5 comments about The Man Who Got Away: The Bugs Moran Story--A Biography.

1. I really enjoy reading about the mafia, and the history of how the syndicate came to be. I believe this was a story that was begging to be told. A peer, and an arch-enemy of Al Capone, Bugs Moran was the 1920's gangster "experience".
   
   I picked up this book with alot of anticipation, but this author virtually killed this subject.
   
   With each hit, the build-up should have been palpable. It was often anti-climactic, or worse. Sometimes, I would have to read the passage twice to make sure someone had actually died.
   
   This was less about Bugs Moran, than about many of the other 1920's gangsters, like Johnny Torrio, Dean O'Banion and Hymie Weiss. These are all formidible figures in their own right, however, I wanted to know more about Bugs Moran, and aside from the fact that he liked children, I really never learned much about his motivation, his passions, or what really drove him to hate Al Capone.
   
   The writing style is often flowery, and the author takes three sentences to explain what could easily have been said in one.
   
   I hope a better biography is written on this subject sometime soon. I slogged my way through this one, without learning much.



2. Wonderful book. Full of little-known details. If you have any interest in true crime, you'll like this one. Rose Keefe strikes again.



3. Although this book can be seen simply as a companion piece to Rose Keefe's "Guns and Roses: The Untold Story Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot before Al Capone," in many ways "The Man Who Got Away: The Bugs Moran Story - A Biography" is the superior book and a more important contribution to the history of the Prohibition Era. Comparisons between the two books cannot be avoided, but do not dismiss "The Man Who Got Away" as a quickly churned out sequel intended to capitalize upon the success of the first book.
   
   It is a pity that some critics think in those terms because the research that Keefe put into "The Man Who Got Away" must have exceeded her earlier effort. A certain amount of overlap between both titles occurred since both men were in the same North Side gang, but the Moran biography is significant for breaking new ground and revealing facts that have never been reported. "The Man Who Got Away" does not merely correct often repeated mistakes as to the subject's birthplace and the common misspelling of his name as was the case in "Guns and Roses."
   
   The subtitle of "Guns and Roses," is something of a marketing gimmick: prior to the publication of this definitive biography many O'Banion anecdotes had previously appeared in print, but the varied accounts were scattered and dispersed until Keefe gathered them together and saw to it that the entire story was finally recounted in one coherent book with the embellishments and myths cleanly excised. She also included new facts from interviews that she conducted with the handful of surviving O'Banion acquaintances. Most of the journalistic errors that Keefe corrected had gained widespread currency due to constant repetition. Keefe elevated O'Banion from his status as an interesting historical footnote in books written about his contemporaries and rivals. Only a few minor facts concerning O'Banion were omitted from this superb biography.
   
   While the O'Banion biography has been rightly praised, I think that the Moran book has been unfairly neglected. In death as well as life, O'Banion's star has burned more brightly than that of his friend and eventual successor, "George Clarence Moran." O'Banion was more of a quotable bon vivant with numerous newspaper friends dating back to his "employment" in the circulation wars. Moran was a much more private person who has been chiefly depicted as an O'Banion lieutenant who gained a leadership role due to gang war attrition and subsequently faded into obscurity after narrowly escaping with his life on St. Valentine's Day of 1929. This shorthand is half true. Readers of "The Man Who Got Away" will learn far more about Moran than has ever been reported before.
   
   This is a greater achievement because summarizing Moran's life presented a more complicated challenge than chronicling O`Banion. Researching Moran's life did not entail correcting and improving upon prior accounts. Keefe literally had to start from scratch with Moran. Using her investigatory and interviewing skills, she reconstructed Moran's ancestry and childhood and added the final chapters to his post Valentine's Day criminal career. She documented more than thirty years of Moran's life that had largely eluded everyone else who has written about him. Her painstaking research resulted in locating actual Moran relatives who had been hiding in plain sight for decades. She persuaded an obstinate and reticent octogenarian to discuss Moran despite his previous steadfast refusals to be interviewed so as to preserve his own anonymity.
   
   The only criticism that I had about the research is that Keefe seemed to cite articles from "The Chicago Tribune" to the exclusion of almost all other Chicago daily newspapers. Many researchers rely upon the Tribune since its readily accessible online, but the paper has its limitations due to the biases of its editor and publisher, Robert R. McCormick. The author did consult a few other newspapers, but did so quite sparingly judging from the endnotes. This is a trifling complaint. The book omits a few random details (one or two capers are missed), but otherwise all of the essentials are in place.
   
   The significance of Keefe's accomplishment becomes clearer when readers learn how well "Moran" concealed himself from his enemies and shielded his immediate and extended family from any scrutiny. As a young adult, he adopted an assumed identity that defied the combined efforts of legions of historical researchers, journalists, law enforcement officials and screenwriters to uncover his true background until the publication of "The Man Who Got Away." It is no exaggeration to say that Moran carried his personal secrets to the grave. Keefe exhumed the truth almost fifty years after his demise.
   
   Apart from familial considerations, Moran believed that close media scrutiny was simply bad for business. This was a lesson lost upon his opponent, Al Capone. Continual newspaper coverage served to intensify the resolve of the Federal government to prosecute Capone on tax evasion charges. Unlike Capone who basked in the spotlight, Moran was seldom interviewed. Rather than holding press conferences, Moran and his allies staged a series of epic gun battles to eliminate those opponents who helped orchestrate O'Banion's assassination and threatened to encroach upon the lucrative North Side bootlegging and gambling territory.
   
   Ultimately, Moran's precautions may have saved his life. The team of out of town killers assigned to rub out Moran failed to correctly identify their intended target and wound up shooting seven other gang members in the mistaken belief that someone in the assembled group must have been Capone's archrival. A tardy Moran escaped unscathed after he spotted what appeared to be a police car parked opposite one of his booze depots.
   
   If Moran lacked the wit and charm possessed by his colorful and charismatic friend, some of those same qualities earned the cocksure O'Banion the enmity of rival gangsters and put him into an early grave. Moran, a mobster who let his violent actions speak for him, was one of the few Capone foes to die of natural causes.
   
   "The Man Who Got Away" may have sold fewer copies than the more popular "Guns and Roses" because it has not been released in paperback. Seek out the hard cover which I highly recommended.



4. Rose Keefer did a great job on the book "The man who got away." The only problem I saw with this book, is it was mistitled ... It is one of the best books I have ever read about the overall crime history of Chicago, but it took 204 pagess to get to the "Bugs" part. Once you reach the last chapter, it seems the author was in a hurry to finish it leaving so many questions unaswered.



5. I'd hoped to read the life story of Bugs Moran, with personal details about his childhood, family relationships, and later criminal activities and relationships. Because I was mostly interested in his "interior" life, his psychological makeup, quirks, etc., and the passions that moved him and his peers, I was disappointed in this book. It was more a historical document than anything else, full of documentation and facts. I found it very dry reading, which I realize is a reflection on my tastes, but I include these comments for others who might have the same preferences.

5 comments about Son of a Grifter: The Twisted Tale of Sante and Kenny Kimes, the Most Notorious Con Artists in America.

1. Great book for an autobiography. Well-written and quite a story. The only reason I gave it 4 and not 5 stars is that Ann Rule would have done better. But this is definiely still worth the read. I could not put it down. Other reviewers claim that greed overtook the author's sense in the book. That is true, but he ADMITS it. And it must have been difficult for the author to tell the world that.



2. What a life she lived. what a life she put her family threw.
   you can't miss this one.



3. kent Walker didnt actually commit the crimes, and God knows he has suffered enough with the incredible dysfunction he grew up with, but his book becomes repetitive, almost impossible to believe when time after time he goes back , not just alone but taking his wife and children over and over to live with Sante and Ken and Kenny. He admits to consistantly being swayed by money and the lifestyle and its only at the very end, when sante has been caught tried and found guilty that he really cuts off contact for good.
   There were times in the book it became laughable for me, the constant nonsensical lies and hysteria that he bought into again and again and made his living by being fronted with ken and Santes money. I also found his analysis of Kenny being ruined NOT by Sante but by Ken ( his father) very odd. Kent Walker has almost as little introspection and genuine understanding of himself and his life as His mother does.
   Its constant scheme after scheme after scheme with names you no longer even register anymore throughout the book that fill up nearly 400 pages.
   id have been more interested in someone like Ann Rule writing it. I have no idea why Kent wrote this book. And thats something an author needs to get across, if nothing else.



