Customer Reviews

Mob Over Miami

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is the 1st book I read in 2 days. No Joke. I couldn't put it down. I even told my friends I wasn't in the mood to go hang out just to read it. This book is an easy read and worth the money. Get it if you are interested in true life crime stories. You'll enjoy it. To the author, all I have to say is you picked a great story for your first book. You hit the jackpot with this one. "Bravooo"

Michele McPhee's tell-all book "Mob Over Miami" not only takes it's readers into the seedy underworld of the NYC mafia, but paints an exact picture of life in South Beach when Paciello was club king.

As a person who knew Chris and experienced that star-studded era first hand, I can tell you that the book has captured the Chris we knew and the shock that we felt after his criminal past brought this charismatic, handsome figure down.

I great read from beginning to end!

Chris Paciello's rise to stardom represents everything that is wrong with this country's blind celebrity worship. A shiftless thug with no legitimate accomplishments to his name bludgeons his way to nightclub fame in Miami, destroying lives along the way and exacting a huge toll on society.

Paciello and his buddies were gangster Staten Island wannabes with none of the intelligence or style of any of the wise guys they emulated from several generations earlier. Mob Over Miami is rampant with tales of awkward shootings in broad daylight, conspicuous firebombing of competitor nightclubs, and fights that more often than not were the equivalent of sucker punching a deaf and blind man. What a fake Paciello was: his muscles were fake (he was a steroid abuser); his Italian name and heritage were fake (he's German); and, most flagrantly, his business acumen was fake and earned at the barrel of a gun. Still, those things didn't stop lowlifes like Madonna, Ingrid Casares, and Niki Taylor from their abject worship, even when Paciello's criminal past was impossible to ignore (e.g., he was part of a botched burglary attempt that left a housewife answering the door shot dead in her own home).

The only good thing to come out of these graceless accounts of criminal ineptitude is when these worms tuned on one another or, better yet, rubbed one another out (e.g., Paulie Gulino). Unfortunately, Paciello sang quickly and loudly enough to authorities to evade punishment, and is allegedly in the Federal Witness Protection Program.

Michelle McPhee did a fabulous job of making this story entertaining while somehow giving her subjects as much dignity as she could, given what she had to work with. Mob Over Miami is nowhere nearly as tabloid-ready as it probably deserves to be. It's easy to see that the author was passionate about her subject matter, and she wove a riveting tale that made you forget that Paciello is more Joey Buttafucco than John Gotti. She's a tough New Yorker, too, which lends the tale a healthy dose of credibility and flair.

"Mob Over Miami" details the rise and fall of one Chris Paciello, who, through a combination of luck, toughness, street-smarts, and charisma, became a major player in South Florida's nightclub scene after he left New York. I hesitate to divulge anything else, for this book is such a great read I wouldn't want to give anything away. I will state, however, that, in my opinion, the author, Michelle McPhee, is without a doubt one of the best true crime writers around today. Once I picked up this book I found it difficult to put down. After you read this story, I think you'll agree.

This book I think was the best book I ever read it made my top 3 list of all time favorite reads. I never email the authors of any books I read but I emailed Michelle McPhee to tell her how much I loved it, and to my surprise she took the time to drop me a line back.
Anyway on with the review. Action packed non stop. Her writing took you flawlessly from one story to the next. I don't know what that other reviewer was talking about when he said the author jumped around chronologically. For the most part she stayed steady on track the whole way through.
She sucked you into the story and held you there making you experience all your senses. She described everything in detail so that a mental picture formed while she took you on a ride through a young kids life of minor crimes to a huge crime ( I won't give it away) and then you ran away with Chris Pacello to Miami where he started a new life for himself. His life crescendoed then fell when an ........well you know what I won't tell you and give it away. Read the book it was awesome!!!

Mob Over Miami chronicles the quick rise and fall of Chris Paciello, a Staten Island thug who became club king of South Beach before his past caught up with him.

