Black Maestro by Joe Drape
The Epic Life of an American Legend
Category: Biography Grade: B+
Its pretty rare that I'll experiment with a biography of somebody I've never heard up, but this book was a birthday present so I decided to give it a try. Well worthwhile. The subject of this book is Jimmy Winkfield, a black jockey who was born in the early 1880s. His story turns out to be pretty amazing, helped along by the Drape's lyrical writing style.
Born in Kentucky, Winkfield spent his childhood hanging around the horse farms of the Bluegrass. As a boy, he learned by watching and loved everything about horses - grooming, training, exercising but most of all racing. He became one of the most accomplished American jockeys of the late 19th century, winning the Kentucky Derby two years in a row. However, these were also the years that Jim Crow laws were becoming entrenched across the United States and, slowly, black jockeys disappeared from the scene - sometimes driven out by rough treatment on the track by other jockeys and sometimes just denied rides by owners. This changing American landscape sent Winkfield off on an amazing world tour that lasted decades.
Settling for years in Russia where being black wasn't a handicap (especially since he was usually the only one around), Winkfield became the leading Russian jockey working for the son of an Armenian oil man who was determined to make Russia a powerhouse. At the peak of his productive years, he got caught up in the Russian Revolution and was part of a group that led hundreds of Russian thoroughbreds on a months long trip across Europe to France. He left his White Russian wife and their son behind with eventual tragic consequences. Eventually, the Nazis drove Winkfield back to the United States where he lived out his life.
This is a well written, entertaining book that anybody who likes sports or history will enjoy.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Last Dance
Last Dance by John Feinstein
Behind the Scenes at the Final Four
Category: Sports Grade: B+
I said it earlier this summer and I'll say it again -- John Feinstein is the best sports writer out there today. His books, like this one, are consistently well written, interesting and, especially for the sports fan, show terrific insight in to the games he covers.
This one, as the subtitle implies, is about what I think is probably the best sports event of the year -- the NCAA basketball Final Four. Although its still terrific, this isn't one of Feinstein's best books, mainly because he abandons his normal modus operandi. Usually, he signs for in depth coverage of a specific team or group of teams for a long period of time - usually a full season. For example, in his most recent book, Next Man Up, he spent a full season with the Baltimore Ravens. For what I think is his best book, The Last Amateurs, he spent a complete year with the basketball teams of the Patriot League - one of the last group of teams that didn't offer athletic scholarship. This lets him get in deep for close looks at the players and coaches involved. There's a lot of talk about basketball and football games, but the game is mostly about characters that you actually get to know.
In Last Dance, Feinstein uses the Final Four as a framework to talk about some of the great figures of the game - coaches like Krzyzewski, Smith and Williams; some of the stellar players that competed in the Final Four - both stars and end-of-the-benchers. He also gives us vignettes about refs, reporters and even administrators. He doesn't even talk much about the actual Final Four games until over half way through the book. Unfortunately, Final Four week isn't enough glue to hold the stories together so want you get the book is essentially a series of loosely related essays. A bad side affect of this is that there are lot of stories that get repeated two, three and even four times in different parts of the book.
There's still good stuff here and any serious basketball fan should really enjoy the book. If you try and like it, definitely move on to some of Feinstein's better work.
Behind the Scenes at the Final Four
Category: Sports Grade: B+
I said it earlier this summer and I'll say it again -- John Feinstein is the best sports writer out there today. His books, like this one, are consistently well written, interesting and, especially for the sports fan, show terrific insight in to the games he covers.
This one, as the subtitle implies, is about what I think is probably the best sports event of the year -- the NCAA basketball Final Four. Although its still terrific, this isn't one of Feinstein's best books, mainly because he abandons his normal modus operandi. Usually, he signs for in depth coverage of a specific team or group of teams for a long period of time - usually a full season. For example, in his most recent book, Next Man Up, he spent a full season with the Baltimore Ravens. For what I think is his best book, The Last Amateurs, he spent a complete year with the basketball teams of the Patriot League - one of the last group of teams that didn't offer athletic scholarship. This lets him get in deep for close looks at the players and coaches involved. There's a lot of talk about basketball and football games, but the game is mostly about characters that you actually get to know.