4. I wasn't familiar with the murderous mother and son duo, Sante and Kenny Kimes, both convicted in California for the second of what is believed to be four homicides, until a friend sent me Son of a Grifter, written by Sante's oldest son, Kent Walker. From the unique perspective of one who lived with a veritable cornucopia of abuse - from terror and dodging bullets to blackmail and arson - Kent Walker narrates the outrageous saga of his degenerate, sociopathic mother, her loves, sons and victims, and her ultimate descent into madness.
   
   In retrospect, Kent whitewashes his mother's pathology by blaming it on genetics, convinced she is the descendant of a long line of personality disordered, anti-social crazies. However, regarding his brother Kenny's fate, he is less charitable and condemns nurture rather than nature, indicting both his overindulgent, weak, alcoholic stepfather and his overprotective, paranoid mother whose greed knew no bounds.
   
   For pure gall and tenacity, Sante Kimes has no peer. If she had been hardwired for productive and benevolent purposes, she could have been a notable force for good in the universe. Instead, essentially her entire purpose for existence was to accumulate wealth. Even when she eventually married a millionaire, who was almost her equal in corruption, nothing was ever enough. She burnt down beautiful homes for the insurance, stole furs and cut out the labels for fencing, wrote bad checks to car dealerships for tens of thousands of dollars without blinking an eye, and, worst of all, raised her youngest son to kill for profit.
   
   Kent Walker avoids any psychoanalysis of his mother, preferring to limit his story to the events and consequences of being a member of the Kimes clan, but it is inarguable that Sante was a textbook sociopath: void of conscience, completely self-serving, compulsively driven by excess, reckless disregard for the rights of others, and absolutely no acceptance of blame.
   
   For example, Sante and Ken drove to Mexico, with their boys in the backseat, and picked up young women to smuggle back in the trunk over the border to work as maids in their house. Except they weren't really maids, they were slaves. They received no pay, they were beaten and abused, and when they ran away they were simply replaced with new ones. Even after Sante Kimes served three years in a federal penitentiary for this offence, she continued to pick up homeless people and vagrants and keep them as unpaid servants. Needless to say, she wasn't much of a candidate for rehabilitation.
   
   For those of us who are parents, you will come away from this book feeling like a combination Dr. Spock, Miss Barbara and Mother Teresa. If you think your children grew up in less than ideal circumstances, or their childhood was deprived in some way by your economic circumstances or limited expertise, I assure you it was Paradise compared to the Kimes household. Kenny Kimes was shamelessly spoiled, taught no limits, attended expensive schools, drove sports cars, wore designer suits, and was denied nothing by his wealthy father and grateful mother, who considered him the golden goose because his existence ensured her a piece of the Kimes inheritance. That overindulgence served to turn Kenny into a cold-blooded murderer who will spend the rest of his natural life in prison.
   
   In retrospect, Kent Walker sugar coats much of his childhood, insisting that the crazy episodes comprised only a small fraction of the bigger scene, but this merely proves he has no sense of boundaries or reasonable perspective on what the reader will regard as a nightmare of dysfunction. Son of a Grifter is a long, bizarre story that I don't necessarily recommend to anyone unless they are looking to feel better about their parenting style, or are interested in the Kimes story, as it is probably the most compelling and factually correct presentation. For an overview of the murder trials, see Court TV's Crime Library.



5. Sante Kimes was written up by many as some type of mastermind of crime, some evil genius. That wasn't really the case at all. What she was was unbelieveably ballsy, insanely narcissistic and self-centered, financially hugely neurotic and desperate and greedy, and of course very quick on her feet. Her crimes are simply too many to list - the book is positively stuffed with fraud, theft, arson, slavery, violence, swindling, in constant repition, and not excluding several murders - and coming from an eyewitness to literally decades of malfeasance they make for a fascinating roller coaster ride. It is a wonder the author didn't turn out every bit as warped as his half-brother. He did not escape unharmed.
   
   None of the characters comes off well. Of course Sandy "Sante" Kimes is a true original, and the focus of the book. But Ken Kimes, her second husband and targetted millionaire, is not some simple dupe or victim; he aided and abetted Sante for decades, allowing his integrity (what little he may have had when he met Sante), his business, his health, and previous family relationships, and finally his wealth all to go into freefall as his 'wife' systematically plundered, wasted or misappropriated whatever she wanted. During the time of her first imprisonment for slavery, when he had a clear chance to make a break and save what was left, he declined to do so, and instead embarked on a multi-year drunk and slid into degenerate gambling to kill time until her release. When Ken finally dies, the author speculates on whether even this was entirely natural, and it seems the dying Ken had a lot on his mind just before checking out. In any event, Ken's death and Sante's subsequent desperate search for what was left of his cash (precious little) pushed her completely over the edge into much nastier criminal territory than she had previously occupied.
   
   The son Kenny probably had a chance at a life but the adventurous high life offered by Sante seemed more fun. He had neither the charm or much of the luck of his mother.
   
   The character of the police in the various cities should also be mentioned. It is simply shocking how lazy, stupid, and disinterested the various officers, who could have busted Sante et al dozens and dozens of times, were. Time and again either the victims or even the son Kent himself give the local cops absolutely everything they need to know, but they just couldn't give a crap. Had they made even the slightest effort to enforce or uphold the law, the Kimes' crime spree would have ended decades sooner, and some people might still be alive. It is their failure, and not Sante's evil genius, which is in part responsibile for both the sheer number of her crimes, and the related and contributing factor of her perceived invulnerability. Some of them should be charged as accessories for the crimes they thereby allowed to happen.
   
   This was a great book. It fascinated throughout.

5 comments about Born to the Mob: The True-Life Story of the Only Man to Work for All Five of New York's Mafia Families.

1. This book brings very little to the table. If you know just the basic history of the mob, then what you find in this one will bore you.



2. Readers interested in this genre should give this book a read. - Rita Schiano, author "Painting The Invisible Man" Painting the Invisible Man



3. If your a mob freak like me any mob book is a great buy. This doesn't dissapoint. buy it, you won't be sorry.



4. I think that alot of the reviews are written by SAGGIO's old buddies,Whom I'd imagine aren't to happy about his book It's obvious that thing about John Gotti is a typo.
   I think the book was great and have done some research on this subject and Saggio's the real Deal.
   I've Enjoyed it greatly.
   THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!



5. This book is horrible. I mean, whomever believes that John Gotti was underboss to Big Paul is not just ignorant of what really happend, they are plain out stupid. This book doesn't even have any insider info. It's just public stuff that everyone already knows. Just pure garbage. The author should be left in the street for writing this trash.

5 comments about Beyond All Reason: My Life With Susan Smith.

1. Written by David Smith, who lost his infant and toddler sons when his wife sank her car with their children into a lake and watched it sink - and them drown. She then reported that she had been carjacked, and her children stolen. For nine days there was a media frenzy as the nation looked for those boys. I remember that.
   
   And then, finally, she confessed, and the car, and the boys, were found at the bottom of a lake. I thought his story would be compelling. It certainly is.
   
   If this story isn't an argument for abortion, I don't know what is. Of course, Susan Smith didn't choose abortion. She was a "Christian" and "didn't believe in abortion." She sure as hell didn't want to be a mother.
   
   She also had a narcissistic personality, as well as a narcissistic mother. Self-centered to the absolute maximum. No one existed outside of their own little world, no one else mattered.
   
   Susan Smith also had a stepfather who molested her. She may also have been an alcoholic, with very deep roots. This is a woman who desperately needed attention, and she was getting it the only way she knew how. Too bad no one else noticed...until it was too late.
   