From Brooklyn to Staten Island as a teen and into his 20s, Chris Paciello started as a rough thug who regularly robbed even his own friends, earning the nickname 'the Binger' (as he'd binge on stealing). He delivered his share of beatdowns as well. Trying to avoid the heat of New York, where he was aligned with various low-level street crews of wannabe wiseguys, he fled to South Beach, Miami, where he had various contacts and was able to open up a successful club, starting a massive snowball that would go uphill in a hurry before tumbling down.

This book is a good indication of the difference between careful, career criminals and those who make good only to destroy it in a hurry. Paciello's reign was short, and he wasn't helped by the buddies who ratted him out. This is not a flattering photo of anyone but rather a presentation of thieves who would rob anyone and everyone they could, rob their own friends, and screw you over without thinking.

The book is certainly serviceable of its kind, written by a Daily News reporter with typical poetic touches here and there, but overall a decent read. Included are photos (usually mug shots) of some of the characters like Mikey 'Flat Top' and 'Messy Marvin', hardly a fascinating portrait of the criminal mind. If the picture of Paciello is at all accurate, it's doubtful he will remain in Witness Protection very long. Recommended for true crime mob addicts, as well as anyone who lives in Brooklyn (Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge) or Staten Island, since you'll recognize names, places, and events.

I picked up this book because I needed something to read on the Beach and the story was interesting because I am from the same place as Chris Paciello was from. I never expected to enjoy the book as much as I did. Michele McPhee left no stone unturned and kept me wanting more. I remembered most of the stories that she relates and it was fun reading about the New York haunts that I myself, have been to. I really recommend this book and hope Ms. McPhee writes another one. It really is a shame though, that the "rats" who are involved in the same crimes that others own up to, are let off the hook so easily.

If you like crime stories, you will like this book about a small-time thug who leaves Brooklyn for Miami and becomes a celebrity. Unfortunately, one particular crime was more heinous that most, the cold-blooded murder of a housewife in a botched robbery. Years later this comes back to haunt Chris Ludwigsen/Chris Pacello.

Pacello becomes involved in a nightclub in South Beach that becomes very hot. He changes his image from a mafia goon to a suave nightclub owner to the stars. It's amazing how far he travels from his past. A few changes to the wardrobe, new hairstyle, talk a little less Brooklyn, continue the steroids and have something the celebrities want, a really hot nightclub in a great party town and you're good to go. Of course, you can't take the city out of the boy so there are run-ins with his first partner, an arson and a few beatings that must be administered. A small price to pay to date beautiful women in my book.

But once he thinks he has it all, his world comes crashing down as he is arrested and tried for the murder. This book does a great job following the twist and turns in the trial as well as the intricacies of the underworld hierarchy. While this is not a work of art, if you enjoy reading about the crime world, or you enjoy celebrity name-dropping, you will enjoy this book.

This is well written book mostly about Chris Ludwigsen, who skipped from one NYC mob crew to the next in his early years. A guy who could never be made, because he wasn't Italian. It centers around a couple different crews, mostly the bath house crew associated with the Bonnano's under Consigliere Anthony Spero. Ludwigsen skipped around with variuos members of the crime families, Bonnano, Colombo( the one's who hepled pull off the goodfella's stock scandal. It also goes into who killed Gus Farace. Chris Ludwigsen leaves NYC and starts nightclubs in Miami(pulling off robberies and stuff that helped him become the night club king in Miami's south beach area. His downfall would come from New York over a botched robbery done with others in 1993 that eventually leads to him being taken back to New York and finally flipping to testify..probaly mostly in future cases..especially the government trying to nail Colombo boss allie boy persico. In all it's a good book, well written, but not as profound as say Donnie Brasco. Most of the players in the book weren't even made men, but a lot of them did the dirty work for the mafia

OLD NEWS: BUT WELL PACKAGED. IT'S AMAZING THE STUFF YOU CAN LEARN IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK.