alexhortis5, and faithful 1
your gentlemans knowledge is impeccable, you truly
are factual researchers and authors. and I know you
both have done exhaustive research on o.c. and I never
fail to read either of your posts, ive learned a lot
from your work. personally I don't think alfa meant to
criticize your work. however don't you both think
you may be to gentle on hoover. this man aided and abetted
organized crime in America. and any reference to him is surely going to cause many of your readers to question your
conclusions, a say this with due respect to both of you.
tell it like it is about hoover don't sugar coat him.
Binnie, thanks for the good words. I wrote The Mob and the City because I'm genuinely fascinated by Cosa Nostra, and I was tired of all the shoddily-research "mob books." Half of these mob books make up stories out of thin air.
The book documents every single thing I say, and I cite the source in endnotes for the reader to judge for himself. Half of these mob books don't even have endnotes.
As for the charge I somehow "sugar coat" Hoover, I plead: absolutely, positively Not Guilty.
Frankly, I'm baffled your assertion. I'm about as hard on Hoover as anyone in print. Here's what I've actually written:
"During the Cold War, Hoover turned the FBI into more of an internal security ministry than a law enforcement agency. He poured resources indiscriminately, and he dangerously blurred the line between actual enemies of the state and political dissidents." Mob and the City, p. 217.
"Hoover's tunnel vision came at a cost to other FBI functions." Mob and the City, p. 217.
"As late as 1959, the FBI's New York field office had only 10 agents assigned to organized crime compared to over 140 agents pursuing a dwindling population of Communists." Mob and the City, p. 217.
"But Hoover was a federalist when it suited him. He exploited high-profile crime issues to increase funding for the FBI." Mob and the City, p. 218.
"Due in part to his own intransigence, Hoover got his way, and Congress passed no new federal laws for the FBI. The Mafia emerged unscathed again." Mob and the City, p. 220.
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation had virtually no intelligence on the Mafia families, the largest crime syndicates in the United States, through the late 1950s." Mob and the City, p. 220.
"In fact, between 1924 and 1957, the director of the FBI never publicly uttered the word 'Mafia' or 'La Cosa Nostra.'" Mob and the City, p. 221.
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation should have investigated stories corroborating the existence of the Mafia far more seriously. 'It's inexcusable for them to say they couldn't have been using that [intelligence] function to at least be aware of what the hell is going on,' said William Hundley, a top lawyer in the Justice Department." Mob and the City, p. 222.
The book also reproduces, for the first time, the only handwritten note from Hoover in which he admits denying the existence of the Mafia. It reads:
"I have in my mind that I was originally advised by Rosen that the Mafia or anything like it in character never existed in this country. I have been plagued ever since for having denied its existence. H" [Dec. 30, 1970].
Mob and the City, p. 222.So, no, I absolutely do NOT "sugar coat" Hoover.