   Amy Fisher: Anatomy of a Scandal : The Myth, the Media and the Truth Behind the Long Island Lolita Story



2. This book made me rather emotional. You learn about two teenagers who meet and fall in love. The young couple is David and Susan, and they both have a far from easy life behind them so far. Susan's parents had a violent relationship, and sometimes Susan's dad would threaten to kill Susan's mum. Three weeks after their divorce Susan's dad commits suicide, and a couple of weeks later Susan's mum remarries. Susan's new step-father sexually abuses her, and when her mum finds out, she decides to stay with her new man. Several members of Susan's family have committed or attempted to commit suicide, and some (like her father) have been too fond of alcohol.
   
   Even though David's family background may not be as bad as Susan's, his life hasn't been too easy either. His father tried to commit suicide, while his mother was very religious. In the end David decides to follow his brother and move in with his grandmother. Another blow happens in his life while he is dating Susan: His brother Daniel dies. Because Susan is pregnant, Susan's mother presses on and the young couple marries two weeks later.
   
   After reading the book and some additional information, I am sitting with the impression that these two should never have started a family. They were far too immature and their troubled background made things even worse. They fight a lot and both have extra-marital affairs. David seems to have big problems in sticking to one woman at the time. Susan's second pregnancy is a tough one, and David seems too immature to face it. He finds new love with Tiffany, and instead of staying with his pregnant wife and baby Michael, he spends his time with her. For a short while David splits up with Tiffany, and she becomes crazy and starts to keep David and his family awake at night. My opinion is that David does little to protect his family during this time.
   
   Shortly after Alexander's birth Susan and David parts again, and just over a year later; in a period of six weeks Susan has four lovers: Her boyfriend, her boyfriend's father, Susan's stepfather and David.
   
   In the middle of all this there are two small innocent babies: Michael and Alexander. They are bystanders, while their parents try to figure out their lives. Their lives gets a very cruel and tragic end when their disturbed mother kills them.
   
   It wasn't difficult to get through the book, even though the narrative is of average quality. Still, the picture of these two innocent children and their father's story about their short lives, make this into a book it is very difficult to forget.



3. This is an incredible book. Instead of writing a book and claiming he was the perfect guy and he was the victim, David told it how it was (unlike Susan Smith's mother, who also wrote a book that basically blamed everyone but Susan and the Russell family). He admitted that he was at times a bad husband. Both he and Susan were immature in their marraige. He made mistakes. But, he and Susan were perfect parents. Which makes this case all the more puzzling.

   Why would Susan murder her two boys like this?! I get so angry. At 14, no one my age understands how I feel. All the way through this book, I kept having to stop and ask myself WHY. WHY didn't she give MIchael and Alex to David. WHY didn't she tell anyone that she didn't want those babies anymore. WHY did she drown them? WHY did she let their bodies rot for nine days?!

   I sympathize for David. It's happy to report that he has a new wife and two more kids (Savannah and Nicholas), but imagine that, everytime one of your kids do something, everytime something new in a tabloid or the mail shows up about the case, the facts come hurling back to you.

   David, you are one strong man!!!




4. This was such a sad bad. Like David Smith said, "Remember who are the true victims in all this, Miicheal and Alex, NOT Susan Smith! It was a good and fast reading and I a book is so much better when it's write by a person who the story concern them and not from a famous writer, is even better when the writer is not a writer, so from people who said this book is good but the editing is bad, I don't see what is bad, I thought the book was very good and it comming from the heart and soul to who that real story had happen, you can feel his pain! Everybody was saying how Susan was too good for David, my God it was the other way around, David was too good for Susan. Susan was picture as like a hot, sexy girl, sorry to me she look like a ordinary house wife and kinda chubby, she come from the South right? Yeah she do look like redneck, the way she dress and wear her hair are out of fashion even in 90th, well I am out of context here but can't help saying that to me see doesn't look hot stuff and one of the book with her glasses and her hair pine up she look like a geek! Like David Smith said, the two persons who love her the most, (their kids), she had killed them, how can a mother do this to her own children and said she love them? Why David Smith want so much the death penalty for Susan, if she got a soul she suffer much more in prison, well if she got one. She seem only to think for herself and feel pity for herself. Killing her children because she was in love with a guy that didn't want a family allready made, so she killed her kids and to have the pity of the man she love she make a a big lie that a man took over her car and push her out put kept the kids. Did she really think she could live with the rest of her life with that story and have back the man she love? She was stupid, he was also having other affair and like I said Susan is no hot thing, why he would go with her? Still a part of me pity her, if she really was having depression it can make you do stupid things, yeah maybe she was really insane!



