Insightful look into the "Mob"--warts and all!
931109
I really enjoyed reading "The Company She Keeps" for a variety of reasons. Though I never knew Ms. Durante personally I am from her home town!  I knew of many of the people in the book though I didn't live there during much of the timeline. I can say this--her description of the town  itself is right on.  I was also  fascinated by the rules in a world few  people know.  I thought Ms. Durante created a vehicle in which the reader  could truly experience what it is like to live in this world.
I am an  actress by trade and have had the good fortune to play a character on the  acclaimed HBO series "The Supranos."  I used Ms. Durante's book  as a character study for my work on The Supranos as well as other mob  characters I have played. She made it easy for me to understand the  behavior of women involved in this world.  As an actress that is a valuable  tool.  The picture she painted was exciting, frightening and romantic all  at once.
I was also very impressed by the author's candid confession of  her own mistakes--without blaming anyone for her choices or circumstances.
Eventually, her own redemption gives hope to women in any situation.  Thank you Ms. Durante!
2669728
McMafia is a fascinating journey through global organised crime syndicates which will make you realise that everything you do, touch, eat or buy is in some way connected to a global organised crime gang.  The policies you support in your home country are undoubtedly linked in some way to a gang who are working an angle based on that policy in a country far, far away.

You will not look at the world in the same way after reading this, and I am sorry to say your opinion of your fellow humans will be diminished. That we are capable of such exploitation, corruption and perpetuation of human misery just to get a dollar is such a damning indictment of the current direction of our global economic model it begs the question if it is all worth it.

Is global organised crime a natural byproduct of capitalism? After reading McMafia, it appears so, and it demands that we at least consider pursuing a different economic model than the ones we have today.
1774462
Very, very interesting read with well-documented details and astute analysis, placing each crime within the social, political, and cultural context of its time, and shedding light on the role of the press (and social media) in America today.
1659795
Robert Schoenberg does a great job of taking on a colossal character like Mr. Capone. He describes in depth - Chicago: the neighborhoods, experiences, up & coming racketeers, and all of the underlying factors that composed the roaring twenties. He goes into detail of the: who, what, when, where, why, and how of Al Capone.  Schoenberg provides an admirable breakdown of all the other mobsters, & tough guys that surrounded Chicago, and the Prohibition era.  There were plenty of hoodlums looking to make fast money.  Prohibition provided the perfect venue to make a dishonest dollar, and they dove in with both feet.

This book makes you imagine how cunning all of these characters were at this particular point in history.  These were very dangerous times, and as a result, the players that rose to power were just as precarious.  Somehow, Capone always wound up on top.  He was always one step ahead of his opponent.  He was very crafty, and had everyone on the payroll to deliver information, which served him well against his enemies gunning from all directions.  Capone surrounded himself with nothing but trustworthy, dependable hoods, mostly of Italian background (usually originating from the old stomping grounds of Brooklyn).

Capone somehow had the ability to see all the angles.  He also had the aptitude to try & solve problems, without violence at 1st, so that all parties involved came out of a deal with a smile on their face.  He was very intelligent, had a tough background, and had all of the right connections.  This along with a good deal of luck, Al established himself as the loyal #2 man in his early twenties to the man in charge, Johnny Torrio.  He learned much from his boss which was a tremendous advantage, all to itself.  Being around someone as sharp as Torrio, you learn many habits that keep you witty, and ahead of your game.

