Joseph Bruno's Blog, page 30
August 18, 2014
“Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps-Volume 1 – New York City” is ranked #1 on Amazon-Canada in the category “Best Sellers in Organized Crime,” and No 2. in the category “Best Sellers in Gangs.”
“Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps-Volume 1 – New York City” is ranked #1 on Amazon-Canada in the category “Best Sellers in Organized Crime,” and No 2. in the category “Best Sellers in Gangs.“
Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks and Other Creeps-Volume 1 – New York City
August 17, 2014
“Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 5 – Girlfriends and Wives” is FREE today on Amazon.com.
“Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 5 – Girlfriends and Wives” is FREE today on Amazon.com.
For your FREE copy click on the link below.
“Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 5 – Girlfriends and Wives” is the fifth in a series of Joe Bruno’s “Mobster” books.
*****
In bed with every criminal is his wife, or his goomara, or sometimes even both. Joe Bruno’s “Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 5 – Girlfriends and Wives” details the trial and tribulations of women who are the love interests of some of the worst human beings God has ever created.
*****
August 16, 2014
Another 5-star review for “Mob Rats – Gangsters Who Squeal – Volume 1 (Kindle Edition)”
Another 5-star review for “Mob Rats – Gangsters Who Squeal – Volume 1 (Kindle Edition)” That makes it six out of six.
*****
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, very informative and Joe gives the facts …, August 16, 2014
By ED – See all my reviews
Verified Purchase(What’s this?)
This review is from: Mob Rats – Gangsters Who Squeal – Volume 1 (Kindle Edition)
Great book, very informative and Joe gives the facts which make for fast reading, can’t wait for the next book.
*****
What Makes a Rat, a Rat?
Mathew J. Mari – New York City Criminal Attorney for 37 years
Contrary to popular opinion, rats are born and not made.
People think law enforcement ‘turns’ people into rats by persuading them to ‘turn state’s evidence,’ as the old saying goes. There is a difference between the verb ‘rat,’ which is what a lot of people do, and the noun ‘rat,’ which is what a lot of people are.
Real men don’t rat because they still have to look at themselves in the mirror. The reason they don’t rat is not because of some oath of silence (omerta), or because they are afraid of being killed, but because they simply ARE NOT RATS. The people who rat (the verb) do it because they ARE RATS (the noun). The people who rat were born rats and simply do what they were born to do when the circumstances benefit them.
It’s really that simple.”
Mob Rats – Gangsters Who Squeal – Volume 1
“New York City’s You Can Now Preorder on Amazon.com “Five Points: The Most Dangerous and Decadent Neighborhood Ever! [Kindle Edition]“
Amazon.com had made it possible to pre-order my next Kindle book “New York City’s Five Points: The Most Dangerous and Decadent Neighborhood Ever! [Kindle Edition]“
It should be ready to be published in a week or so. If you wish to pre-order the book, click on the link below
New York City's Five Points: The Most Dangerous and Decadent Neighborhood Ever!
Murder and Mayhem in the Big Apple – From the Black Hand to Murder Incorporated” is free today at Amazon.com
Murder and Mayhem in the Big Apple – From the Black Hand to Murder Incorporated” is free today at Amazon.com
To grab your FREE Kindle copy, click the link below.
*****
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
When it comes to murder and mayhem, there has never been a more fertile backdrop than the mean streets of New York City.
Whether it was murder for profit, or a contract hit ordered by mob bosses, or maybe just a simple hit because the killer didn’t like the victim’s face (this happens more often than you think), there have been more dead bodies deposited in the gutters of New York City than on the streets of any other city in the world. This is in addition to the thousands of murder victims whose bodies “did a Houdini”; or in other words – disappeared.
Most people enjoy reading about a gruesome murder – the bloodier the better. Besides the casual civilian reveling in the miseries of others, certain killers also enjoy reading about their achievements in the press. Other killers couldn’t care less about the notoriety, but instead view the publicity as a method of convincing potential victims if they don’t cough up the cash requested, or do the right thing in other matters; their mutilated bodies might wind up on the front page of the newspapers, too.
