggy Z, a mob groupie, made lots of money in loansharking ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Enjoyable
This is generally a good book.Rosalie is very honest and sincere.Her vivid description of growing up in a warm, loving, supportive Sicilian home evokes a time when our society was simpler and kinder.Her tales about her relationship with her father, a kind, sensitive, intelligent, and hardworking man, are very touching.Those stories belie the premise of her book, as reflected in its title, that the difficulties in her life after her marriage resulted from having married into a "mafia" family.After all, her father was Joe Profaci's brother and (according to her husband Bill in his latest book) his right hand man; yet Rosalie's early life and the lives of her mother and siblings, and even her aunt and cousins, were idyllic.Rosalie cannot seem to be able to accept the simple fact that she married an egotistical, self-centered, inconsiderate bungler, whose cavalier treatment of his wife and children are very un-Sicilian traits.Rather than the Sicilian "warrior" Rosalie describes him as, Bill comes across more like a spoiled American rich kid who grew up without adequate parental supervision. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is the result of the singular career of Colonel Carothers, from his life as a delinquent youth to his present status as a veteran of the United States Army chaplains corps. ... Read more

Book Description

Despite humble beginnings in East London, Cameron White rapidly rose in the London club scene. After his initial spectacular success as a drug dealer, he ran afoul of notorious London criminals the Doherty brothers and was forced to flee to North America. There he climbed aboard a cocaine-fueled roller coaster that carried him from dealing with psychotic crack-dealing Jamaican gangsters in New York to West Coast power meetings for a Hollywood talent agency. Returning to London, White managed to stay clean for a while, but a chemical vacation in Thailand set him back on the path to self-destruction, as he smoked marijuana with dope smugglers, sampled the new wave of super-amphetamines, and returned to London a heroin addict and cohort of the murderous Triad gangs. How he navigated the demimonde of drugs and crime makes Mr. Nasty both a riveting read and powerful cautionary tale. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Looking over his shoulder
A woman was recently found dead in her home after publishing tell-all accounts of life inside the mob. One might wonder if Fopiano has been running for cover himself.

This book would make an interesting and complementary addition to a collection including such books as Black Mass by O'Neill and Lehr. It discusses New England organized crime in particular and even touches on inside knowledge of the JFK assassination.

It is an o.k. but more valuable for its local historical flavor, even though some of the organized crime tapestry is not entirely accurate. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

Commendable first book
A career criminal is someone who is so committed to crime as a way of life that no amount of `rehabilitation' from the prison system can straighten him.

Razor Smith is a bank robber of the sort. In fact, he prefers robbing banks so much he'd rather give away three years of his life for a three-month fling with it, anytime. And when he gets bored looking at the same four walls everyday, he simply escapes. So easy, so he does it again and again and again. Life on the run has its extreme highs and lows but sooner or later it'll be back to the slammer for good when Old Bill and The System caught up. And they did. If Whitemoor is as escape proof as it's said to be, Smith could well be serving out his eight life sentences properly, this time.

In his early 30's (he's now 45) Smith took it to himself to learn to read and write properly. The consequences were quite unexpected: Not only did he discover a passion for books and writing, people actually paid attention to him and to what he said on paper. And because he had plenty of gripes against The System by now, he had plenty to say. Later, an A-Levels in Law and Honors in Journalism helped focus his anger and aggression and lend weight to his arguments. His newfound skills and plain-speaking, wry, observant prose make A few Kind Words an accomplished first memoir. It is also clear Smith now has every stab at a career that is leagues above the Road Sweeper job he once had and certainly as potentially profitable as the Other One.

But if Smith wins both our ear and our empathy, it's because he manages to talk about his condemnable behavior - and much of this is violent - without so much as a finger pointing in any direction except towards his own.

To begin with, he was at 15 a school dropout with too much time on his hands. Adrenaline Junkie might as well be his middle name. The first time he was arrested was for burglary, for which he was sent to a youth custody center. `If I came from a broken home,' he states quite matter-of-factly, `it's only because I broke it,' referring to how normal his parents and siblings were in comparison to him and not just the countless times armed police had to break down the front door of the family home, looking for him.

It didn't help either that the Irish cockney was growing up in the land of The Kray Brothers, the Great Train Robbers - the likes of John McVitie and such, where there was romance in thievery.

`There is a code (of honor) handed down by generations of infamous criminals, both real and fictional that you learn it from watching others in life and watching westerns and old gangster films.' Smith tells us, `this code meant you never needed to be ashamed of being a criminal, as long as you're the right one.'

The code included the imperative to be loyal: if a thug was caught giving evidence against his fellow thug, he will be striped (slashed) across the face with a sharp instrument in `a curving line from the corner of the mouth to the earlobe' to mark him traitor to his kind. Very likely, he'll end up starving in the streets.

So, to sum up his gentleman thief values or as a tribute to Al Capone or both, Smith took the title of his autobiography from the Chicago mob boss's quote, `Sometimes you can get more with a few kind words and a loaded gun than you can with a few kind words.'

