I've read it both ways. The latest account I've read of his assassination (Havana Nocturne)has his killers dressed as cops but I've also read of (usually Lansky men)carefully coached to pass as tax men. Which is it, guys?

he was expecting a visit from IRS agents that very day.

Yes. Maranzano was having tax troubles, and was expecting an audit by IRS agents any day. For that reason, he warned his associates and bodyguards not to carry weapons in his office. Tommy Lucchese tipped Charlie Luciano to those facts, and Luciano reached for his pal Meyer Lanksy to put together a hit squad of non-Italian-looking (i.e., Jewish) gangsters sporting Treasury Department badges.
The irony is that Maranzano had been planning to whack Luciano. Even as Lansky's killers were exting via the stairs after assassinating Maranzano, Vincent (Mad Dog) Coll, an Irish freelance killer hired by Maranzano, was waiting for the elevator in the lobby to bring him to Maranzano for his last instructions before setting off on his lethal mission.

I've been meaning to buy that book for some time now. Are you enjoying it? Is it worth a read?

I've been meaning to buy that book for some time now. Are you enjoying it? Is it worth a read? [/quote

I enjoyed what I read in my long sit-down skim at Barnes & Noble. I'm not sure I'll buy it, but I'll read more when I go back.

I read it last year. It's a worthwhile read, but don't overexpect...

had Coll already been payed half of his 50,000 dollar contract, or has that always been speculation?

I'd love to find out how Maranzano contacted Coll in the first place- he wasn't exactly in the book, what with Schultz after him. I wish some of those old guys had kept diaries.