5 comments about Goombata: The Improbable Rise and Fall of John Gotti and His Gang.

1. goombata is not a great mob book.it tends to explore too much of john gottis childhood.the book is about the rise and fall of gotti but it didnt really float my boat.it has a couple of good chapters but the rest are average.on one occasion it tells how gotti,i guess you can say killed the man who accidentally ran over his son.the man pleaded with gotti but john didnt have mercy for the man.he just dissapeared but we all know that gotti got him.



2. not the best book i have read but not the worst.despite the book being flawed because it finishes before the final prossecution. it does offer a few good chapters and also throws down some opinions that s contradicted by other sources.like who did whack his body gaurd near the end of the book.some good photos but not exactly a work of art. if only he good have waited to find out what happened at the final prossecution then he could have definately called the rise and fall of john gottis crew .there are definatelly better mob books on the market but if you do want a different veiw then it may be worth checking out.



3. John Gotti( Dapper Don), I feel is the cause for the downfall of the Gambino crime family. In "Goombata", it shows how Gotti loved the attention from the Press and Media. He alone made the FBI and RICO chase after him. John Gotti wanted a flamboyant life-style, which is why he was number one target among organized crime leaders. John Gotti broke the number one rule in La Cosa Nostra, the secret life.
   I like the tone the author set. Chapter after chapter I wanted to know what John Gotti was going to do to become a known man within the Gambino family. "Goombata" is a fast and terse biography. This novel would've been the perfect biography but the author, John Cummings, did'nt make the novel long enough. He could've coverd more about his coming up among the ranks years. Also, there was no clear resolution because when this book was published, John Gotti was on trial for racketereering charges that he later was found guilty for. Overall rating, three stars.



4. This is awful stuff - it goes way too fast, and the amount of facts that are wrong is unbelievable from two so-called mob experts. Among the wrong facts - the circumstances surrounding the Frank Costello shooting, the McBratney murder, the Westies alliance, and much much more. For the real Gotti story, try Gotti: The rise and fall.



5. This book was originally published in 1990, and therefore, as other reviewers have pointed out, the ending just drops off the edge of the cliff, leaving the "hero" in jail awaiting trial.
   
   Messrs. Cummings and Volkman, the co-authors, are described as "prize-winning journalists."
   
   The book rolls along pretty well, although in the paperback version the typeface is small and paragraphs are large, and there is very little conversation, except what the authors apparently pulled from court transcripts. These, in turn, were often pulled from "bugs" planted by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies inside the "social clubs" used by Gotti and his goombata (like the Spanish compadres or compas).
   
   So, this book is not much like a novel at all. To its credit, it is still absorbing reading, if, that is, you are one of those Mafioso groupies, like me. My grandfather was of Italian descent, so in my fantasies I'm "Skinny Al" Pedrone, riding shotgun with these very folks, my heroes.
   
   In reality, of course, I'm a frightened little "punk," the kind these folks would have for lunch (were I edible, which I doubt).
   
   Another reviewer wrote that too much of the book was devoted to Gotti's childhood. I felt just the opposite: I would like to have learned more about his early life. For example, very little is said about how he met and courted his wife.
   
   I know: This type of personal information is difficult to obtain, unless you are talking to the subject himself. That's why I had the impression that the co-authors more or less rushed this book into print, to capitalize on Gotti's notoriety in 1990. They did not actually want to wait and write a thorough biography, because the reading public might lose interest fifteen years later.
   
   They were right.
   
   Diximus.

No comments about Outlaw Tales of New Mexico: True Stories of New Mexico's Most Famous Robbers, Rustlers, and Bandits (Outlaw Tales).

5 comments about The Last Gangster: From Cop to Wiseguy to FBI Informant: Big Ron Previte and the Fall of the American Mob.

1. First it is known in the LCN circles that former members of law enforcement should not become made members. This is one of the rules but yet Previte slipped in. The whole recollection of Merlino (a former racing jockey) and Ralph Natale are hillarious. Time and time again Previte explains how these two could not get on the same page.
   
   Anastasia himself gets better with time. He is Philadelphia's Jerry Capeci. Despite the fact that in the scheme of things Previte was a high-level in a crime family that pales in comparison under the previous leaders. A good read and likeable subject!