Much later, in examining the forces that contributed to him staying in this rather vicious cycle, Smith points out the Crime Justice System for having failed to do the one thing it was supposed to do, namely in rehabilitating its criminals. Rehabilitation must help criminals secure the skills to thrive out there. How can the System realistically expect a highly-skilled ex-con to resist the siren call of crime which promises (and also delivers) a much more comfortable life for them and their family for a low-skilled, dead-end job that pays just enough to survive on carpet toast and Cup O Soup?

Most of us `straight-goers' can only guess at the reasons that keep prisoners on the path directly to the slammer and who better than Smith to shed a light. And what this noteworthy new writer drags with him into the cold light of day are the things we should not avert our eyes from.
... Read more

Reviews (4)

The Roots of Crime in the Old West
The University of Nebraska Press is one of my favorite collegiate publishers. Through its Bison Books imprint, it has published important works on the history of the American West for decades.It has reprinted some of the most essential books on the old west that are in the public domain for new generations of readers.A Dynasty of Outlaws is a fascinating study of the spread of evil and outlawyerly in the historic west. While generations of newspapermen, screenwriters and novelists have glorified and romanticized the outlaw; in reality they were men - and occasionally women - who, like all criminals, preyed on their neighbors.The banks that they robbed were not the multi-nationals of today, but small local businesses that held the savings of the merchants, farmers and ranchers.While large corporations owned the trains that they held up, the money that was carried in them was not, nor were the intimate belongings of the citizens that the highwayman held up and traumatized.Paul Wellman (1898-1966) wrote is book which was first published in 1966 and his fascinating thesis is that crime has a "contagious nature" and he traces the criminal gangs of the old west back to the James-Younger gang and the training that they received from the infamous Civil War criminal William C. Quantrill.He then connects the bloody family tree of criminal gangs to the Dalton, Doolin and Belle Starr gangs that evolved from them. Wellman follows this association of criminality into this century when bank robbery re-emerged again."A Dynasty of Western Outlaws" is not only a rich mine of western lore but an important view into the nature of criminality.Jeffrey Morseburg

A must Read--But Use With Caution
Paul Wellman's A Dynasty of Western Outlaws is a 20th Century standard of outlaw history. It is an extremely well written work and belongs in any library of crime history or the "Old West." Wellman, who was a police reporter in Wichita in the 1920's, was one of the first authors to comprehend and explore the connections between Midwestern outlaws of the post-Civil War era and the Depression gangs of the 1930's. That makes this book a useful starting point for anyone interested in the outlaw period. Unfortunately, there are errors throughout the work: Jesse and Frank James were not cousins of the Youngers, only partners in crime; recent research by other authors make it doubtful that Cole Younger fathered Belle Starr's daughter Pearl; Henry Starr was never a member of the Cook gang; Al Spencer was not one of the Stroud bank robbers; etc., etc., etc. And the chapters on '20's outlaws Eddie Adams and Al Spencer, on which Wellman seems to have relied too heavily on his own memory, and on "Pretty Boy" Floyd, are sketchy and highly inaccurate. Wellman's insights are good and his basic premise of an "outlaw dynasty" from Quantrill to Floyd is sound but his facts need to be checked against other sources.

Interesting review of western 'badmen'
While the book contains very interesting material regarding the roots of western outlaws in the years after the Civil War, some individual facts leave a bit to be desired.All in all a good read, but I would encourage further reading on some subjects, or at least double-checking some of the facts used in the book.

A Bloody Genealogy of Outlawry
Sometime-journalist, sometime-novelist Wellman's history of bad guys who terrorized the American Wild West from the period following the Civil War to the early half of the 20th Century is excellently written and presented.He very interestingly traces the links -- sometimes by blood, sometimes bymere acquaintance or "apprenticeship" -- between the mostinfamous Western bad guys from William Clark Quantrill during the BloodyKansas period preceding the Civil War to the death of Pretty Boy Floyd.Highly recommended to fans of Western fiction and general readers who wantto know more about Western history. ... Read more

Book Description

Missouri guerrilla, Confederate officer, bank robber, notorious outlaw, Wild West showman--Cole Younger’s life was the stuff of myth and legend. In The Story of Cole Younger, long out-of-print, he tells his story in his own words after his parole from prison at the age of 59.

