David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "irish-immigrants"
The Big Crowd
Kevin Baker is a historian; hence his reliance on real life characters and fictionalized characters based on real people. That’s the case with Charlie O’Kane, an Irish immigrant who became mayor of New York, who is probably based on William O’Dwyer post WWII mayor who was also an Irish immigrant.
Charlie’s brother Tom is the main character in the novel. He’s an ADA and is trying to get his brother to tell him what really happened when mob witness Abe Reles was thrown or jumped from a safe-house window surrounded by at least a half dozen cops and other mob witnesses. This happened just as Reles, also a member of Murder Incorporated, was ready to testify against Albert Anastasia. Before all the mafia books and movies, I was fascinated with the mob. I remember pictures of Albert riddled with blood stains as he lay in his barber chair, well after the Kefauver investigations.
So then the plot thread is whether Charlie was involved in the Reles incident. Apparently most people thought he was because he wound up in Mexico City, dodging extradition. That’s where the sub plot occurs. You see, Tom is in love with Slim, Charlie’s wife. They’ve been carrying on a lurid affair for years. He can’t keep his hands off her when he sees her again in Mexico. She is loosely based on Pat McCormick, the four time Olympic diver, who was also a bullfighter. Slim is learning how against old tired bulls. Tom also has a girlfriend, fellow ADA, Ellie, who’s almost as beautiful as Slim but much more forgiving. The fool tells her all about Slim.
Mayor LaGuardia pops up for a few paragraphs and one of the major minor characters is Bill McCormack, Mr. Big of the New York City docks. Cardinal Francis Spellman is portrayed as an effeminate fop. We never meet Kefauver or Albert Anastasia, which would have been a treat.
I was first introduced to Kevin Baker when I read SOMETIMES YOU HEAR IT COMING, one of the better fictional baseball books I’ve read. Then I read the first of the City of Fire trilogy: DREAMLAND, about the history of Coney Island. Baker’s scholastic background definitely serves him as a reliable tour guide of the Big Apple.
Charlie’s brother Tom is the main character in the novel. He’s an ADA and is trying to get his brother to tell him what really happened when mob witness Abe Reles was thrown or jumped from a safe-house window surrounded by at least a half dozen cops and other mob witnesses. This happened just as Reles, also a member of Murder Incorporated, was ready to testify against Albert Anastasia. Before all the mafia books and movies, I was fascinated with the mob. I remember pictures of Albert riddled with blood stains as he lay in his barber chair, well after the Kefauver investigations.
So then the plot thread is whether Charlie was involved in the Reles incident. Apparently most people thought he was because he wound up in Mexico City, dodging extradition. That’s where the sub plot occurs. You see, Tom is in love with Slim, Charlie’s wife. They’ve been carrying on a lurid affair for years. He can’t keep his hands off her when he sees her again in Mexico. She is loosely based on Pat McCormick, the four time Olympic diver, who was also a bullfighter. Slim is learning how against old tired bulls. Tom also has a girlfriend, fellow ADA, Ellie, who’s almost as beautiful as Slim but much more forgiving. The fool tells her all about Slim.
Mayor LaGuardia pops up for a few paragraphs and one of the major minor characters is Bill McCormack, Mr. Big of the New York City docks. Cardinal Francis Spellman is portrayed as an effeminate fop. We never meet Kefauver or Albert Anastasia, which would have been a treat.
I was first introduced to Kevin Baker when I read SOMETIMES YOU HEAR IT COMING, one of the better fictional baseball books I’ve read. Then I read the first of the City of Fire trilogy: DREAMLAND, about the history of Coney Island. Baker’s scholastic background definitely serves him as a reliable tour guide of the Big Apple.
