Death by Rodrigo: A Novel [Hardcover]

Ron Liebman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 2007

A HILARIOUS NEW SERIES -- THINK JANET EVANOVICH MEETS MY COUSIN VINNY.

When El Salvadoran crime boss Rodrigo González is finally nabbed in Camden, New Jersey, for high-volume drug trafficking, he hires criminal defense attorneys Mickie Mezzonatti and Salvatore "Junne" Salerno, Jr. He's been told they're the best and that, as former Camden police officers, they know all the blind spots and loopholes (read: the ins and outs) of the local courts. All Rodrigo asks of Junne and Mickie is that they get him out on bond so he can jump bail and escape back to the comforts of El Salvador. Problem is, the judge denies bail. Soon Mezzonatti and Salerno are receiving a few unwelcome guests -- friends of Rodrigo -- asking questions. And the boys need to find answers, fast.

Mickie and Junne have an enviable professional success rate. With their street smarts and learned-on-the-job courtroom skills, the blue-collar boys enjoy trouncing self-righteous, Ivy-educated district attorneys. But they also know when they need help. Like with Rodrigo.

So they approach Professor Mumbles, a brilliant though eccentric former white-shoe lawyer who suffered a spectacular corporate burnout. As Junne and Mickie duck and dive to make Rodrigo's case (or at least fake it with Mumbles's help), they're also juggling their regular caseload -- like local drug lord Slippery Williams, whose badass nephew may have turned informant; and the gorgeous hooker Little Chip, whose prostitution bust leaves her pimp hopping mad. And through it all, the boys attempt to keep a happy home life. That's no sweat for Mickie, a natural Casanova, but it may prove to be trickier than Junne ever imagined. 'Cause he's got a secret. And if Rodrigo does not kill him, his family just might....

The first installment of a hilarious new series, Death by Rodrigo is a romp through the seamy side of criminal law by one of the foremost attorneys in America (who also has a wicked sense of humor).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two resilient New Jersey lawyers find themselves way out of their league when one of their clients proves to be especially hazardous in this engaging first novel from former federal prosecutor Liebman (Shark Tales). Friends since childhood, Camden residents Junior Junne Salerno and Mickie Mezzonatti both worked as cops, both took law courses at Rutgers and both passed the bar—eventually. Their clients are mostly street criminals, and they're fairly adept at working the system as long as the cases are simple. Then they're retained by Rodrigo Gonzales, a jailed Salvadoran drug lord who wants to be released on bail so he can escape. If Mickie and Junne are unsuccessful in obtaining Gonzales's release, they face an unpleasant fate at the hands of vengeful gangsters. Levity is provided by Mickie frequently trying to get the deeply closeted Junne to go out with girls, a subplot that feels artificial in a thriller otherwise rich with sharp, crackling dialogue, memorable characters and local color. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

When you run with the bad guys, sometimes you get crap on your shoes. Mickie Mezzonatti and Junne Salerno, two Jersey cops who opted for legal careers, learn that lesson the hard way when a client, Rodrigo Gonzalez, hires them to get him out of jail on bond. It's a potentially lucrative job—Rodrigo resides at the high end of Jersey's drug trade—but the downside is the cost of failure: death. Their attempt to portray Rodrigo as a political refugee isn't getting anywhere, and as time drags on, Rodrigo begins threatening the boys with ever-escalating violence. Liebman, a former federal prosecutor who helped bring down Spiro Agnew, obviously knows all about the down-and-dirty legal processes that occupy the lives of petty criminals and drug dealers. His characters are sharply and humanely drawn; both lawyers and criminals are mixes of creepy and endearing. The only drawback is that a secondary story line regarding narrator Junne's struggle as a closeted gay in a very macho world is never integrated effectively into the rest of the book—a small quibble, though, in an otherwise suspenseful, often very funny first novel. Lukowsky, Wes

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416535276
• ISBN-13: 978-1416535270
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,463,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rumpole's American cousins, October 27, 2007

By 

G. Ware Cornell Jr. "anotherlawyer" (Weston FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death by Rodrigo: A Novel (Hardcover)

If Horace Rumpole lived in Camden NJ instead of London England, he would know Mickie and Junne, two ex-cops turned criminal defense lawyers. These life-long best friends occupy the next to the bottom rung of the legal hierarchy in that they are retained and do not accept court-appointed cases. Those guys, Mickie and Junne figure,are really the dregs.