In Last Dance, Feinstein uses the Final Four as a framework to talk about some of the great figures of the game - coaches like Krzyzewski, Smith and Williams; some of the stellar players that competed in the Final Four - both stars and end-of-the-benchers. He also gives us vignettes about refs, reporters and even administrators. He doesn't even talk much about the actual Final Four games until over half way through the book. Unfortunately, Final Four week isn't enough glue to hold the stories together so want you get the book is essentially a series of loosely related essays. A bad side affect of this is that there are lot of stories that get repeated two, three and even four times in different parts of the book.
There's still good stuff here and any serious basketball fan should really enjoy the book. If you try and like it, definitely move on to some of Feinstein's better work.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Kingfish
Kingfish, The Reign of Huey P. Long by Richard D. White, Jr.
Category: Biography Grade: A
I bought this book a couple of months ago but, coincidentally, the Denver Post did a mini-review of the book yesterday. There comment -- you can never go wrong reading about Huey Long. Definitely true. I've read other books about him plus, of course, the novel All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren whose main character is a thinly disguised Kingfish. The novel was made in to a great movie decades ago with Broderick Crawford and has been remade for release this fall starring Sean Penn. Really looking forward to that one.
Long portrayed himself as a populist - looking out for the little guy. He became governor of Louisiana by constantly attacking the entrenched political machines and the wealthy people and corporations (especially Standard Oil) that kept Louisiana pretty backwards. In his early days as governor, he actually kept many of his promises and did amazing things for the state -- free textbooks for students for the first time, paving thousands of miles of roads, turning LSU from nothing to a major university, getting rid of the poll tax. While doing this, however, Long turned himself in to pretty much the absolute dictator of the state. He was colorful, controlling, a political genius and as vindictive as they come. He and his cronies also robbed the state blind and, to pay for everything he did - both for the state and for himself - raised taxes by 75% and raised state debt by 1500%!
At the peak of his power, Long himself had actually moved on to the U.S. Senate but, through a puppet governor whose election he arranged, he still maintained a tight control over the state. It was common for Long to come in to Baton Rouge, call a special session and have 30 or 40 bills that he wrote himself passed by the legislature in a few hours. After his first few years in power, he did relatively little for the state. Most of the bills passed were either designed to punish his opponents (e.g. by making their businesses illegal) or increasing his control (e.g. by turning the hiring and firing of all teachers, policemen and municipal works into state employees). When crossed by city politicians, his reaction could be drastic. In Baton Rouge, he had martial law declared. In New Orleans, he sent in the state militia to ensure that the mayor was powerless.
While, after his first few years of acquiring power, Long did relatively little for the state or the "little guy", his popularity continued to soar. He became a violent enemy of FDR and began to become well known nationally. His populist proposals, made through his national organizations, Share Our Wealth, never made much sense but sounded incredible to a nation still in recovery from the great depression. For example, one of his cornerstones was to, via taxation, confiscate all wealth over a million dollars and, in return, guarantee everyone an annual income of $4000. Of course, the numbers didn't work - he actually would have add to confiscate all income over $4000 in order to guarantee an income to everyone of $1400! However, the struggling poor in the country weren't economists and Huey's way sounded like the answer. At its peak, Share Our Wealth had a membership of over 8 million people.
Huey was assassinated at the age of 42. At that point his fellow Senators despised him and FDR was the FBI and the IRS (actually its predecessor) to try to bring the Kingfish down. Its interest to speculate what would have happened had Long lived. He had already announced his candidacy for President at his death. While he knew he couldn't win in 1936, he had growing confidence that he could pull enough votes away from FDR to put Hoover back in the White House. He assumed that Hoover, as he did the first time around, would screw up and that Huey would then become the front runner in 1940. This scenario could easily have given the United States a dictator, rather than a President, at the worst possible time.
White has a great writing style. He supplies plenty of detail without ever getting lost in them. He's great a quick-stroke characters - and there are lots of them. This is a book that both history and political buffs will enjoy. Especially if you've never read anything about the Kingfish, pick this one up.
Category: Biography Grade: A
I bought this book a couple of months ago but, coincidentally, the Denver Post did a mini-review of the book yesterday. There comment -- you can never go wrong reading about Huey Long. Definitely true. I've read other books about him plus, of course, the novel All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren whose main character is a thinly disguised Kingfish. The novel was made in to a great movie decades ago with Broderick Crawford and has been remade for release this fall starring Sean Penn. Really looking forward to that one.