2. Previte sounds like a loud mouth braggert to me. He is one of those guys who talks like hes done it all but sounds like a phony. The FBI are not as dumb as Previte says they are. I doubt he recieved all the money he says the government gave him. The other characters in the book are dull, immature. If you want to read about the mob try a book about Chicago or NY.



3. I love mob books and this one doesn't dissappoint. Must have for the mob book lover.



4. Anastasia is perhaps America's leadest expert on the mob -- and certainly the most skilled writer. The Last Gangster is up to even his high standards with well-sketched portraits of mob thugs, rats. cops and corrupt politicians. Unfortunately for the reader (though fortunately for the rest of us) the mob isn't as powerful as it once was, and these crooks are pathetic indeed by the standards of the old Bruno-Scarfo mob. The title may stretch things a bit -- "The Last PHILLY Gangster" would be more appropriate -- but it's valuable to understand why there really is no honor among thieves, and why the Italian mob is dying.



5. Usually, I breeze through books like this. I read WiseGuys in one sitting. I had to resolve myself to finish this. I think it's less the author's fault and more the fault of his subjects. These guys are boring. Their crimes are quotidian. There is no Lufthansa heist here. I'd recommend only if you have an insatiable curiousity about the mob in Philly.

3 comments about Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed.

1. Nixon apologist and ex-con Jonathan Aitken serves up this loving tribute to his fellow ex-con Chuck Colson. Aitken serves on the board of Colson's prison ministry, so any expectation of objectivity flies out of the cell door. In Aitken's long-ago, forgotten biography of his hero Richard Nixon, he similarly soft-peddled Nixon's crimes. At least this time out the former Tory MP, who just got out of a British prison himself a couple of years ago, forgoes the ludicrous conspiracy theories that made his Tricky Dick biography such a joke. Unlike the unfortunate convicts unmercifully hounded and courted by Colson's ministry, Colson was preaching to the choir with Aitken, who returns the favors to Colson, with this way-too-thick inspirational sop.



2. Notorious as Richard Nixon's hatchet man, Charles (Chuck) Colson's involvement in the Watergate scandal sent him from the White House to "the big house." Today, this former felon is a respected Christian leader. He is the founder of the far-reaching Prison Fellowship, which is one of the most respected and productive Christian parachurch organizations in America, powerfully reflecting the resurrection and redeeming grace of Jesus Christ.
   
   Colson truly stands as a modern-day Paul, whose life was radically changed after an encounter with the Lord. This book is well documented and well written. On the one hand, it presents Colson as a man who has had a very positive impact on American culture and religion; yet, on the other hand, it does not downplay the bad choices he made earlier in his life that led him to prison. There is a brutal honesty in the presentation of Colson's political ambitions, his drive for power, and his insensitivity to people who got in his way. However, this makes the story of his redemption all the more astounding.
   
   Noted British researcher and author Jonathan Aitken was given full access to Colson's personal papers and private archives. Additionally, he did extensive interviews with Colson's wife, children, co-workers, and friends. The result is an intriguing study of this Hyde-turns-Jekyll individual. This book will be of interest not only to Christians but also to anyone interested in the machinations of politics or the events of American history. - Leilani Joy Wells, Christian Book Previews.com



3. Whatever your opinion of Chuck Colson, you can't deny his powerful impact on American society, as a groundbreaking political strategist in his first life and as a leading evangelical leader in his second life.
   
   Evangelical biographies aren't always thorough and honest. Unlike the Bible itself, they often gloss over the weaknesses of their subjects. But Jonathan Aitken's look at Chuck Colson escapes that trap and delivers a complete look at a man who has made a significant imprint on American life and culture.
   
   Rarely has a person impacted the world with two separate lives like Chuck Colson has. His days as a Nixon hatchetman are legendary, but Aitken fills in some of the blanks for the post-Watergate generation. Clearly Colson was a win-at-all costs political tactician who engineered many victories, most importantly the election of Richard Nixon. His actual involvment in Watergate is sketchy at best and it is likely he went to jail for a trumped up charge, handed down in the hysteria of Watergate.
   