5. It was fascinating to hear the story from an iside perspective.Its so awful all around.David Smith must be a strong man to have went on with life like he did.I think Susan was seriously crazy, so I do feel a touch of sympathy for her. Its awful what happened to those poor kids.

1 comments about The Newton Boys.

1. I thouroughly enjoyed reading this book. In it it gave a fascinating first hand view into how the Newton brothers entered the life of bank and train robbers. The story was written based on a number of interviews with Willis and Joe Newton. The brothers discussed their feelings on how they were viewed, and how when there was ever any robbery, the Newton brothers were the number one suspects. I also enjoyed the humor in which the brothers were able to look back on thier escapades and run ins with the law. Some of the best parts of the book, I think, were when the Newtons described how they outsmarted the law, and escaped from prisons numerous times. The decriptions in the book provided vivid detail into life during the turn of the century. Each brother described in the book had very different interests and tastes, from Willis, a strong headed boy who was smart and determined,to Jess, the lazier of the brothers. In all, this book provided me with new insight into an era that has long since passed, and into the lives of criminals. I thought this book was an excellent read.

5 comments about War of the Godfathers.

1. This is a book of fiction, a fact unknown by many readers (including myself) at the outset. It's a modest story with a ring of reality, but not in the same class as THE GODFATHER or other top mafia/mob fiction. It's the story of a mob struggle between the Bonanno family and the Chicago outfit to control Las Vegas in the 1980's. Yet the story fails to grab the reader as good fiction should. Perhaps that's because the real story is nicely described in CASINO (by Nicholas Pileggi), which details how Chicago and other Midwest syndicates received millions from casino skims before their scheme was uncovered in the 1980's.
   
   Author William Roemer (1926-1996) was an FBI agent assigned to the Chicago crime syndicate. He writes nicely readable prose, but Roemer does a better job with his non-fictional narratives on the Chicago outfit.



2. I used to wonder how a crack former FBI agent and organized crime specialist like Bill Roemer could write glowing reviews praising the accuracy of Jay Robert Nash's sensationalist works. Then I ran across War of the Godfathers. What a novel idea--to write a novel using real people as characters. If this is any example, however, the late Mr. Roemer displayed little talent in creative fiction and the plot, revolving around a fictional gang war over Las Vegas between the Bonanno Family and the Chicago Outfit, is totally absurd. War of the Godfathers is way over the top and the nearest thing to restraint is Roemer's untypically immodest disguise of himself as a pseudonymous character. It's not especially well written and on top of everything else, the publisher didn't make it abundantly clear that this was a work of fiction. A large number of folks have been taken in by it, with fictional events such as the murder of Moe Dalitz even being reported as fact in several so-called "true crime" books. I don't understand the point of it to this day.



3. While the way the book is attempted to be written is clever, as it is almost like a Hollywood script of real events, the book is farfetched and is downright untrue in several instances.One glaring falsehood is that Moe Dalitz was shot down an then was later poisoned in a hospital.Roemer a former FBI agent, should have known better,escpecially considering he wrote briefly about Dalitz real demise in another book.If one takes this book for what it is, a story , it is enjoyable.The one interesting factual aspect about this book is the details given to the famous "STRAWMAN" cases which largely crippled organized crime in the midwest.



4. you people who critzed this book are stupid and it was a great book , i have read severl books written by the auther and they are great get off his back like you could write any better



5. Have to agree with Lars: Accardo is by far the most powerful mob boss in the history of this country. Where the New York mob was split and disorganized and ran a relatively small part of the country, Accardo and the outfit ran practically every other area, not just Chicago, but LA to Vegas to Kansas City and most points in between. The fact Accardo never spent a night in prison is enough to show you how good he was at what he did. Of course, Bonanno was small potatoes compared to the other NY Godfathers, so we'll never be able to tell who would have won a "real" war.

4 comments about Paper Fan: The Hunt for Triad Gangster Steven Wong.