But the truth is that they are just far enough removed from the bottom to dare to dream of the big score, which finally arrives in the person of Rodrigo, a Salvadorian drug lord pinched while sneaking into the country to go to a wedding. The boys are paid handsomely and all they are really expected to do is get Rodrigo out on bail so he can disappear back to Central America. No problemo, they assure him. Except there is a problemo, a big one. The feds aren't nearly as stupid or corrupt as the NJ state judges and prosecutors are.

Rodrigo isn't going anywhere and Mickie and Junne soon fear that they will be the ones disappearing, only not to any secluded estate in El Salvador. They more likely will be fish food if they don't come up with something fast.

With this premise Ron Liebman, a true silk stocking lawyer, launches the hilarious tale of two guys whose socks, if they ever wore them, usually wouldn't match. We meet Slippery, a pimp and their best client, and Professor Mumbles a burned out legal genius whose specialty is creative solutions to insoluble problems. We get to know Slippery's girls, all of whom look like Junior League housewives, and watch them in action at a bar association dinner. And along the way there is Judge Thurgood Brown, pillar of the African-American community and a monument to the corrupting effects of never getting over the fact that he will never rise any higher in the judicial galaxy.

This book has "movie-deal" all over it, and when it gets made you can tell people it will be hard to be as funny as the book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Earning a living in a rotten city, April 3, 2008

By 

DJ Rix (NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death by Rodrigo: A Novel (Hardcover)

Enjoyed this tale of a pair of bottom-feeding lawyers in rotten Camden NJ who get manipulated into defending a very powerful, very deadly El Salvadorean drug lord. The colorful Jerseyese dialect is as unaffected as possible. Gives some real thought to the plot, too. Favorite scene: Our counselors bring two pricey [...] (gifts from a pimp client) as dates to a bar association banquet in Atlantic City, bribe a waiter to seat them at a head table with a Jersey Supreme Court Justice, who happens to be a regular customer of one of the professional ladies. In Jersey, perhaps this is not an utterly fantastic scenario. Later on, the judge wanders back into the story. The novel is a successful attorney's appreciation of all the hustling esquires with night school law degrees who do so much of the grunt work in the criminal justice system. Hope I meet these likable guys again at the Camden County Courthouse. But I don't plan on going there in person anytime soon.

3.0 out of 5 stars A novel with touches of comedic brilliance., April 21, 2011

By 

A. Nye "Al Nye The Lawyer Guy" (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death by Rodrigo: A Novel (Hardcover)

The author, Ron Liebman, is a senior partner in a prestigious Washington, D.C. law firm. He's a former federal prosecutor and is the author of two previous books: Grand Jury and Shark Tales.

This book is a comedic legal story about two ex-cops, Salvatore "Junne" Salerno and Mickie Mezzonatti, who become criminal defense lawyers in their hometown of Camden, New Jersey. They're street-wise, Italian bred, attorneys who practice together and represent an assorted bunch of criminals, mobsters, pimps and drug lords.

The title of the book comes from the attempts by Junne and Mickie to get an El Salvadoran crime boos, Rodrigo Gonzalez, out on bail for the crime of drug trafficking. Once out, Rodrigo will hightail it back to El Salvador. The only problem is that the judge denies bail. Rodrigo isn't pleased and soon has some unsavory friends calling on Junne and Mickie.

This book is a lighthearted romp through the seamy aspects of the law. It's peppered with quirky characters and an assortment of lowlifes that Liebman somehow makes likable.

My only criticism with the book is that Liebman spends far too much time telling - instead of showing. The book is written from the first person point of view of Junne and all too often Liebman writes page after page of internal dialog when actions could better illuminate a character.

My favorite part of the book is when Junne and Mickie attend the bar association meeting with a couple of hookers and run into the Chief Judge of the state supreme court. That chapter alone is worth the price of the Death by Rodrigo.