Then there is the psyche of the killer himself. Usually, the killer’s first hit makes little psychological impact on him. He doesn’t enjoy it too much, but he figures if this is to be his business of choice, he had better get used to the blood and gore, or slide into another line of work.
However, certain killers enjoy the act of killing so much, they have no qualms about carving up some poor soul’s throat and torso (or maybe both), then celebrating the hit by devouring a rare roast beef sandwich, minutes after slicing his victim into the hereafter.
In highlighting the most prolific killers in the history of New York City if not the world, this book starts with the bloody Black Hand and then pitches forward a decade later to the Boys from Brownsville, who morphed into the greatest death machine in the history of America: Murder Incorporated, better known as Murder Inc.
So fire up your Kindle, pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage, and enjoy the most vicious killers ever to prowl the streets of New York City.
However – a word of caution. While reading, stay away from rare roast beef sandwiches, dripping in blood.
They might not go down too well.
Murder and Mayhem in the Big Apple – From the Black Hand to Murder Incorporated
August 14, 2014
Johnny Keyes – The Elected Mayor of Chinatown
In 1924, just as the area was being transformed from the Five Points into Little Italy/Chinatown, my uncle Johnny Keyes (real name Canonico – he married my mother’s oldest sister, Mary) was re-elected the Mayor of Chinatown for a second time term by a paper-thin margin.
According to the June 21st issue of the New York Times, my uncle’s opponent was Le Chung Wei. But with the backing of New York City Mayor, John Francis Hyland, “Red Mike” to his pals, Johnny Keyes came out on top by a whopping 67 votes out of more than 4,500 votes cast. World heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey also contributed mightily to my Uncle Johnny’s campaign.
Also a former boxer (not very good), and fight manager/trainer, Johnny Keyes handled over 100 fighters, including my mother’s brother and Johnny Keyes’s brother – in-law – Oakie Keyes (real name Daniel Mucerino). Five of Johnny Keyes’s fighters, including Pepper Martin and Midget Wolgast, became world champions.
Explaining how an Italian/American like Johnny “Keyes” Canonico could become the Mayor of Chinatown, the New York Times said:
The Mayor was born on Bayard Street when it was called the Five Points. He was a local leader from public school days and was deemed the heir-apparent to the late Chuck Connors in the latter part of Connors’s administration. When Chuck died 12 years ago, Chinatown regarded Johnny as the logical successor.
The Times went on further to explain how the 1924 election came about in the first place.
There is no fixed tenure of office for Chinatown Mayor. An election takes place any time an aspirant feels that he’s strong enough to cope with the administration. A date for the election is fixed, and at a number of secret polling places, the ballots are marked and counted. Those known to the clerks of the polls as natives of Chinatown and its immediate confines are enfranchised.
After winning re-election, Uncle Johnny Keyes explained his mayoralty duties to the New York Times:
This is a big job and you can’t expect to keep regular hours at it. The Mayor of Chinatown has to sleep with his clothes on. He must be ready at any hour to rush to help Mrs. Grogan keep the old man from throwing the dinner table out of the window. When an argument between children on Mulberry Bend spreads to their parents, he must be able to keep the scratches and bruises down to as few as possible. In other words, he must keep the paddy wagons and ambulances out of Chinatown.
The Chinese don’t get into too many scraps. They are hard-working and happy if they are left alone. Occasionally they have a dispute over a business matter, and this comes to me for settlement. If one steals the customer of another by giving a lower price, I am asked to stop the cutthroat competition. If a Chinaman is slow in making payments on something he bought from another Chinaman, I am asked to speed up the installments. This doesn’t happen often because the Chinese are particular about paying debts.
However, according to Johnny Keyes, the most important job of the Mayor of Chinatown was to polish the bright image of the neighborhood, and not let it be tarnished by outside influences.
Johnny Keyes told the Times:
We have no objection is people want to see a little of Oriental life in Chinatown. But we don’t want the place held up as a nest of opium dens. As mayor, I have fought to keep the moving pictures companies from using scenery in Chinatown in plays in which the Chinese are villains and white girls get kidnapped.
