This is by far one of the most interesting books I've read in a long time. When it comes to the island of Cuba, I've alway known bits and pieces. And Cuba was never discussed in my many years of formal education. Additionally I believe the average American's knowledge of the subject is a compilat...
"Havana Nocturne" is an excellent, scrupulously-researched, chronicle of how the American Mob attempted to take over Havana in the waning days of the Batista empire in the 1950s. What nobody at the time knew, or at least, acknowledged, was the "waning" part. Author T. J. English has done a fine ...
The author of Paddy Whacked and Havana Nocturne turns his attention to New York City during the turbulent 1960's - specifically 1963-1973. English narrates a fascinating story of the "city that never sleeps" during this time through the prism of crime, civil rights/racial tensions and police corr...
I first became interested in The Westies when I saw a program called "True Crime" on the History Channel. That particular episode was about the Westies and I was somewhat glued to my television (which is very rare ... usually I don't even turn the thing on any more). But this particular episode's...
The focus of most true crime books is usually narrow, centering on a particular criminal and/or crime(s). Paddy Whacked is a different beast, much more ambitious, taking a healthy swipe at being something larger: a criminal history of a people and culture, starting in the mid-1800s, and coming u...
They started out as a bunch of immigrant kids from Vietnam who hung out together, yet they evolved into Born to Kill, a savage gang of killers and thugs. The explosive story follows these brutal and heartless criminal terrorists as they penetrate and ravage the close-knit community of Chinatown, ...
s/t: Gangster, Gamblers, Showgirls & Revolutionaries in 1950s CubaThroughout the 1950s, as the Cuban people laboured under a violently repressive regime, the Mob-financed revelry in Havana never stopped. Tourists from around the world flooded in to gamble, go to the racetrack, see an elaborate fl...