1. This book needed a strong editor. We get too much of the writer's thoughts, his interaction with people, and his supposedly brilliant investigative work. Information that should be summarized in a paragraph become pages long. Cut the fat and stick to the story: why is Steven so dangerous, what crimes did he commit, how did he escape, where is he now?
   
   If you need to know more about Asian crime, I guess you should buy this. Otherwise, there are much better books.



2. While I found the subject matter of this book fascinating, I was disgusted with the man who wrote it. Written with cockiness, subtle racist ovetones and overall bad attitude, he made the book almost unreadable. He is constantly building himself up as some kind of tough guy who is smarter than the criminals who he bashes in this book. If he's so smart how come he still hasn't found Steven Wong? It is clear that deep down he wants desperatly to be like these gangsters, he just doesn't have the guts. He acts like he launched this whole campaign on a moral level, but really it's all about a story and fame for Terry Gould. He is a coward. What I found especially offensive was his depiction of Asian women. My wife is Asian so I was personally offended. He constantly feeds into the stereotype that all Asian women are prostitutes, referring to the gangsters' girls as "tarts" and describing the poor Filipino girls who approached him as "a plague". Clearly this guy has no concept of what it's like to grow up with nothing, having to do things you'd rather not do to survive. He tells his pathetic sob story of how he got beat up once, his mother's friend was raped and he was a witness to violence as a kid. Boo hoo. I used to get beat up every day until I decided to start fighting back like a man. I know plenty of people who've been through all those terrible things and more. Terry Gould is a typical cocky New Yorker who thinks he's better than everyone. In reality, he is a scared, cowardly wannabe-gangster, wannabe-cop and worst of all a wannabe-snitch. I hope he never finds Steven Wong, rather I hope Wong and his friends find him.



3. Terry Gould came to my school and discuss his book and the gave us in insight of the Triads and Kwan Kung. Just as he did when he came to the school, his book gives great information of how the Triads were created and why they chose the God Kwan Kung. Many more intresting facts he provides in his book. It is intresting and difficult to put down.



4. While Steven Wong the Triad Gangster rose through the ranks in Vancouver's Gangland, I was a Vancouver cop who had many dealings with him. I probably knew Wong, and of his activities, more so than anyone in the Vancouver Police Department, other than a handfull of other cops who might be inclined to say the same thing. I was a cop who used Wong to my own end, while Wong used me to his. I still don't know who, if anyone, came out on top.
   Due to my personal knowledge of Wong and his Red Eagles, his rivals the Viet Ching, Jung Ching and Lotus Gangs, plus their victims etc., I feel competant to say, "In writing Paper Fan, Terry Gould did an excellent job describing Wong and the events of the day." Terry knows his stuff, and he tells his story extremely well. It is not often one can learn such an immense amount of true information while at the same time be entertained. The book reads like a novel.

5 comments about Coming Clean: The True Story of a Cocaine Drug Lord and His Unexpected Encounter with God.

1. What an amazing transformation. Jorge is man who has the intelligence to run a legitimate business at an early age. Dealing drugs offers him more money then he can fathom. His newly discovered faith turns him on the straight, narrow and happier path. The old saying is true, money cannot buy happiness.



2. I had to go to jail for possession and happened to come across this book in the library there. I found it impossible to put down once I started to read it. If you get a chance I suggest to anyone to give this book a chance.



3. From the very first page the reader is drawn into this first person account of the life of Jorge Valdez, former drug smuggler and money launderer.This is a compelling story of intrigue, corruption, power, and greed.

   Valdez describes the culture, family life and values of a Cuban family trying to find their dream in America. Valdez emigrated from Cuba with his family when he was 10 years old. He was an honor student and was planning a career in banking and accounting.
   A series of events changed his life. He became involved with a drug cartel. By age 20, Valdez was in charge of the entire U.S. operation that included smuggling, distributing drugs, and money laundering.
   Valdez eventually got caught and spent a total of 11 years in federal prison. The account of his family's support during his trial and imprisonment is especially touching.