Long portrayed himself as a populist - looking out for the little guy. He became governor of Louisiana by constantly attacking the entrenched political machines and the wealthy people and corporations (especially Standard Oil) that kept Louisiana pretty backwards. In his early days as governor, he actually kept many of his promises and did amazing things for the state -- free textbooks for students for the first time, paving thousands of miles of roads, turning LSU from nothing to a major university, getting rid of the poll tax. While doing this, however, Long turned himself in to pretty much the absolute dictator of the state. He was colorful, controlling, a political genius and as vindictive as they come. He and his cronies also robbed the state blind and, to pay for everything he did - both for the state and for himself - raised taxes by 75% and raised state debt by 1500%!
At the peak of his power, Long himself had actually moved on to the U.S. Senate but, through a puppet governor whose election he arranged, he still maintained a tight control over the state. It was common for Long to come in to Baton Rouge, call a special session and have 30 or 40 bills that he wrote himself passed by the legislature in a few hours. After his first few years in power, he did relatively little for the state. Most of the bills passed were either designed to punish his opponents (e.g. by making their businesses illegal) or increasing his control (e.g. by turning the hiring and firing of all teachers, policemen and municipal works into state employees). When crossed by city politicians, his reaction could be drastic. In Baton Rouge, he had martial law declared. In New Orleans, he sent in the state militia to ensure that the mayor was powerless.
While, after his first few years of acquiring power, Long did relatively little for the state or the "little guy", his popularity continued to soar. He became a violent enemy of FDR and began to become well known nationally. His populist proposals, made through his national organizations, Share Our Wealth, never made much sense but sounded incredible to a nation still in recovery from the great depression. For example, one of his cornerstones was to, via taxation, confiscate all wealth over a million dollars and, in return, guarantee everyone an annual income of $4000. Of course, the numbers didn't work - he actually would have add to confiscate all income over $4000 in order to guarantee an income to everyone of $1400! However, the struggling poor in the country weren't economists and Huey's way sounded like the answer. At its peak, Share Our Wealth had a membership of over 8 million people.
Huey was assassinated at the age of 42. At that point his fellow Senators despised him and FDR was the FBI and the IRS (actually its predecessor) to try to bring the Kingfish down. Its interest to speculate what would have happened had Long lived. He had already announced his candidacy for President at his death. While he knew he couldn't win in 1936, he had growing confidence that he could pull enough votes away from FDR to put Hoover back in the White House. He assumed that Hoover, as he did the first time around, would screw up and that Huey would then become the front runner in 1940. This scenario could easily have given the United States a dictator, rather than a President, at the worst possible time.
White has a great writing style. He supplies plenty of detail without ever getting lost in them. He's great a quick-stroke characters - and there are lots of them. This is a book that both history and political buffs will enjoy. Especially if you've never read anything about the Kingfish, pick this one up.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Small Steps
Small Steps by Louis Sachar
Category: Teen Fiction Grade: B+
OK, so its a kids book. Sachar's well known book (and more recently a movie) is called and it was actually pretty good and this one takes place in Austin (Sachar is an Austinite), so I decided to give this one a try. It isn't really a sequel to Holes, but it does feature a couple of the kids from that book - Armpit and X-Ray. There's nothing really fancy about this story - it deals with ticket scalping and a very sheltered rock star. It only took about 3 hours to read and that was because I was watching a basketball game at the same time.
All in all, it was a decent story and good writing. It's aimed at teens so there's nothing fancy about it, but I enjoyed it.
The book is only about 200 pages long with big print. Since I don't want the review to be longer than the book, I'll quit now.
Category: Teen Fiction Grade: B+
OK, so its a kids book. Sachar's well known book (and more recently a movie) is called and it was actually pretty good and this one takes place in Austin (Sachar is an Austinite), so I decided to give this one a try. It isn't really a sequel to Holes, but it does feature a couple of the kids from that book - Armpit and X-Ray. There's nothing really fancy about this story - it deals with ticket scalping and a very sheltered rock star. It only took about 3 hours to read and that was because I was watching a basketball game at the same time.
All in all, it was a decent story and good writing. It's aimed at teens so there's nothing fancy about it, but I enjoyed it.