Born near Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Thomas Coleman ("Cole") Younger (1844–1916) rode with William Clarke Quantrill’s Confederate raiders during the Civil War, participating in many daring and bloody exploits, including the infamous Lawrence, Kansas, massacre of 1863. Following the war, Younger continued his celebrated career as a desperado, robbing banks and trains with Jesse James and other members of the James-Younger gang. A fateful attempt in 1876 on the Northfield, Minnesota, bank sent Cole to the state prison in Stillwater, Minnesota for decades. There he became a model resident, helping both to protect women convicts during a fire and found the Prison Mirror, a newspaper intended to shed "a ray of light upon the lives of those behind the bars." Paroled in 1901, Younger successfully sought a pardon, operated a Wild West show with his old comrade Frank James, and lectured on "What My Life Has Taught Me." Always known for intelligence and coolness under pressure, he publishe! d this autobiography in 1903, reflecting on the colorful and sometimes violent experiences of "the gentleman, the soldier, the outlaw, and the convict." ... Read more

Reviews (2)

History Lesson
This book was a great history lesson for me. Not only did it tell a great story, it filled me in with alot of unknown information about my Great Great Great Great Great Uncle, Cole Younger. I would like to say that Jesse James and the Younger Brothers had no relation to eachother. THEY WERE NOT COUSINS. THEY DID NOT EVEN ROB BANKS TOGTHER. HISTORY BOOKS HAVE BLURRED THE TRUTH, AND I WOULD LIKE TO CLEAR THAT UP. please read this book, it is a great one.

Fascinating and Perplexing
Cole Younger's autobiography doesn't answer all the questions. It creates more. For one thing, Cole Younger claims that the Northfield robbery, that landed him in prison for 25 years, was his first and _only_ robbery. This makes him either one of the world's most misunderstood innocents, or one of its most blatent liars.

Most authors and historians come down on the 'liar' side of the argument and, bearing in mind Younger was an admitted and convicted criminal, that's not unreasonable. However, I'm inclined to think there's more truth in his tale than is generally acknowledged. Most people just don't lie outright in autobiographies--they hedge and recolor and leave things out to make themselves look better. Reading Cole Younger's book, you can see him doing all these things, as well as avoiding outright statements of his own in favor of quoting other people who had favorable things to say about him, or quoting old statements of innocence he had made. Take the book for what it's worth and make your own judgements.

As to the writing itself... Cole Younger is no writer. The book is uneven and choppy, but parts are quite good. He has some moments of actually inspired prose. He includes the text of a lecture he gave in his later days at the end and it's quite good. Some of his war tales are well-told, but a bit scanty on details. He assumes you know the general stories and is often focusing on quelling lies, myths, and fabrications that had grown up around his story. In many of these cases he's probably being quite honest.

Though dubious history, this book is a valuable and intriguing look at the person and personality behind the historical figure. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

fuhgedaboudit
Although you have to wonder just how much of this story was inflated by Joe Dogs, it still made for a great read. Joe makes no attempts to cover up the fact that he isn't a very good person but just tells his story like it is (with a few possible embellishments) in a way that can only pass for Joe Dogs' style. I have his "Mafia Cookbook" which includes some stories from his life as well.

companion for donnie brasco
this book is one of the funniest i've read since donnie brasco,not for the fan of shoot em up chop em up mob book.but funny the way joe dogs talks about "empty suits" when refering to FBI agents. The same incompetence donnie brasco found in his undercover work in the bonanno famiglia.good reading,couldn't put it down. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Study in Human Nature
'Through a Mother's Eyes' presents a chilling look at human nature in a context where the lines between right and wrong are obscured. It is compellingly written account of one woman's life and what drove her to the brink. It neither condemns her actions nor supports them but leaves one to wonder how close the edge really is for every one of us. It seems that the author is writing with this purpose in mind...to bring to our attention how seemingly small 'everyday' choices and events build up. They shape our personality, perception, thought and justification process, and eventually our actions as surely as water shapes sandstone. It is a fascinating but tragic study in human nature but one that should not be missed. ... Read more

Book Description

Milwaukee Phil. The Wizard of Odds. The Brain. Nicky Crow. Tony Ripe. Cork. Uncle. King Rat. Tony Ducks. DeBe. Tuffy. Mad Sam. Vinny Nip. The Rifleman. Jimmy the Weasel. Billy Jack. The Midget. Crazy Phil. Joey the Clown. Toots. Vinnie Ocean. Charlie the Moose. Richie the Fixer. Big Chris. The Count. Little Pussy. Fat Vinnie. Chicken Man. Chicken Wing. The Ant. Jimmy Blue Eyes. The Mad Bomber.

Minor characters from the "Sopranos"? Forgotten roles from the Godfather series? Hardly.

More like Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman's former clientele and cohorts. Find out about these colorful figures and many more in John L. Smith's Of Rats and Men. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An inherently fascinating biography
Of Rats And Men: Oscar Goodman's Life From Mob Mouthpiece To Mayor Of Las Vegas is the inherently fascinating biography of Oscar Goodman, a man who deliberately became a pre-eminent defense attorney for alleged gangsters for 35 years. Accused but never proven of being more than a mouthpiece and defense attorney for organized crime, Oscar Goodman somehow managed to successfully defend his clients without becoming part of organized crime itself -- at least according to the voters of Las Vegas who eventually elected him as their mayor twice. Of Rats And Men is very highly recommended reading for anyone with an interest in the history of organized crime in America or who wish to avail themselves of a unique insight into the life and philosophy of an accomplished trial lawyer who specialized in defending members of established crime families.

More Insight from Smith ¿ an eminent authority on the mob