Review
"A faithfully factual account of the rise and fall of the most powerful Canadian Mafia boss. The Enforcer is well-grounded and crisply written -- prescribed reading." --
Antonio Nicaso, author of Deadly Silence"Humphreys, a former Hamilton Spectator reporter, does an admirable job of cataloguing and sorting the abundant material on Papalia's criminal career. He does so with wit and insight and honesty..." --
The Toronto Star, Sunday, October 17, 1999"The Enforcer is a highly readable, gripping account of the life and crimes of one of Canada's most colorful, infamous, and longest surviving Mafia bosses. Humphreys has done a masterful job of separating the myth from the reality in this riveting tale... This is 'The Godfather' as it really is, not as Hollywood romanticizes it." --
James Dubro, author of Mob Rule, and Dragons of Crime"The beauty of Humphreys' book, Papalia's biography, is that it takes you behind the scenes into the backrooms of the '60s, '70s and '80s where deals were made, relationships forged, and double-crosses plotted. The writing is clear and easy and the historical and family narratives running through the book make it a fascinating and educating read. Papalia lived his life in Hamilton, Ont., so The Enforcer has a decidedly central Canadian perspective on organized crime, but that doesn't stop Humphreys from connecting the dots between families and places as far away as Italy and Miami..." --
Vancouver Sun, Saturday, October 2, 1999
From the Inside Flap
A Mafia don. A gentleman known for his charity. A thug who ordered limbs broken for petty debts. A businessman whose name was a valuable commodity. A criminal who never let a deal slip by without making it a swindle. A man known during his lifetime as Johnny Pops, Canada's Capone, Godfather, and The Enforcer.
Johnny "Pops" Papalia was a complicated man of conflicting passions.
Newspaper reporter Adrian Humphreys followed Papalia's career and continues to report on the widening fallout from his brazen slaying. Humphreys uses an intriguing blend of sources -- from gangsters and street rogues to police and honest citizens -- to reveal not only the fascinating life and violent death of The Enforcer, but a glimpse inside the Mafia's inner sanctum and the power it wields.
By the time Johnny Papalia was shot dead at the age of 73 -- on the same small, working-class street in Hamilton, Canada, where he was born and raised -- he was universally feared and considered a "man of respect." Papalia built a far-reaching criminal empire through extortion, loan sharking, and gambling -- and then expanded his family's interests into heroin. Setting up a part of "The French Connection" took him to swank New York City nightclubs with La Cosa Nostra's elite and ultimately to Riker's Island prison with the world's most notorious criminals. Many of Papalia's most productive years were wasted behind bars, perhaps accounting for his zest for life.
How Papalia learned his dark trade reaches back into time and place -- to his forefathers and the underworld of Italy. Papalia's story is one synonymous with the rise of organized crime in Canada. The Enforcer is an absorbing read for any true crime addict.
