Originally Posted by ScottD
Originally Posted by dsd
Originally Posted by ScottD
Originally Posted by dsd
Review of Hitmen, THE PURPLE GANG by Deitche.

Is Ok, not good, just okay. Said^^^^ that book is lacking in the pages area.
Sure, their's probably not a huge amount of info about the purples to write about. But 110 odd pages is skimpy.

Photos are not great either. Over half are locations snaps that show the present rather than what the St/ building was like in the 70s.

Main gripe is there is no personal stories/ input from anyone involved with the gang. Be they gang or law enforcement. You learn nothing about the people involved.

Also, minor point, but there are lots of gangsters who are related.
So lots of people with the same surname, few with same full name as there dad.
Gets very confusing.
Overall, I should of waited until it's been reviewed by others on goodreads.
And buy it second hand.




Sorry you didn't like it. Hopefully, you'll like one of my others.

On the photos, unfortunately, I wrote this during the height of COVID, so everything at the federal level was shut down in terms of accessing FOIA and other materials, so I was unable to go through some of my usual sources to access photos. First time that's ever happened to me with a book.




Didn't know you posted. To be fair, I said it's OK.
Currently reading your Garden State book. . Now that is a good book.


Appreciate the feedback on Garden State. I'm good with whatever people think. Not everyone's going to like my stuff. Just wanted to clarify on the photos, because that was not my plan originally. As you can see in Garden State, I like mugshots!


I got the audio book. Very well researched. Especially on the beginnings of the Families there. I often wonder how powerful the Decavalcantes and Philly would have been if it was one Family. Or even if they just had a few key guys like Ritchie the Boot and Tony Bananas Caponigro


"Joe Bananas went after Carlo Gambino, the war went on for seven years..... When guys go to the mattresses, they're not out earning" -Tony Soprano