Book description
A longtime member of organized crime recounts his criminal career, his involvement in the six-million dollar Lufthansa robbery, and his decision to become a federal witness
Why read it?
1 author picked Wiseguy as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
In adapting Nicholas Pileggi’s 1985 non-fiction Wiseguy for film, Martin Scorsese delivered a “staged documentary,” depicting a far more gritty and authentic account of organized crime than Mario Puzo’s Godfather trilogy.
Much of what makes Pileggi’s masterpiece work is how he captures South Brooklyn culture as it morphs from the 1950s through the 1980s. Pileggi’s tale of the tarnishing of the Golden Era of Italian American organized crime is recounted from the pedestrian perspective of un-makeable underling and ultimate-turncoat Henry Hill.
That bygone Brooklyn landscape leaps off the pages, from its gambling dens and gangster bars, to its corner cafes,…
From Craig's list on diving deep into the dark side of Brooklyn.
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