True, true, there always seems a bit of that. I have a tendancy to leaf through 90%
of the books in the true-crime section of a book-shop before actually settling on the
one or two im going to buy.
"I Heard You Paint Houses", i think that's what ill be picking up next, mainly because
i dont have any books dealing mainly with the Bufalino crime family.
One of the things that looked interesting was a list of mobsters purporting to be the
"Mafia Commission". It includes Frank Sheehan and a Jewish dude (i cant remember exactly, is it Rockman?)
Some pretty cool pictures too, of Bufalino and some other well known dudes.
Of course, i can only expect it to have Sheehan's own take on the last 50-odd years of
mob history, which in all likelihood will conflict with the recollections of many other
such mobster "testimonials".
Even books by journalists like Capeci, Anastasia, Raab, Humphries & Lamonth include
there own relevant "truth's" and explanation of events, which can often be at odds with
the claims of other authors, which i find particularly intersesting, trying to deduce
the likliest course of events through the information on hand.
Such, of course, is the nature of the "True" crime "Mob-Lit".
Anyway, i sound like a douch-bag. This is obvious information.
Even so, i love it. After gathering up a trove of books on the NY Families and the
Sicilians, im really after books about the other families now. I read "Last Mafioso"
recently, The Weasel's biography, and self-serving as it was at times, i was enthralled
by all the information on the Outfit and West Coast Families. And of course you cant
go past George Anastasia for books on the Philly Mob, likewise Scott Deitch for the
Florida Family. If anybody can suggest any other "authorities" as such, please
let me know.
Has any-one read "Smaldone" or "Blackhand Strawman" about the Denver and Kansas City
Families respectively? These look pretty interesting. I might have to ebay for them
or some shit; it seems unlikely my local bookstores will stock it for me.
Long post -0 -pardon me.