Of late, Chinatown has wanted its Mayor to give the neighborhood a better reputation in the eyes of the rest of the world. My men listen to the talk handed out by the guides on the sight-seeing busses, and when it gets a little too harsh we step in and tell them to stop.
The truth is there are probably fewer guns to a block in Chinatown than anywhere else in the city. The days of the hatchet men are gone, and there hasn’t been a knife thrown in years.
Johnny Keyes also told the Times, that his responsibilities as Mayor of Chinatown included helping the local parents control their wayward offspring.
He said:
Speaking to the young men who appeared headed to the Tombs is another of my duties. Parents whose boys are in bad company ask me to tell the kids they are making a mistake. The young fellows listen. I have spoken with hundreds of boys who have found it easier to steal than to work and have managed to save most of them from getting in bad.
One of Johnny Keyes first actions after being re-elected Mayor was to throw a grand shindig at Tammany Hall, which he called the Chinatown 400 Ball. The expressed purpose of the events was to raise substantial cash, intended strictly for the pockets of Johnny Keyes, after he threw a few monetary bones to the Tammany Hall brass (Keyes obviously got this idea from his mentor, the dearly departed Chuck Connors).
There was said to be almost 1,500 guests at the ball, and the highlight of the night was a grand procession scheduled for 12 midnight, which was supposed to be led by the famous writer, Damon Runyon, a close friend of Johnny Keyes. But Runyon had neglected to take his tuxedo to the grand ball, and a Tammany Hall bootlicker was sent by taxi to fetch Runyon’s tuxedo, which was at his upper west side apartment.
By 1 a.m. there was still no tuxedo. And at 1:30 a.m., a member of the Chinatown 400 floor committee rushed up to the Silver Slipper Box, where Runyon and Keyes were holding court, and said that the taxi with Runyon’s tuxedo and come and gone, but no one from Tammany Hall had been there to take possession of the tuxedo.
Disgusted, Runyon turned to Keyes and said, “This is your ballgame now, pally. I’m drunk, my belly is full, and I’m off to grander places.”
That said, Runyon exited the premises in a huff.
According to the Brooklyn Eagle, Johnny Keyes was nonplused, and he decided to head the procession himself, accompanied by his lovely wife, Mary (this writer’s aunt).
The Eagle wrote under the headline:
Chinatown Ball Joyous
But Damon Runyon Misses “Tux” and Disappoints.
Was Scheduled to Lead March.
Oriental Setting Lacks Nothing but Chinamen
Promptly at 2 o’clock, Johnny Keyes, Mayor of Chinatown, stepped down from his box to lead the march for the guests. Mrs. Keyes, in white georgette (sheer silk) embroidered in gold, was at his side, affecting one of the novelty Poiret dolls.
Huge bouquets of American Beauty roses were the favors of the evening. The stately march was followed by the song “Chinatown.” Its jazz not only kept the dancers on the floor, but several went atop tables to give exhibitions of the art decried by the generation not familiar with its movements.
The imposing headdress of the Chinatown 400, said to have cost $4 each, gave the wearer a dignity alike to a potentate of the Mystic Shrine and a Chinese Mandarin.
Everybody had a wonderful time. Empty square bottles were everywhere.
And Johnny Keyes made a mint.
After my Aunt Mary died at a-much-too-young age, Johnny Keyes moved from his beloved Chinatown to Los Angeles and then to San Diego, where he opened a restaurant named Spaghetti Joe’s, which is the nickname Damon Runyon anointed Keyes with in New York City. While in Los Angeles, Keyes was also the boxing promoter at the East Side Arena.
According to a Runyon column in 1937:
Johnny Keyes, the five-foot-three-inch former Mayor of Chinatown and now over 200 pounds, lost over $5,000 last night at the new Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego. His only reply was, “Money don’t mean nuthin’ to me. It ain’t your life. It ain’t your wife. It’s only money.’
When Runyon wrote his famous play, Guys and Dolls, one of the degenerate gambler characters, Nicely-Nicely Johnson, was based on my uncle, Johnny Keyes.
You can’t make up stuff like this.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EZCFVNU
Johnny Keyes in the middle of the cover of the Boxing Blade.
