Wise Guys: Stories of Mobsters from Jersey to Vegas

by Clint Willis (Editor)

Overview

Wise Guys takes readers into the heart of Sopranos territory, with a collection featuring the work of best-selling writers from E. L. Doctorow (with an account of mobster Dutch Schultz that includes one of the great execution scenes in the literature of the Mob) to Nicholas Pileggi (on Henry Hill's first prison term, overflowing with good pasta and booze). Other pieces include Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustain reconstruction of the vicious hit on "Big Paulie" Castellano outside of Spark's Steakhouse (which catapulted John Gotti to leadership of the Gambino family), Mario Puzo's riveting account of a don's ascent (a tale of deceit, murder and, above all, cunning), and Norman Lewis on where it all began: the Sicilian Mafia's battle against Mussolini and its return to greater strength than ever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781560254980
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	05/27/2003
Series:	Adrenaline
Pages:	364
Sales rank:	251,849
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Clint Willis has published more than forty books, including anthologies on topics such as adventure, politics, relgion, and war. His work has appeared in hundreds of publications, including Men's Journal, Outside, and the New York Times. His work has also been nominated for the American Society of Magazine Editors' National Magazine Award.

Editorial Reviews

This is the newest gunland anthology by Willis, who also edited Mob: Stories of Death and Betrayal from Organized Crime and NYPD: Stories of Survival from the World's Toughest Beat. A combination of fiction and nonfiction, this collection includes mobsters from all walks of life. From her 1992 book, Chinatown, Gwen Kinkead contributes a chapter on Chinese gangs, known as tongs; in "Blood Brothers," John Sedgwick details the lives of two Boston criminal brothers, Billy and Whitey Bulger. Richard Ben Cramer reprints his 1993 Esquire piece, "Men of Honor," about Italian judge Giovanni Falcone, who battled with the Mafia in Sicily and was assassinated in 1992. Willis brings in the heavy hitters as well, with selections from Nicholas Pileggi's Wiseguy, Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustain's Gotti: Rise and Fall and Mario Puzo's The Godfather. Of particular interest are two first-person confessions from a work called Joey the Hitman: The Autobiography of a Mafia Killer, written by Joey, with David Fisher. (July) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly