<![CDATA[Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba.and Then Lost It to the Revolution]]>

false <![CDATA[Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba.and Then Lost It to the Revolution]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255807214m/6051882.jpg 2578863 6 In modern-day Havana, the remnants of the glamorous past are everywhere—the old hotel-casinos, vintage American cars, and flickering neon signs speak of a bygone era that is widely familiar and often romanticized, but little understood. In Havana Nocturne, T. J. English offers a riveting, multifaceted true tale of organized crime, political corruption, roaring nightlife, revolution, and international conflict that interweaves the dual stories of the Mob in Havana and the event that would overshadow it, the Cuban Revolution. As the Cuban people labored under a violently repressive regime throughout the 1950s, Mob leaders Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano turned their eye to Havana. To them, Cuba was the ultimate dream, the greatest hope for the future of the American Mob in the post-Prohibition years of intensified government crackdowns. But when it came time to make their move, it was Lansky, the brilliant Jewish mobster, who reigned supreme. Having cultivated strong ties with the Cuban government and in particular the brutal dictator Fulgencio Batista, Lansky brought key mobsters to Havana to put his ambitious business plans in motion. Before long, the Mob, with Batista's corrupt government in its pocket, owned the biggest luxury hotels and casinos in Havana, launching an unprecedented tourism boom complete with the most lavish entertainment, the world's biggest celebrities, the most beautiful women, and gambling galore. But their dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others who would lead the country's disenfranchised to overthrow their corrupt government and its foreign partners—an epic cultural battle that English captures in all its sexy, decadent, ugly glory. Bringing together long-buried historical information with English's own research in Havana—including interviews with the era's key survivors—Havana Nocturne takes readers back to Cuba in the years when it was a veritable devil's playground for mob leaders. English deftly weaves together the parallel stories of the Havana Mob—featuring notorious criminals such as Santo Trafficante Jr. and Albert Anastasia—and Castro's 26th of July Movement in a riveting, up-close look at how the Mob nearly attained its biggest dream in Havana—and how Fidel Castro trumped it all with the Cuban Revolution. 2593117 book 1 6 2008 Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution total:324|5:63|4:151|3:90|2:15|1:5| 324 1224 704 116 5 1 false false Wed Jul 30 06:16:31 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 06:14:04 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 30 06:16:31 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Oct 03 10:30:28 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 17 09:28:19 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 01 00:55:51 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 01 01:02:46 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 03:11:04 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 03:49:04 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 08:08:08 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 08:36:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 10:39:37 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 05:32:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Apr 11 06:36:41 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 11 06:50:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Oct 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 11:55:17 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 10:37:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 05:31:47 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 07:55:46 -0700 2009
So when is the Pulp Era?

Some folks have it pegged to the Roaring Twenties with Prohibition, gangsters, barnstorming pilots, and Lovecraftian horrors. I'm more of a fan of the 19...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 12 21:51:39 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 22:03:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Jul 19 11:49:05 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 19 11:49:57 -0700 2008
http://www.bookpleasures.com/Lore2/idx/0...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Dec 13 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 13 08:30:26 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 13 08:35:36 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 12:43:27 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 12:48:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Dec 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 14:20:12 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 14:24:42 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Oct 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 18:39:05 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 19:20:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Oct 09 08:53:47 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 09 09:24:21 -0700 2008 The Daily Show. One thing that I love about Jon Stewart is that you can tell when he's actually read the book versus when some poor interns had to come up with succinct, cohesive notes...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Nov 04 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Oct 05 09:19:49 -0700 2008 Tue Nov 04 07:50:26 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Sep 04 12:49:04 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 12:57:49 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 15 14:59:11 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 20 14:34:49 -0700 2008
This is a fascinating look at Cuba just before Castro rose to power.

Havana in the 1950s was a steamy, beautiful, sexy city. Batista was in control of Cuba and the mob was in control of Havana with intentions of turning it into a Monte Carlo-l...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jul 28 14:14:19 -0700 2008 Mon Jan 12 15:43:20 -0800 2009 Che Guevara biography while on excavation in the Republic of Ecuador. That book, along with Orwell's account of the Spanish Civil War, "Homage to Catolonia," probably convinced my Latin professors, en de sur, that I was indee...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6051882