Folks, great to see this discussion going on so long after The Sixth Family was released. (My name, by the way, is Lee Lamothe. I don't need to wear a cowardly internet balaclava -- I don't fear presenting my opinions/ideas/responses under my actual name. I stand by my books -- both long journalism and crime novels. My motto: this is me, if you don't like it, then bring it.)

I don't know who this Alfa Romeo person is -- I'm sure he's written many books about organized crime and has at least one leg to stand on. (I don't believe he's an actual Alfa Romeo -- a fine automobile I drove in Sicily while researching the Rizzuto family.) (And further bracket comments: I've figured out, quite easily, who many of the folks are who comment under ridiculous names.

Grab up your nuts and say who you are ... If you don't have the stones to do it, then how seriously can you expect to be taken? A coward behind a screen name can say anything. As said to me in many conversations with folks who live in the underworld: man the fuck up.)

I have no intention of defending The Sixth Family: those who know, know. And I'm out of the game now -- retired -- but a lot of Canadian crime writers aren't. They're the ones out there lifting the hod and carrying the water. If there's risk, they're the ones taking it. If you haven't done much except for internet mouth-offs, well ... take a look at yourself and see how much you've committed to the game. You should be ashamed. Name yourself. Defend yourself.

Lee Lamothe