Brooklyn Gangsters (with Guest Blogger Ed)

Blog reader Ed sent me endless books when I was in prison. If you are an aficionado of Mafia stories, like Ed, you may want to check out the new book that Ed has contributed to: Brooklyn Gangsters.

Info about the book:

Brooklyn, New York, for better or worse, became the birthplace to many American mobsters and an area where mobsters abroad would eventually call their home.

Yet one must understand that the criminal element was not solely Sicilian but made up of many ethnicities (Irish, Jewish, Greek, Polish, Russian etc.). The theory that the “mafia” is only Italian is obviously a falsehood.

In reality the first criminal element that rose in the earlier years of American history were predominantly Irish and Jewish. The Irish in particular in Brooklyn did not welcome the Italians as they came to settle in their tight-knit neighborhoods. They not only dominated law enforcement but also the criminal element at the time. Hence, they did everything they could to make the strangers feel unwelcome.

In the early 1900s various immigrants entered the already bustling borough of Brooklyn. Each one experienced some form of discrimination. Whether it was the Italians, Jews, Greeks or even the Irish, they all suffered. An example of this was depicted in the blockbuster film “Gangs Of New York” directed by Martin Scorcese that highlighted the birth of street gangs (Irish against Native Americans—and not the Indians).

Various clans sprouted across the borough. One way for these immigrants to escape ill-treatment was to create homegrown crews that would protect their own. This also introduced a certain lack of respect for authority, especially for the Italians, as the majority of the police were Irish. Soon the Sicilians and Calabrians, unlike other ethnic gangs, began painting their outfit with more alluring colors.

Brooklyn Gangsters will explore one of the key locations where the “mafia” element flourished. Brooklyn, N.Y., has, and always will have, an image of toughness and grittiness unmatched anywhere else in the five boroughs. In this book we will offer documented information on how that image came to light.

The borough of Brooklyn has given birth to many characters that have molded the model of the Mafia. Names like Al Capone, Frankie Yale and Anthony Casso are just a few who will be introduced in this publication. Brooklyn, with its brownstones and old-fashioned family enclaves, served as a perfect fit for these criminals.

We have been exposed to films that invoke the dark yet flashy life of these individuals. Films like The Lords of Flatbush, Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, We Own The Night and others, all based in Brooklyn, have opened a window for us into that world.

This publication will highlight a score of mobsters that either shaped the organization or lent a hand in its longevity. In this book we will also offer personal information on each of these individuals, information that has never been published before; we also scrape the veneer off historical events that have been buried embellishment. So come with us from Mob Candy Magazine on this bloody road to mobdom in Brooklyn, New York.

Amazon link to Brooklyn Gangsters.

Link to Ed’s widely read Mafia website, Cosa Nostra News.

Shaun Attwood