Gangland is a standard story of the Chicago mob in its waning days beginning in the 1970s. While some of the characters are real people, others have been created for this book. I spent a lot of time on Wikipedia trying to separate the truth from the fiction. Overall, IContinue Reading
Russell Shorto, the author, is not to be confused with his grandfather, Russell Shorto, the Smalltime Mafioso who was the No. 2 man in the small steel mill town of Johnstown between 1946 through 1960. This is the elder Shorto’s story. But more interesting, it is also the story ofContinue Reading
I really enjoyed this perfect gem of a mobster novel! Like Flies from Afar is the story of mobster, Mr. Machi, who finds a faceless dead body in the trunk of his car. He is waiting for roadside assistance after his tire is “caltropped” or intentionally flattened on the PanamericanaContinue Reading
Lowdown, a romantic thriller set in the world of New York City’s mafia families, has the best first paragraph I’ve read in a long time: “The first seven years you’re in the can, all you can think about is revenge. The next seven years you crave freedom and things youContinue Reading
With mob rats, mob war and President Kennedy’s killer, the United States of Murder Inc Vol 1 starts a new mafia graphic novel series off strong. Valentine becomes a made man in the mafia like his father and grandfather before him. With his cousin Dino, he is sent to D.C.Continue Reading
Immerse yourself in the world of New York mafia kingpin, Frank Costello, labeled a Top Hoodlum by FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover. Prohibition was a marvelous time for organized crime in 1920s New York City. Bringing in liquor from Canada, Frank and all his cronies became millionaires supplying the addictionsContinue Reading
Blood Standard is a beautifully written slow-moving hardboiled noir. Isaiah Coleridge is an enforcer with the Chicago mob. Since he is Maori, he can never be truly part of the Family. When he falls out of favor, he is sent to Nome Alaska, the “Mafia penal colony”. After letting hisContinue Reading