August 13, 2014
Book review on “Abe ‘Kid Twist’ Reles – The Fink Who Took Down Murder Inc.”
Excellent review on “Abe ‘Kid Twist’ Reles – The Fink Who Took Down Murder Inc.”
*****
The Canary Sang but Couldn’t Fly
August 12, 2014
By Silver Screen Videos
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Joe Bruno takes another look at the New York criminal underworld and one of its most fascinating figures in his latest book, “Abe ‘Kid Twist’ Reles – The Fink Who Took Down Murder Inc.” As has been the case with each of Bruno’s books that I’ve read, he’s taken an interesting subject, conducted exhaustive research, and told his story using some rather colorful slang that may catch readers by surprise.
Reles was a New York gangster of the 1930s who was one of the hired guns of Murder Inc., the enforcement arm of the Commission that controlled organized crime in New York at the time. Murder Inc. (as it was called by the press and public) turned what often had been haphazardly organized mob hits into a highly organized business under the leadership of Louis “Lepke” Buchalter. Reles was a vicious killer who ran his own rackets in Brooklyn but was also on Lepke’s payroll. When the police finally caught Reles, he turned state’s evidence, and his testimony was instrumental in helping to convict Lepke, who became the first mob boss to die in the electric chair. Reles’ moment of glory was short lived however as he fell, jumped, or almost certainly was thrown to his death out a window in the hotel in which he was being held. Reles’ notoriety with the public was enhanced a few years later when Peter Falk had perhaps his best film role portraying Reles in a movie that was also called “Murder Inc.”
Bruno takes a comprehensive look at Reles’ career from his less well known early days seizing control of his piece of turf in Brooklyn to the far better known events surrounding his testimony against Lepke and other mob figures. The book spends a good bit of time discussing the turf war in which Reles and his partners eliminated, one by one, the Shapiro brothers, the mobsters who had controlled the rackets in a section of Brooklyn called Brownsville. The book disproves the notion that mob hits were highly efficient affairs as the Shapiros manage to get away again and again before eventually running out of luck.
From there, Bruno gives a good accounting of how Murder Inc. operated and the details of the one killing that wound up getting Lepke convicted. It’s a fascinating story, with Lepke on the run for years before finally surrendering to J. Edgar Hoover himself (with Walter Winchell lending a hand). Finally, Reles is again center stage as he testifies and meets his demise. The story of Reles, Buchalter, and Murder Inc. is one of the most interesting in the annals of New York organized crime, and Bruno lays it all out in a straightforward manner that’s, for the most part, very easy to follow.
Readers should be aware that Bruno’s books, including this one, do not follow any manual of style I’ve ever seen. He uses plenty of slang to describe what’s happening, and the net effect is that readers feel they are hearing the story from a relative who lived through it rather than reading a history. That takes some getting used to for those accustomed to more scholarly true crime works. However, in comparison with some of his other books I’ve read, Bruno tones down some of the most outlandish rhetoric in “Reles,” and the remaining language mostly enhances the story rather than distracts the reader. The result is a colorful read that’s often as entertaining for how Bruno’s describing the action as for the action itself.
I’ve got one other caveat about the book. Although it’s listed on Amazon as 44 pages, the story of Abe Reles only takes up about half the book. Bruno includes another interesting article about another interesting, but lesser known, gangster turned stool pigeon of the era, “Tick Tock” Tannenbaum (a truly great mob nickname, as is Reles’ own “Kid Twist” nickname), Finally, the last third of the book contains an excerpt from one of Bruno’s longer books and some other filler material. Although I don’t think readers will feel cheated by the way “Reles” is organized, they should be aware of what they will get.
All in all, “Reles” is another one of Bruno’s colorful strolls through the back alleys of New York. Some of his sources (which he details at the end of the book) are quite obscure, and it’s highly doubtful readers would ever find out some of the information Joe reveals on their own. Abe Reles wasn’t a very likable guy, but, in Joe Bruno’s hands, he’s been turned into a very likable book.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MBNAKWW
Another 5-Star review for “Abe “Kid Twist” Reles – The Fink Who Took Down Murder Inc.”