The book is only about 200 pages long with big print. Since I don't want the review to be longer than the book, I'll quit now.
Friday, August 18, 2006
The Devil is a Gentleman
The Devil is a Gentleman by J.C. Hallman
Exploring America's Religious Fringe
Category: Religious History Grade: D
Laid it down after reading about a couple of UFO groups and an American Druid group. Just boring.
Exploring America's Religious Fringe
Category: Religious History Grade: D
Laid it down after reading about a couple of UFO groups and an American Druid group. Just boring.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Labyrinth
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
Category: Historical Fiction Grade: B
Not surprisingly, there's been a string of books like Labyrinth in the last couple of years. With the success of The Da Vinci Code, lots of authors are trotting out fiction that deals with more alternative definitions of the Holy Grail - what it is, what happened to it, how it might affect today's world. Mosse has kind of written a feminist interpretation here with women playing the key rolls - both good and evil.
What makes this one interesting is that Mosse actually tells the dual story with part happening today and the other part happening in the 13th century. Fortunately, the majority of the book takes place in France in the 13th century since the book is so-so whenever it turns to the modern characters and much more interesting when it stays in the ancient world. The period of time Mosse deals with is the fairly unknown European Crusades. During this period of time, the Catholic world mounted a Crusade, not against the Muslim world of the Holy Land, but against the heretical (e.g. the emerging Protestant) world of Southern France. As with many religious wars, this Crusade was 10% about religion and 90% about land, money and power.
The primary story features Alais, the daughter of the advisor to one of the rulers of Southern France and the husband of a chevalier, essentially a knight, in the same court. What Alais learns over the course of the book is that her father is part of an ancient order designed to protect the Grail (sound familiar?). When her father dies during a siege, she picks up his responsibilities. The second story, taking place in 2005, features Alice (get it?) a woman who accidentally (or is it?) discovers the ancient cave that is the.... well, I won't give it away.
Even though the book teeters precariously on the edge of being a "bodice ripper" at times and a romance novel at other times, its still a decent read as long as Mosse is dealing with history. Whenever she jumps to the modern era, the book gets more exciting, but a little silly.
Phil -- this is probably one that Katherine would like.
Category: Historical Fiction Grade: B
Not surprisingly, there's been a string of books like Labyrinth in the last couple of years. With the success of The Da Vinci Code, lots of authors are trotting out fiction that deals with more alternative definitions of the Holy Grail - what it is, what happened to it, how it might affect today's world. Mosse has kind of written a feminist interpretation here with women playing the key rolls - both good and evil.
What makes this one interesting is that Mosse actually tells the dual story with part happening today and the other part happening in the 13th century. Fortunately, the majority of the book takes place in France in the 13th century since the book is so-so whenever it turns to the modern characters and much more interesting when it stays in the ancient world. The period of time Mosse deals with is the fairly unknown European Crusades. During this period of time, the Catholic world mounted a Crusade, not against the Muslim world of the Holy Land, but against the heretical (e.g. the emerging Protestant) world of Southern France. As with many religious wars, this Crusade was 10% about religion and 90% about land, money and power.
The primary story features Alais, the daughter of the advisor to one of the rulers of Southern France and the husband of a chevalier, essentially a knight, in the same court. What Alais learns over the course of the book is that her father is part of an ancient order designed to protect the Grail (sound familiar?). When her father dies during a siege, she picks up his responsibilities. The second story, taking place in 2005, features Alice (get it?) a woman who accidentally (or is it?) discovers the ancient cave that is the.... well, I won't give it away.
Even though the book teeters precariously on the edge of being a "bodice ripper" at times and a romance novel at other times, its still a decent read as long as Mosse is dealing with history. Whenever she jumps to the modern era, the book gets more exciting, but a little silly.