   However, rather than spending a life embittered by political losses and an unfair jail sentence, Colson found a relationship with Jesus Christ and thus his life was turned around. The drive to succeed was channeled into ground-breaking prison ministry, which included reform, one-on-one evangelism, and a variety of think tanks and worldview programs. Now Prison Fellowship is one of the largest and most successful evangelical organizations in the world.
   
   Many evangelicals, including myself, have one beef with Colson, namely his work to disregard the wide theological chasm that exists between Catholics and Evangelicals in his attempt to bring the two together. Martin Luther and other reformers would find this naive at best and appalling at worst.
   
   Still, no one can dismiss the remarkable influence of the political hatchet man whose life was dramatically turned around by the grace of God. Many prisoners will be in the Kingdom because of Colson's life.
   
   Aitken's biography is spot-on, thorough, and brutally honest. I recommend it whole-heartedly.

No comments about More Oklahoma Renegades.

No comments about Marked to Die.

No comments about Kathy the Cannibal.

2 comments about Cut-Throat: The Vicious Life of Rod McLean - Mercenary, Drug Baron and MI5 Front Man.

1. I had so much fun with this book!! CUT-THROAT succeeds because it has all the cliffhanger elements of a good campfire story--- one in which the storyteller becomes a compelling and interesting figure as his web is woven--- regardless of the violence and mayhem in which he revels. Written in his words and with his style and manner of speech, the story of Rod's life is irresistible. Like Tony Montana, he is a character seeking something bigger and more dangerous than what is included in a "normal" life, a search that is driven by naked ambition and steely determination. Rod manipulates you ever so tenderly so you will sympathize with him even though he is a violent, ruthless, dangerous man. He's letting you inside his world and there's little chance that you won't at least understand his policy of "kill or be killed"--- even if only for a little while. Overall, the structure is that of the tough guy rise-and-fall narrative, with a variety of experiences that chronologically increase in sophistication and stakes until his untimely demise. Each section of McLean's life, from his mercenary days to the birth of his second-hand shop empire, is very intricate and full of emotion, all are mini-rollercoasters that excite and exhilarate. The writer expertly treats each portion with the same emotional respect.
   
   The themes in this project, particularly that of morality, engaged me the whole way through. I highly recommend this book to anyone who ever loved an antihero, anyone who ever sought out adventure or danger, and everyone who just wants to have a few hours of pure fun!



2. I've read most of the true crime books written to date, but I think this one is a bit special. It will make you both laugh and cry - but as arguably one of the most gruesome books ever written, terrify. If it's sleepless nights your after - this is your book.!!!

2 comments about Driven to Kill: The Clara Harris Story.

1. Ok, I admit it: I cheat my diet now and then with a nutritious Krispy Kreme donut, & sometimes I read the ever erudite Enquirer - what else to do when stranded in a slow-moving check-out line? Cliff Linedecker, Best-Selling Author in his own write, has teamed with National Enquirer staffers in several recent rush-to-print-while-the-story's-still-hot "true crime" books. And the results are, amazingly, pretty good.

   This book goes beyond the quickie sound bites and sensationalistic snippets I saw on TV. (Alas, I must toil every day to earn my Daily Bread and so, to my chagrin, cannot lie about the house all day watching Court TV and eating bon-bons.) It is the saga of the dynamic duo of Clara and David Harris cum Texas triage with the infiltration of trollop Gail Bridges. The cover aptly features the "murder weapon," a 4,000 pound Mercedes and embossed tires tracks all around. There are many "Wow! I didn't know that!" moments. Clara was a Columbian dentist. That Texas law regarding justifiable homicide if catching one's wife in flagrante delicto was not as sexist as Urban Legend had it.

   While reading this book, just remember the tabloid from which it sprang: an entertaining diversion, a guilty pleasure about as substantial and nutritious as a Krispy Kreme, and devour them both. Reviewed by TundraVision, Amazon reviewer




2. I could have written this book. It contains nothing more than what was already in Texas Monthly, the local news, and Dateline. Mr. Linedecker threw this together in a hurry and it's not worth your time or money.

No comments about Supper with the Crippens: A New Investigation into One of the Most Notorious Domestic Murders in History.