Cigar City Mafia: A Complete History of the Tampa Underworld [Paperback]

Scott M. Deitche (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2005

Bootleggers, gambling, ringleaders, arsonists, narcotics dealers and gang murders—a variety of characters flourished in the era known as Prohibition, and Tampa, Florida was where they battled for supremacy of the criminal underworld.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Quick comment on Steve's review. I'm not going to dispute opinions of writing style or grammatical errors. I want to clarify a factual error he mentioned. The City of Tampa was incorporated in 1855. However, the charter was suspended in 1862 (then reorganized, and resuspended). Modern Tampa was not incorporated in it's present form until August 11, 1873. Also Red Italiano retired to New Orleans before finishing his days in Mexico. I appreciate everyone taking the time to review my book. I have 2-3 more Tampa (and a few non-Tampa) OC-related books on the horizon, including one on Santo Trafficante Jr. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Scott M. Deitche was born and raised in central New Jersey. He has had a number of articles published on organized crime and its manifestations in Florida. His work and research on the topic has been featured on Fox-TV.He resides in St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife and daughter. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Barricade Books (May 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569802874
• ISBN-13: 978-1569802878
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #170,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Tampa natives will enjoy, but others should look elsewhere.., March 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Cigar City Mafia: A Complete History of the Tampa Underworld (Hardcover)

I'll break this down quickly:

In general, this book is poorly written and poorly edited with lots of typos and poorly constructed sentences and paragraphs.

However, Tampa natives like myself will enjoy the content due to the familiarity of the names and places involved.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Author wacks mob book, July 24, 2004

By 

Steve (Tampa, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cigar City Mafia: A Complete History of the Tampa Underworld (Hardcover)

I really looked forward to reading this book. My family was a part of Ybor City for 3+ generations and my grandfather never tires of telling tales of Tampa's lawless past. (Although he was not a participant, it was impossible to live in that time and place and not know stories of the open corruption all around.)

I should have just listened to my abuelo. This book takes a potentially fascinating topic and turns it into a mind-numbingly dull list of names and murders. It reads like a rap sheet, with very little color or context. It's not even chronological, with brief tales of one mobster plopped between stories from different decades for no apparent reason.

As an aspiring author myself, it pains me to see prose tortured worse than a ratted-out FBI informant. Unfortunately, that's what happens much more often one would expect in a published work. Sentences are sometime tangled worse than a bowl of linguini, forcing the reader to tease them apart. And if read "part of his face was blown off" one more time in a description of a mafia hit, my own face may have blown off.

Besides the stylistic problems, there were also some factual errors. I found one pretty quick: on the first page of the first chapter. The author states that Tampa became a city in 1873 when it was actually incorporated in 1855. That's a pretty basic fact, but it might slip by the casual reader. And there were many more like it sprinkled throughout the text.

More obvious are other mistakes in which the author contradicts himself. For example, a mobster named Red Italiano is stated to have fled to Sicily when the feds were closing in, then later retired to New Orleans. But several pages later, the author states that Italiano fled to Mexico and "there lived out the rest of his life" (another overused phrase in this book). I don't know where Red ended up. Neither does the author, apparantly.

For the reasons above, this book was a major disappointment. Even worse is that since the topic is of limited commercial appeal, it will probably be the final say on the subject for years to come. By the time anyone else tries to revisit the tale, the major and minor players may have all passed away and the real history will be irretrievably lost.

The bloody, intriguing, and still partially covered-up story of Tampa's colorful past deserves better than this.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting overview, but flawed., December 26, 2005

By 

Carl in Tampa (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cigar City Mafia: A Complete History of the Tampa Underworld (Paperback)

This book gives the reader a flavor of the criminal element of Tampa society that was active in a period that extended from the early 1900's to the mid-1960's, with connections that continue into the present day. It is an interesting read, but much of its contents must be taken with a large dose of skepticism. The information regarding gangland murders and gang family connections are generally well known, but much of the information about "police corruption" is undocumented and based upon speculation. In particular, the naming of a Tampa Police Department supervisor who went on to be elected Sheriff as having been in a position to be suspected of corruption is tainted by innuendo that falls short of accusation, and is unwarranted.

It appears the author relied heavily upon an unidentified source who provided an oral history of the era based upon what he believed to have been the actions and motives of the major players. That source is likely to have come from the criminal element, not the law enforcement side.

There are some gaps in the chronology and it is sometimes necessary to backtrack and re-read some accounts in order to ascertain how the different stories fit together. There is an uneveness to the writing which suggests either the absence of a good editor or a rush to get the book into print.

Despite these defects, the book does give an interesting overview of the violent era of Tampa's gang-dominated past.