Phil -- this is probably one that Katherine would like.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Sweet and Low
Sweet and Low by Rich Cohen
Category: Family memoir Grade: C+
I'll never say anything bad about my family again (not, of course, that I would ever say anything bad about my family!). This book is the story of the Eisenstadt family - the family that founded and still owns Cumberland Packaging - the makers of Sweet and Low. The story is told by the grandson of the founders, Rich Cohen. He's part of the branch of the family that ended up getting disinherited so he's got a bit of a bone to pick. This is one screwed up family. Starting with the patriarch, Ben - his first big brainstorm was mucking with a tea bagging machine to create the first sugar packets. He did this so he wouldn't have to clean the sugar containers on the tables in his diner. Ben took it to Domino Sugar without bothering to file a patent and, predictably, Domino stole his idea. Years later, as the diet craze struck, he launched the Sweet and Low brand and built a mega-business. The rest of the family was equally nuts. Ben's son Marvin (known as Uncle Marvelous) took over the business, but also hired a couple of mob-connected senior execs (e.g. a CFO who's previous experience was as a mechanic) who proceeded to rob the company blind and, eventually, get Marvin indicted. There's sister Gladys who, one day, wasn't feeling well and went to her room -- for 30 years!
Unfortunately, as interesting as the story is, there are two flaws that keep the book from being as good as the story. First and foremost, Cohen really isn't that great a writer. He's not "put-it-down" terrible, but his writing frequently gets in the way of storytelling. This shouldn't have surprised me. I read two of his previous books -- Tough Jews (about Jewish gangsters) and The Avengers (about, I think, Israeli spies). Interesting stories -- mediocre writing.
His second flaw is that he keeps heading off on to tangents - most especially his long digression in to the history of sugar. The family was enough of a story and he should have stuck to that.
This book was (again, especially the story) good enough that I'll probably pick up his next book, but not good enough that I can recommend it to anybody.
Category: Family memoir Grade: C+
I'll never say anything bad about my family again (not, of course, that I would ever say anything bad about my family!). This book is the story of the Eisenstadt family - the family that founded and still owns Cumberland Packaging - the makers of Sweet and Low. The story is told by the grandson of the founders, Rich Cohen. He's part of the branch of the family that ended up getting disinherited so he's got a bit of a bone to pick. This is one screwed up family. Starting with the patriarch, Ben - his first big brainstorm was mucking with a tea bagging machine to create the first sugar packets. He did this so he wouldn't have to clean the sugar containers on the tables in his diner. Ben took it to Domino Sugar without bothering to file a patent and, predictably, Domino stole his idea. Years later, as the diet craze struck, he launched the Sweet and Low brand and built a mega-business. The rest of the family was equally nuts. Ben's son Marvin (known as Uncle Marvelous) took over the business, but also hired a couple of mob-connected senior execs (e.g. a CFO who's previous experience was as a mechanic) who proceeded to rob the company blind and, eventually, get Marvin indicted. There's sister Gladys who, one day, wasn't feeling well and went to her room -- for 30 years!
Unfortunately, as interesting as the story is, there are two flaws that keep the book from being as good as the story. First and foremost, Cohen really isn't that great a writer. He's not "put-it-down" terrible, but his writing frequently gets in the way of storytelling. This shouldn't have surprised me. I read two of his previous books -- Tough Jews (about Jewish gangsters) and The Avengers (about, I think, Israeli spies). Interesting stories -- mediocre writing.
His second flaw is that he keeps heading off on to tangents - most especially his long digression in to the history of sugar. The family was enough of a story and he should have stuck to that.
This book was (again, especially the story) good enough that I'll probably pick up his next book, but not good enough that I can recommend it to anybody.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
A Dirty Job
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
Category: Fiction Grade: A
Moore is probably one of those authors that you've never heard of unless you've heard of him. I stumbled across one of his books years ago -- a book called The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. Its just what it sounds like - the story of a prehistoric beast that crawls out of the ocean in the village of Melancholy Cove and makes everybody around, well, horny. Very few books make me laugh out loud but this one did and I was hooked. Just the titles of Moore's books can be hysterical - Island of the Sequined Love Nun - and, of course, the one before this one -- Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Moore is the most consistently funny writer out there. If you read his stuff on the bus, people will stare!
His latest, A Dirty Job, is the story of Charlie Asher. His young adored wife dies in childhood and when Death (well, actually small "d" death since there are lots of them) comes in to collect her soul, Charlie sees him. He's hard to miss since he's a seven foot tall black guy dressed completely in mint green, but a "death" at work is supposed to be invisible to everybody. The upshot is that Charlie has been chosen somehow to become one of the "deaths". His job is to collect the souls of the recently departed and recycle them to some other person in need of a soul. Hmmm -- doesn't sound very funny, but you gotta trust me, it is.