Another 5-Star review for “Abe “Kid Twist” Reles – The Fink Who Took Down Murder Inc..” This one on Amazon.UK.
The link for both the US and UK versions are below.
5.0 out of 5 stars A darn good read.
By Tjc
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“I enjoyed this book. Interesting, informative and well written. Joe brings his own brand of narrative to the prose and it’s refreshing to read a well researched book without all the usual stuffiness and insipidness that usually goes hand in hand with a lot of the True Crime genre.”
*****
Product information:
He was the canary who could sing but couldn’t fly.
Abe “Kid Twist” Reles was one of the most vicious and unlikable mobsters in the history of the American underworld. And to add to his distastefulness, Reles had a face only a mother could love.
After winning a Brooklyn mob war against the three Shapiro brothers (Reles was involved in the murder of all three Shapiros), Reles took over the rackets in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. Reles and his vicious crew, dubbed “The Boys from Brownsville,” eventually caught the eye of Louie “Lepke” Buchalter, and soon Reles and his crew were charter members of Murder Inc., a battalion of killers who were responsible for anywhere from 500 to 1000 murders throughout the country.
However, in January of 1940, Reles, who was sitting pretty and bathing in illegal dough, was picked up by the cops and charged with the 1933 murder of small-time hood, Red Alpert. The reason for the pinch was that two of Reles’s flunkies, who had witnessed Alpert’s murder and were afraid for their own lives, ran to the cops, and they both sang the same sad song, “It was Abe Reles who killed Red Alpert.”
Reles knew he was screwed. He knew that two men corroborating that he had whacked Alpert was all the District Attorney needed to fry his butt in the electric chair. So Reles did what no one in the underworld thought he was capable of doing: Reles became a rat.
“Abe “Kid Twist” Reles – The Fink Who Took Down Murder Inc.” tells the story of the rise and fall of Abe Reles, from a street punk, to a killer, to a stool pigeon, whose alleged attempt at flight landed him flat on his back; squashed like a fly dive-bombing into a speeding car’s windshield.
It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
*****
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MBNAKWW
August 12, 2014
Another 5-star review for “The Wrong Man: Who Ordered The Murder Of Gambler Herman Rosenthal And Why.”
Another 5-star review for “The Wrong Man: Who Ordered The Murder Of Gambler Herman Rosenthal And Why.”
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful read!
By Amazon Customer TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Kindle Edition
“The Wrong Man: Who Ordered The Murder Of Gambler Herman Rosenthal And Why” by Joe Bruno is an excellently written account of the murder of the title and the court case that followed. Written in a gripping narrative this reads as easily as a compelling thriller.
Clearly well researched and confident about court proceedings at the times and about the facts, the author tells the story of what may have been a great miscarriage of justice. The fact that this has actually happened exactly 100 years ago but is about real people and events had a huge impact on me during the read.
The author did well with holding back his own conclusions until the end with great journalistic skill. Short and concise this is a great and powerful read.
*****
Product Information:
2012 is the 100-year anniversary of the murder of small-time gambler Herman Rosenthal – the most celebrated murder of its time. Make no mistake, there are no good guys here; no innocent victims. The fact is Bald Jack Rose, a well-known New York City criminal, framed crooked New York City police lieutenant – Charles Becker – for the killing of stool pigeon Herman Rosenthal.
People in the underworld cheered the death of Rosenthal; he was disliked that much. But that doesn’t negate the fact that the wrong man sat in Sing Sing’s electric chair for ordering Rosenthal’s murder, while the man who framed Becker – and orchestrated the murder of Rosenthal himself – walked away a free man.
“The Wrong Man” explains how this all transpired.
*****
The Wrong Man: Who Ordered the Murder of Gambler Herman Rosenthal and Why
Joe Bruno has 5 of the top 20 ranked books, and 9 of the first 32 ranked books on Amazon.com in the category “Best Sellers in Law Enforcement Biographies & Memoirs.”
Joe Bruno has 5 of the top 20 ranked books, and 9 of the first 32 ranked books on Amazon.com in the category “Best Sellers in Law Enforcement Biographies & Memoirs.”
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/6361568011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_kstore_1_5_last