I gave the book 4 stars, only because I was hoping for a smoother read.  This book is definitely the who's-who of Al Capone.  It is a tome of information providing a remarkable wealth of understanding.  I was looking for something a little less exhausting, where this hardback goes into tremendous detail: listing names, dates, addresses, etc.  In any event - a great bio, and a must read for anyone interested in Big Al.  Now it's on to Frank Nitti, Capone's Successor!
590370
This was my fist book by the author, but it will not be my last. After offering a very insightful overview of the media driven socio-political situation in the first chapter, all of the later chapters chronicle how this insidious situation of extreme sensivity to racial situations got started in the sixties, and only grew to ever more absurd lengths as the decades unfolded. She talks about many shocking legal cases, most from the east coast, where an African Am. defendant, almost, or in some cases did, get away with a major crime, and where the even the local police force was vilified by the local press, and TV media for their attempts to solve these cases, even after being proved right in every case. She shows how there was some temporary diminishment in this activity with the scandal of OJ murder case, and subsequent acquittal. Now, with the rise of the Obama presidency, and the media and politicial impetus surrounding it, it is shown how this same political attitude is again regaining prominence, and the menace this potentially poses. This volume kept my interest from beginning to end, and is one of the most informative political books I have read in quite a while.
4714615
I've just finished reading Al Moe's history of Vegas and the Mob and it's a winner. Everything you want to know about Vegas is here. From the early days of when this place was just a truck stop to the present day and the properly run Steve Wynn casinos such as The Bellagio etc. You'll learn about how Vegas pioneer Bugsy Siegel got whacked Mob style, ( in graphic detail ) how the temperamental Frank Sinatra got two of his front teeth knocked out by the Jewish manager of the casino he was working at because he couldn't get any more free gambling chips and threw a temper tantrum, how the enigmatic but very rich and nutty casino owner Howard Hughes kept his urine in bottles as well as being ripped off big time Mob style. You'll also read about the millions of dollars the Mob took on a daily basis by skimming off the top whilst the powers that be seemed turn a blind eye, and of course no book about Vegas and the Mob wouldn't be complete without a chapter on Mob money man Meyer Lansky. That's here too. As well as countless others. This a book that anybody interested in Vegas and the Mob should definitely have on their bookshelf.
873541
As a fan of the Godfather series and other movies about the gangster era (Brotherhood - Sopranos), I certainly recognize where many of the characters originated (remember "Moe Green" from the Godfather?). An interesting saga of how and why certain mob members were well known. Plenty of insight into their strange, weird, deadly passions. It seemed that J Edgar Hoover was "controlled" by mob members by blackmail through his own perversions. Be prepared for a real history lesson; somewhat dry in spots, but factual from what I recall from reading other books and articles.
3659139
I was immediately glued to this book, I couldn't stop reading because I was interested, horrified and amazed!  This book gives you a GREAT outlook on why some kids would join a gang, or why they would feel that the gang is their only family.  The media today potrays them as "bad" kids, but that is not the case.  Some like Sonia, the Latin Queen, it really was the family she didn't have at home.  She was basically a punching bag at home for everything under the sun, she was looking for love and respect and she found it in the Lating Kings/Queens gang.  READ the book it will amaze and intrigue you, and you will get an honest look!!
2920314
I enjoyed Michael E. Newton's PATH TO TYRANNY, so I expected a well-researched book full of great information.  What I wasn't expecting was the wonderful stylistic shift in the author's writing.  ANGRY MOBS is such a fluid, easy read, that it entertains as much as it educates.  It's still full of interesting facts, so you learn a lot, but Newton's style in ANGRY MOBS is more reader-friendly.  So much that our Founding Fathers struggled with is still acutely relevant today.  All of the FFs decried government debt as a plague.  Even the Federalists acknowledged that big government was bad.  Newton points out that the Constitution was more a shift of power from the states to the Fed than an increase in government power.  The struggles of the FFs to get the checks and balances right demonstrates the genius of the FFs.  The central point of the book is Newton's thesis that both the "angry mobs" of revolutionaries and the statesmen FFs were needed to pull of the miracle of the founding of the U.S.A.  Each group served a unique purpose and could not have pulled it off without the other.  It's funny to hear today's Tea Party movement described as an "angry mob."  Current Tea Party members pay their taxes, work at jobs, and urge smaller government.  Their meetings and protests are peaceful and clean.  There's no violence, just an attempt at persuasion. If you want to know how "angry mobs" act, read Newton's book. His Majesty's tax collectors and later federal revenue agents of the new republic were stripped, tarred and feathered, and run out of town.  Today's Tea Party folks have more in common with the Founding Fathers than the "angry mobs" of the American Revolution.  Anyway, I recommend ANGRY MOBS AND FOUNDING FATHERS to readers who want to be educated and entertained.
437121
I am drawn to reading books about the Mafia and the mob as it is fascinating the the lengths that people will go to in the pursuit of power and money. I found this story to be one of the best that I have read in recent times as it revealed the inner thoughts of the Prince and the development of his conscience as his uncle and mentor slipped further into insanity. It was also refreshing to see that eventually the Prince found the right path in life and proved to himself that he could succeed in  business without the mob tactics. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a warts and all account of life inside the mob,very well written in my opinion.
3288366
What a great read! A wonderful insight into the world of the entertainment industry.
It is astounding the nerve of some of the people and how they take it out on the ones that help keep their world together!
Some great revenge stories. Love to hear the little guy get the last laugh, even if no one else is the wiser.

My favorite story was The Extremely Famous Actress (EFA). It reminded me of when I was a nanny for a couple in Mission Hills, KS...talk about self centered people that take other people for granted!
I highly recommend reading this book.
2662983
Documents the history of the mob in America.  Meticulously researched and told with flair.  Would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of organized crime or for the casual reader of police stories.
3833143
I'm a huge fan of Goodfellas and I'm in the process of reading the book based on the movie, Wise Guys. In the book and movie, Henry Hill is glorified as a smooth, highly respected mobster. After reading this book by his children, I have a whole new perspective on the live of Henry Hill.
His children, although their two perspectives are VERY different, are the real victims here and they are telling the world who their father really is. I could not put this book down! It really is well written and very REAL! Henry Hill is trying to make money any way he can off his mob stories, but his children and wife are the ones who deserve every penny of what he makes because of what he put them through.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading non-fiction and/or autobiographical accounts. This book is not just about the mob and their activities, as I originally thought when I purchased the book; rather, this is the account of children who are caught in the shuffle their entire lives and how they overcome the family problems they are confronted with everyday.
1013312
I really liked this book-- much more than I thought I might.