The plot revolves around the fact that, if any of the "deaths" screw up, the forces of the Dark Underworld get stronger and, eventually will come back above and take over the world. Needless to say, there are some great battles with the underworld characters, especially the "sewer harpies" - not your Steven King kind of battles - much more entertaining. While taking care of his job, Charlie also to continue to run his second store, deal with his employees - a teenage Goth and an ex-cop looking for love on the Internet, raise his daughter Sophie and her pets the giant hellhounds.
Most comic novels have this problem - they're impossible to explain in a way that gets the humor across. But this one - for that matter any of Moore's books - defy explanations and keep you laughing.
Category: Fiction Grade: A
Moore is probably one of those authors that you've never heard of unless you've heard of him. I stumbled across one of his books years ago -- a book called The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. Its just what it sounds like - the story of a prehistoric beast that crawls out of the ocean in the village of Melancholy Cove and makes everybody around, well, horny. Very few books make me laugh out loud but this one did and I was hooked. Just the titles of Moore's books can be hysterical - Island of the Sequined Love Nun - and, of course, the one before this one -- Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Moore is the most consistently funny writer out there. If you read his stuff on the bus, people will stare!
His latest, A Dirty Job, is the story of Charlie Asher. His young adored wife dies in childhood and when Death (well, actually small "d" death since there are lots of them) comes in to collect her soul, Charlie sees him. He's hard to miss since he's a seven foot tall black guy dressed completely in mint green, but a "death" at work is supposed to be invisible to everybody. The upshot is that Charlie has been chosen somehow to become one of the "deaths". His job is to collect the souls of the recently departed and recycle them to some other person in need of a soul. Hmmm -- doesn't sound very funny, but you gotta trust me, it is.
The plot revolves around the fact that, if any of the "deaths" screw up, the forces of the Dark Underworld get stronger and, eventually will come back above and take over the world. Needless to say, there are some great battles with the underworld characters, especially the "sewer harpies" - not your Steven King kind of battles - much more entertaining. While taking care of his job, Charlie also to continue to run his second store, deal with his employees - a teenage Goth and an ex-cop looking for love on the Internet, raise his daughter Sophie and her pets the giant hellhounds.
Most comic novels have this problem - they're impossible to explain in a way that gets the humor across. But this one - for that matter any of Moore's books - defy explanations and keep you laughing.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Five Families
Five Families by Selwyn Raab
The Rise, Decline and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires
Category: Crime History Grade: B
No, I haven't forgotten about you guys. This latest book was a big project, clocking it at over 700 pages. Its well written and not terribly heavy reading - just really long. The subtitle really says it all. Raab, a long time crime reporter for the New York Times, has written a definitive history of the New York City branches of the Mafia. He traces back to the 19th century origins in Sicily up to pretty much the present day. Bottom line - the real stories are far more interesting, if not quite as romantic, as anything in The Godfather trilogy. And Tony Soprano is just a wimp!
Throughout the book, you are repeatedly struck by two overall impressions. First, the casual brutality, while not surprising if you've read anything about these guys, is astounding. He sang to the cops -- kill him. He got too ambitious -- kill him. He wasn't turning over enough cash to the boss - kill him. He insulted somebody - kill him. He touched the wrong guys daughter -- kill him. Just not a lot of job security in this organization.
The second thing, however, is that some of the guys were really, really smart - especially before the 1980s. Probably the most impressive gangster of the bunch was Lucky Luciano. Before him, these were basically Italian immigrant street gangs. They were making money, but they were also feuding with each other costing not only money, but lives. In addition, every war would turn up the police heat a little bit. It was Luciano's concept to divide the pie up on the theory that was plenty for everybody. In the now familiar story, everybody would be divided up in to families (five in New York, with one each in other major cities). The families would be divided in to groups of roughly ten "made guys" - run by a "capo" and supported by dozens of support troops, most of whom would never move up the ladder. Luciano's major innovation was the creation of the "commission" to settle disputes between families on territories, division of profits, creation of new "made guys" and, of course, to have approval over hits, or murders. While everybody could profit, nobody had any connection to crimes that they weren't directly involved in providing, for decades, immunity for prosecution - especially for the bosses - the higher ups who never got their hands dirty.
