as anybody who has spent time listening to convicts telling stories of what got them into trouble knows, they always embellish the facts. So what? All these books about organized crime are embellished by the sources to some degree, even Vallachi papers. The biggest difference with this book is that the author is up front about it, he admits Luciano was fictionalizing some of the elements of many of his stories. So what? Thats what makes them good in many cases. If you read a book of nothing but facts, you would be disgusted, not only by the mafia, but by the entire system. They are completely greedy, they kill even innocent children if they get in the way, and in the end they usually snitch on every "friend" they ever had so that they can get a better deal. Who WOULDNT embellish? Thank you so much for changing the facts Lucky, cause your story was a lot better. Mario Puzo made a lot of stuff up also, and people LOVED it, a lot more than they love the real mafia.
One of the reasons people doubted the authenticity of this book when it first appeared was that they didnt feel it was likely that Luciano would have told his story at all, and it just seemed so convienant that he told them to wait for 15 years until after he died. The reason is this; the story about the sinking of the 'Normandie' and the Mafias role in WW2. It was Lucianos opinion that he had delivered the United states victory in WW2, and he wanted it to go down in history that way. Up to 1962, when luciano came up with the idea for a movie, he had had to live up to an agreement he had made with the government never to disclose information about his involvement in the war. He felt the best way to do it was by telling the 'story' of his life. People who knew Luciano believed if anybody could have been intelligent and cunning enough to delivere a victory against the Nazis, it certainly would have been Luciano. He always seemed capable to outsmart any competition. Who else could have organized all those Dons in Sicily? And why was Luciano pardoned and released from prison after the war?
It is the readers job to decide what is true and what is hyperboyle, just as you always need to do when listening to an ex-con tell his story about his crimes. Thats both the job and the fun.
This is also a good book about New York in its prime, back when you could get a hotel room in mid town Manhattan cheap, even then it was cheap. You could eat cheaply also, and good food. They may have made the city "safer", but I had more fun risking my neck in New York. Nowadays, most people have to save their money for a year to visit New York for the weekend! They turned it into another Disneyland. Bring back the mob, thats how I feel, and put New York cops back on the take again. That city was a lot of fun before 1980. Yuppies ruined it, and then 911 put a stake thru its heart, with all the "patriotic" tourists. Go home tourist. Bring back the guys who used to sleep on the sidewalks again, I dont care, I would rather see them than these overweight families walkin around in bermuda shorts and mickey mouse hats, standing outside the front of the "Today" show all day like they do. Them people NEED to be mugged I bet. I mean, remember when west 42nd street was a zoo of pornography, 24 hours? You could stand and watch people act crazy all day long and never get tired back then. If you did get tired of it, you could walk to the corner and buy something that would end boredom real quick. There was always something happening
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A must read on the mafia
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2019