I am 3/4 of the way thru Lucky Luciano - The Real and Fake Gangster and it's a pretty good book. Each chapter has it's own 'notes' at the end of the book with sources (usually referencing a police report or newspaper article). A couple of the stories I had never heard before were interesting, but I had some issues with both of these 'new tales'. The first one involved an ambush of Frank Nitti that 'sprayed him with bullets' (doesn't mean he was hit) after Nitti walked out of a meeting where Luciano had given him an ultimatum (I can't find anything written about Nitti that even mentions the particular dispute) and there is nothing in the chapter notes that mention the incident). I don't want to ruin the book so I will just say the second new tale involves Luciano taking a midnite flight cross-country to possibly be responsible for a female brothel owner's mysterious death hours before she was to meet with police.
I hate to review a book 3/4 of the way into it but I just wanted to share what I have read so far. It had been my experience that when any historical figure is 're-visited' over and over again, the stories can over-lap in a good way or a bad way. If there were six books coming out over the next 2 years about George Patton, I don't think you would find out much we didn't already know. But with people whose lives are a little less 'on-the-record' (gangsters) then perhaps you would find a series of new releases less repetitive. However, when the book in question makes an effort to document through chapter notes a majority of his material, I get suspicious when the most compelling story (the dispute with Nitti) seems to be 'too new ' - and I tend to think of that as a red flag.

Sorry about the length but I just wanted to share my thoughts -

Last edited by Sal_Luca; 06/13/14 03:56 AM.

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