   The story is written by author Ken Abraham. The reader is given insight into the world of drug dealers, the prison system, and Valdez's personal ethical values. The book is a well-written account of the dramatic change in the life of Jorge Valdez. This is the testimony of a man freed from the power of sin by the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

   Vignettes of fellow prisoners help the reader understand the consequences of bad judgment and wrong choices. The story takes you behind prison walls. The contrast of life in prison before and after Jorge's conversion give solid evidence of a man changed by the power of Christ.
   While in prison Jorge earned an undergraduate degree from Southeastern Bible College and most of his credits for a graduate degree from Wheaton College. After his release Valdez completed his graduate studies at Wheaton College and went on to Loyola University to earn a doctorate in New Testament theology.
   Valdez has made himself vulnerable in this honest portrayal of his strengths and weaknesses. It is a story of depravation, faith, forgiveness, and a new start. I am looking forward to another installment relating the miracles of Coming Clean Ministries in Tyrone, a nondenominational Christian ministry. This ministry seeks to intercept youth who are on destructive paths by redirecting their lives to become productive members of society.




4. I am not a book reader, George gave me a copy of the book when I visited him in Atlanta and the following week I was on vacation in Florida picked up his book and read the entire book could not find a stopping point may God continue to bless his works as he is now touching so many lifes. It took Jesus Christ plus a lot of courage George to write this book.



5. When I saw this book on the shelf at my local library, I assumed this would just be some preachy, manipulative work in which a drug dealer tries to make his past vanish by finding God. As a lapsed Catholic I found this concept rather weak, but I picked up the book with a (reasonably) open mind, and started reading.
   By the time he was in his twenties Jorge Valdes was a cocaine dealer on the rise, dealing to the rich and famous, the living embodiment of wealth and power and luxury; leading a life most of us can imagine only in our wildest dreams. The life of the rich with all the negative excess that goes with it: drugs, pornography, prostitution, infidelity, murder, double-crosses, torture, kidnapping. Enough drama and suspense for a Robert Ludlum novel. The only difference is, this is the real deal. But, as Valdes soon disovers there is a price to all this; and he finds the courage and committment to steer his life onto a new, positive path.
   Reading this stirred my intense interest in the good and evil that all human beings are capable of, what Karl Jung called "the shadow". Obviously some of the content of this book is tough to take (Especially Valdes' graphic account of him and an associate being tortured by police for refusing to leak info), but the honesty with which Valdes tells his story and the glimpse the reader gets into his former life makes for fascinating and sometimes horrific reading.
   Even though I gave up my religious faith long ago, I still found myself moved by Mr Valdes's committment to his beliefs and how dramatically his life has changed for the better because of his faith. COMING CLEAN is quite simply a remarkable story. I challenge anyone to read this book and finish it without feeling affected. A very moving and powerful work that could only have come from the pen of someone who has lived and breathed the life... and survived to help prevent others from making the same mistakes he did.

No comments about James "Whitey" Bulger - From Winter Hill Gang Leader to Fugitive (Biography).

5 comments about If I Knew Then.

1. Haven't bought this book and I'm so glad. After seeing the video interview of her and her video with her husband. This makes me sick. To think that she's all in it for money is it. I recommend you don't spend a dime on her.



2. I know, this book had trash written all over it, and, it was.
   Amy is not an author.
   Her story, however, reinforced my beliefs about men being liars.



3. I really wanted to like this book. After reading it, all I feel is ripped off.
   
   I actually thought there would be some introspection from Amy now that she's passed the 30-years-old mark, but in reading this I got the distinct impression that she still wants us to picture her as a little-girl victim, because she still sees herself that way, as evidenced in this lazy, sloppily written book.
   
   She pays lip service to the "horrible" thing she did when she shot someone in cold blood, but it just sounds like lip service. She'd never be a "journalist" today if not for her notoriety.
   
   I take no sides in the Fisher/Buttafuoco affair, but I wish Fisher had given us something with a little more substance. I wonder whether she's capable of that. If this book is any indication, she has a long way to go.
   
   But I did come away with renewed admiration for her mother and for Mary Jo Buttafuoco.



4. Not that well written. Some of it was more than a little hard to believe.
   Would not have bought for myself.



5. I never got this item because it turned out to be out of stock. I did get a very prompt refund from the seller, and am still shopping for the item.