It's an account of the activities of the "phone phreaks," the mostly teenaged, mostly nerdy guys who spent countless hours exploring the phone system, aggravating the phone companies and law enforcement in the process.  They were, of course, hackers, but in an age before computers.

Phil Lapsley did an outstanding job of finding many of the main figures in the phone phreak culture and an even better job of getting these oddballs to talk to him about what they had done and how they did it.  That's not a small feat.  these were people who were mostly social outcasts, and they spent years disrupting what was then the biggest, most powerful company on earth.  That company and the law enforcement agencies it influenced were not amused, and they tried hard to squash the hackers.  Many of them were still at least a bit paranoid decades later, when Lapsley approached them.

Why is this story important?  Because a surprising number of these hackers went on to be important figures in the dawn of the computer age that followed their phone phreak days.  Most notable among them were Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who manufactured and sold illegal "blue box" devices that allowed their users to make free long distance phone calls.  As Lapsley points out, what they did and how they did it were major influences on their later efforts in the development of companies like Apple.

In addition, this is a history that would soon be forgotten if not for what Lapsley has done in this book.  As the people involved aged and moved into the straight world, they lost their connections with one another.  This book reweaves those connections.

Finally, the book is very well written.  The stories are told with a you-are-there urgency that makes the book a page-turner.  I recommend it highly.
2014201
This is an excellent social history of an epidemic of bubonic plague that began in San Francisco's Chinatown at the end of the 19th century. Author Guenter Risse weaves together the various strands of personal interest, greed, fear and racism to tell a story from multiple perspectives, which helps readers gain a fuller understanding of how something that seems so simple -- fighting plague -- becomes very complicated indeed. Public health officials, elected representatives, community groups and the public were at odds on how to address the plague, or whether plague existed at all. Many of those in power wished to deny the epidemic, or worse, to blame it on the "dirty Chinese," most of whom were hard-working immigrants who just wanted to be left alone to send money home to their families.

Lack of hard scientific evidence exacerbated the problem. At the time, no one knew that rat fleas spread plague, although some understood that rats were somehow associated with the disease. To a casual observer, it might appear that dirty people (read: Chinese) were to blame because the disease, and of course the rats, were concentrated in San Francisco's Chinatown ghetto. This reminded me very much of the way that gay men, and later Haitians, were blamed for causing AIDS.

At the bottom of the reaction to both the AIDS epidemic and this instance of plague lies fear of "the other." Racism, homophobia and a desire to believe oneself protected from disease because of personal attributes or status leads those in power, particularly politicians, to either take no action or take the wrong kind of action. Officials in San Francisco, for example, actually built a wall around Chinatown and refused to let anyone in or out, including food shipments! President Ronald Reagan simply ignored AIDS, while his supporters on the religious right claimed it was God's punishment for gay sex.

Also of interest is the role that the media played in fanning fears of the plague and spreading misinformation, often to benefit the economic interests of local businessmen (yes, all men) who just happened to also serve on San Francisco's Board of Supervisors or to represent the city in Congress. Hearst was a major culprit in this, foreshadowing the role that the media played in covering the AIDS epidemic. In any analysis of any major news story, it is always necessary to assess the ways that the self-interest of the media owners skews coverage. Often that self-interest manifests as increased ad sales. The more alarming the story, the more readers, and that translates into higher advertising rates.

This book is an important entry in the literature on public health and the history of medicine. And it is well written to boot.
4498157
This is a very unusual book, in that it examines the other side of the histrionics surrounding the Catholic priest abuse scandals of the last few years.  Leave it to the American media to muddle things so badly that a book like this is required to get a true picture of what actually happened!  I'm certainly not a very religious person, so I read it from a secular point of view--very interesting facts, anecdotes, and insights.  I can very much recommend this book to anyone; I think any practicing Catholic, however, would find the book even more thought-provoking.  The author certainly has some very valid points to make, and he doesn't mince words making them.
278485
If you want a great picture of the New York scene in the 70s and early 80s you can't go  past this book.  Andy Warhol was the ultimate party animal, and his observations of the people he partied with and the places he partied at are witty and insightful.
But hey the gossip is great!  Lots of people were uncomfortable when this was published, and with good cause.  It is really quite revealing!
If you are interested in the arts scene of the times this is a really revealing book.  If you like a good gossip this is for you.  Enjoy Mr Warhol's 15 minutes of fame!  He appeared to.