Raab also talks a lot about the other side of the Mafia battles. From Hoover's denial that the Mafia exists until forced to acknowledge it by the Kennedy brothers to Rudy Guliani who was one of the first successful prosecutors using new legal tools like the RICO statutes. The story of RICO (an acronym created backwards - the author wanted the law to carry the name of Edward G. Robinson's character in Little Caesar) is really pretty interesting. It was handcrafted to go after "criminal enterprises" like the Mafia by introducing laws that allowed cops to go after the leaders of the families by tying them to the benefits and oversight of crimes not just the commission of them. However, the law was actually on the books for over a decade, unused, before a couple of FBI agents went to a seminar given by the law professor who drafted it while an attorney for a senate committee. In the 80s and 90s, RICO became the primary tool for largely dismantling the entire crime infrastructure. By strengthening the reach and length of the penalties, RICO encouraged a lot of mobsters to switch sides. In those decades, a lot of the cases - John Gotti, Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, "Chin" Gigante - were front page news.
Raab's book is a long trek so you really need have at least some interest in organized crime stories. If you don't, you'll probably be bored by page 70, much less page 700. For the few of you who do have an interest, this is probably the best single source of info I've seen on this subject.
The Rise, Decline and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires
Category: Crime History Grade: B
No, I haven't forgotten about you guys. This latest book was a big project, clocking it at over 700 pages. Its well written and not terribly heavy reading - just really long. The subtitle really says it all. Raab, a long time crime reporter for the New York Times, has written a definitive history of the New York City branches of the Mafia. He traces back to the 19th century origins in Sicily up to pretty much the present day. Bottom line - the real stories are far more interesting, if not quite as romantic, as anything in The Godfather trilogy. And Tony Soprano is just a wimp!
Throughout the book, you are repeatedly struck by two overall impressions. First, the casual brutality, while not surprising if you've read anything about these guys, is astounding. He sang to the cops -- kill him. He got too ambitious -- kill him. He wasn't turning over enough cash to the boss - kill him. He insulted somebody - kill him. He touched the wrong guys daughter -- kill him. Just not a lot of job security in this organization.
The second thing, however, is that some of the guys were really, really smart - especially before the 1980s. Probably the most impressive gangster of the bunch was Lucky Luciano. Before him, these were basically Italian immigrant street gangs. They were making money, but they were also feuding with each other costing not only money, but lives. In addition, every war would turn up the police heat a little bit. It was Luciano's concept to divide the pie up on the theory that was plenty for everybody. In the now familiar story, everybody would be divided up in to families (five in New York, with one each in other major cities). The families would be divided in to groups of roughly ten "made guys" - run by a "capo" and supported by dozens of support troops, most of whom would never move up the ladder. Luciano's major innovation was the creation of the "commission" to settle disputes between families on territories, division of profits, creation of new "made guys" and, of course, to have approval over hits, or murders. While everybody could profit, nobody had any connection to crimes that they weren't directly involved in providing, for decades, immunity for prosecution - especially for the bosses - the higher ups who never got their hands dirty.
Raab also talks a lot about the other side of the Mafia battles. From Hoover's denial that the Mafia exists until forced to acknowledge it by the Kennedy brothers to Rudy Guliani who was one of the first successful prosecutors using new legal tools like the RICO statutes. The story of RICO (an acronym created backwards - the author wanted the law to carry the name of Edward G. Robinson's character in Little Caesar) is really pretty interesting. It was handcrafted to go after "criminal enterprises" like the Mafia by introducing laws that allowed cops to go after the leaders of the families by tying them to the benefits and oversight of crimes not just the commission of them. However, the law was actually on the books for over a decade, unused, before a couple of FBI agents went to a seminar given by the law professor who drafted it while an attorney for a senate committee. In the 80s and 90s, RICO became the primary tool for largely dismantling the entire crime infrastructure. By strengthening the reach and length of the penalties, RICO encouraged a lot of mobsters to switch sides. In those decades, a lot of the cases - John Gotti, Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, "Chin" Gigante - were front page news.
Raab's book is a long trek so you really need have at least some interest in organized crime stories. If you don't, you'll probably be bored by page 70, much less page 700. For the few of you who do have an interest, this is probably the best single source of info I've seen on this subject.
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