Customer Reviews

Il Dottore: The Double Life of a Mafia Doctor

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Il Dottore is a true story of a "nerdy Jewish kid" in the Bronx who grows up mixing with the future mafia kids. They trust him and have always protected him on the streets when other rough kids picked on him while he was growing up. He goes to university and becomes a physician to the top Mafia Dons including John Gotti, Carlos Gambino and Joe Bonanno.

His name was know among the Mafia as a medical genius but he also becomes one America's top cardiac surgeons.

This story paints a very real portrait of this doctor's unlikely life in the fast lane wining and dining and doing favours for the top Mafia. Eventually he has to make a choice between his loyalty to the Mafia and kill someone on the operating table or be true to his medical career.

I've read a lot about the mafia, but reading Il Dottore by Ron Felber is like eating popcorn at a movie theater, you just can't stop. Elliot Litner's (Il Dottore) life is a roller coaster ride through a time when giants walked the streets of NYC: John Gotti, Carlo Gambino, Joe bonanno, Rudy Giuliani. The gang's all here, and they've never looked better.

Over the past 10 years, i have referred hundred of patients to "Elliot". He is an excellent cardiac surgeon and 5 years ago performed a five vessel bypass on me. And I am not even Italian. On a holiday no less 3 months after 911.
Had I had my coronary arteries "cauterized " mentioned twice on page 230, I would not be in good shape. Catheterized is what is meant. Also, Simon Dack at Mt Sinai was not a surgeon. He was a cardiologist and actually the founder of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology"

Reading the book is a bit like looking into a bowl of spaghetti in which each strand has a name. A tangleled web of Italian names intermingled and many slurped away eventually by the fork and spoon of Rudy. Would have liked more on Il Dottore and less on Mafia. I am surprised the book is not yet a movie.

Reading the other reviews gives one an understanding of the storyline. I'll focus my comments on quality.

I found the author's description of happenings, people, and scenes enabled me to "climb into" the book. The juxtaposition of "Good Doc / Bad Doc" was riveting. Not having been exposed to life in the fast lane, I was fascinated by the extent to which opulence corrupts, and the total disregard for everything but "self" in that crowd. The energy built as the main character, Dr. Litner, found his life spiraling out of control and the ending was, by no means, predictable.

The author's use of the Forward, to express his reasoning for undertaking the project, and Epilogue, to illuminate several of his "take-aways", added to his credibility as a Master Storyteller.

This is a worthwhile read and definitely not "just another Mafia book".

I loved this book. A very intriguing read. It was hard to put down. What a complicated tale. Not a life I would have wanted to live.

Although I strongly disagree with Mr. Felber's characterization of the American Mafia, I must admit this was an interesting story. It is also an intriguing look at man's constant struggle with good and evil, through the lens of a supposed true story. If everyone where completely honest with themselves, we would have to admit to similar struggles in our lives, although certainly not at the level Dr. Litner encountered/embraced.

The bottom line is that the American Mafia is no different from the cowardly criminal street gangs popular in South Central LA or other parts of the country. So if you can get past Mr. Felber's unabashed apologetics on behalf of these thugs (I did, despite my low opinion of them), you will enjoy an overall good read.

Il Dottore: The Double Life Of A Mafia Doctor by author and biographyer Ron Felber is the startlingly true story of a physician at Mount Sinai Hospital who provided health care services for Mafia kingpins including John Gotti and Joseph Bonanno. By day, he pursued a flourishing career as a respected cardiac surgeon; by night, he was a gambling and sex addict, drawn ever deeper into the high-stakes world of organized crime. His double life came to a head-on conflict in the mid 1980's when the government's star witness, Ralph Scopo, lay on the operating table. Directed by John Gotti to "make sure that only one of you comes out of the operating room breathing" on one hand, yet threatened with ruin by mayor Giuliani on the other, he had to make the choice of a lifetime between loyalty to La Cosa Nostra and adherence to the Hippocratic Oath. An exciting and suspenseful true story, more enthralling than fiction.