Publishers Weekly
Starred Review.
Polisi's early life was marred by abandonment, abuse, and loss. His greatest joy came from going to the racetrack with his Uncle Tony and listening to stories about famous gangsters-indeed, it was Uncle Tony who introduced him to the Colombo mob family. Polisi's connection to the notorious family would lead him to selling heroin, robbing banks, stealing trucks, and, in 1971, opening an illegal all-hours gambling den dubbed "The Sinatra Club." John Gotti would later become a partner in the business, as well as a friend of the author. Polisi provides fascinating details about some of his crimes as a member of the first "Three-Families hijack crew," which included Gotti's protégée, Ronald "Foxy" Jerothe, and Tommy "Two Guns" DeSimone, the man who inspired Joe Pesci's character in GoodFellas. He also details the murder of Joe Gallo, wars between families, and compelling evidence to suggest JFK's assassination was a mob hit. But in addition to an exhilarating trip though Italian-American mafia history, Polisi's text doubles as a heartfelt memoir, wherein he candidly expounds on the pain of neglecting his family and the devastating losses that eventually impelled him to leave "The Life" behind and testify against his former colleagues.
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Booklist
Mafia memoirs are well-trod ground, but Polisi’s personal focus will engage readers….like Henry Hill, the famous subject of the genre classic Wiseguy, he has a sort of disreputably-likable quality about him. For fans of inside-organized-crime books, this one’s a definite must-read.”
Booklist
Mafia memoirs are well-trod ground, but Polisi’s personal focus will engage readers….like Henry Hill, the famous subject of the genre classic Wiseguy, he has a sort of disreputably-likable quality about him. For fans of inside-organized-crime books, this one’s a definite must-read.”
From the Publisher
Fascinating….In addition to an exhilarating trip though Italian-American Mafia history, Polisi's text doubles as a heartfelt memoir, wherein he candidly expounds on the pain of neglecting his family and the devastating losses that eventually impelled him to leave "The Life" behind and testify against his former colleagues.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Brassy….Evocative….An audacious memoir unveiling the machinations of the mob.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Mafia memoirs are well-trod ground, but Polisi’s personal focus will engage readers….like Henry Hill, the famous subject of the genre classic Wiseguy, he has a sort of disreputably-likable quality about him. For fans of inside-organized-crime books, this one’s a definite must-read.” —Booklist
Kirkus Reviews
A decade of turmoil in the life of a Mafia associate, back when the New York underworld ruled supreme. Polisi's brassy guided tour of his time as a member of the Colombo and Gambino crime families is consistently accented by burgeoning "professional" relationships with kingpins like John Gotti, who, when the pair met in 1972, was a swaggering, self-assured "gangster's gangster" thirsty for action. It was a pivotal year for the New York mob's five families, as The Godfather launched and the American Mafia ascended in both notoriety and affluence. By his early 20s, the Brooklyn-born Polisi was married and had two sons, as well as a lengthy rap sheet and the moniker of "Crazy Sal." Early on in the author's fearless chronicle, the mobster unabashedly concedes to being a "street guy," as he and young Gambino sidekick Foxy Jerothe became intoxicated by the thrill of robbing banks, orchestrating heists, loan-sharking, dodging bullets and gambling at the Colombo family base camp: the renowned Sinatra Club in Queens. Polisi also inserts frequently dark historical anecdotes and heady personal confessions of his unrepentant philandering on his doting wife Angela and a laundry list of illicit escapades from the '70s through the mid-'80s. In the evocative final chapters, Polisi details how he eventually flipped and became a protected witness in Gotti's criminal proceedings, a move that further contributed to the downfall and demise of the mob's "brotherhood of hoodlums." An audacious memoir unveiling the machinations of the mob.
