“A mob saga that has it all—brotherhood and betrayal, swaggering power and glittering success, and a Godfather whose reach seems utterly unrivaled. What a relentless, irresistible read.” — Don Winslow, New York Times bestselling author of The Force
A fascinating, cinematic, multigenerational history of the Cuban mob in the US from "America’s top chronicler of organized crime" and New York Times bestselling author of Havana Nocturne.
By the mid 1980s, the criminal underworld in the United States had become an ethnic polyglot; one of the most powerful illicit organizations was none other than the Cuban mob. Known on both sides of the law as "the Corporation," the Cuban mob’s power stemmed from a criminal culture embedded in south Florida’s exile community—those who had been chased from the island by Castro’s revolution and planned to overthrow the Marxist dictator and reclaim their nation.
An epic story of gangsters, drugs, violence, sex, and murder rooted in the streets, The Corporation reveals how an entire generation of political exiles, refugees, racketeers, corrupt cops, hitmen, and their wives and girlfriends became caught up in an American saga of desperation and empire building. T. J. English interweaves the voices of insiders speaking openly for the first time with a trove of investigative material he has gathered over many decades to tell the story of this successful criminal enterprise, setting it against the larger backdrop of revolution, exile, and ethnicity that makes it one of the great American gangster stories that has been overlooked—until now.
Drawing on the detailed reporting and impressive volume of evidence that drive his bestselling works, English offers a riveting, in-depth look at this powerful and sordid crime organization and its hold in the US.
T. J. English is a noted journalist and author of the New York Times bestsellers Havana Nocturne, Paddy Whacked, The Savage City, and Where the Bodies Were Buried. He also authored The Westies, a national bestseller; Born to Kill, which was nominated for an Edgar Award; and The Corporation. His journalism has appeared in Esquire, Vanity Fair, Playboy, and New York magazine, among other publications. He lives in New York City.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Prologue 15
Part I Traición/Betrayal
1 Brigade 2506 21
2 Birds of a Feather 45
3 Santo 66
4 The Rain in Spain 87
5 Bring Me the Head of Palulu 115
6 The Prodigal Son 136
7 Rasputin in Mexico 159
Part II Venganza/Revenge
8 Counterrevolution 187
9 The Counselor 211
10 Corruption 233
11 Smoke and Fire 257
12 A Prayer for Idalia 282
13 Cockfighter 307
14 Dead But Not Dead 331
Part III "Lo Hecho, Hecho Está"/"What Is Done. Is Done"
