On January 18, 1983, New York City Police Detectives were called to the scene of a grisly murder all too common in the streets battles of organized crime. An abandoned Cadillac was found with a surprise in its trunk, the body of mobster Roy DeMeo, the homicidal enforcer for the Gambino crime family. He had been brutally shot several times before his tragic demise. During his career, it is believed that he participated in dozens of murders, running a modern-day version of Murder, Inc. His death came as no surprise to some in law enforcement who know very well that many in that life eventually leave it in a body bag. But for DeMeo’s family, his disappearance and death, shook the family to its core.
Albert DeMeo, his oldest son, stepped into his father’s shoes following the murder and his life changed in ways no one could have predicted. To the public, DeMeo was a feared mobster whose reputation preceded him but to this family, he was a father and husband who never failed to show his love and teach them the ways of life so that they did not end up in the life that he chose. Through Albert’s eyes, we see Ray as the stereotypical American father with a wife and three children who lives on a quiet street in an even nice neighborhood. Albert is aware that his father has a job that is not the standard nine to five but is carefully shielded by his loving father. After Ray’s death, Albert does not glorify the life or reveal any smoking guns. But he does recall events involving figures such as Nino Gaggi, Dominick Montiglio, Anthony Senter and Joey Testa. Senter and Testa became known as the Gemini Twins in mafia circles.
In the beginning, all seems as if there is one big happy family. But DeMeo’s death changed everything and as Albert tells us, the world turned upside down and those once considered to be Dad’s friends, are seen in a different light as a veil of secrecy develops in the wake of the crime. And it is here that the story changes pace as the fallout begins. Albert finds himself in the cross hairs as the Mafia wants to see what he knows about the organization and the police want to know what he has to tell about his father’s associates. He becomes a pawn on a chessboard as two titans wage their war against each other. The tug of war that ensued would have profound effects on DeMeo and his revelations about the effects on his personal life are eye-opening and tragic.
With this intimate account of his life as a Mafia child, DeMeo joins the group of authors who have published their memoirs that tell the story of life under the roof of an organized crime figure. And what is clear from his words and theirs, is that life as a Mafia child is exciting as good times come and money flows in but at some point, things inevitably change, typically for the worse and the family is left to pick up the pieces. In this story, DeMeo picks up the pieces as best as possible but not even he can overcome the adversity that stared the family in the face in the wake of the demise of one of the Mafia’s most prolific killers.
ASIN: B000FC1I4K
ISBN-10: 0767906896
ISBN-13: 978-0767906890
March 21, 1980-Philadelphia mob boss Angelo Bruno is shot to death while sitting in the front passenger seat in a car in front of his house. The ruling commission in New York appoints Philip “Chicken Man” Testa as the new boss and Nicodemo Scarfo as the underboss. Less than a year later, Testa himself is murdered when a bomb explodes under his front porch. After meeting with the commission, Scarfo becomes the new boss and his reign would prove to be the deadliest in the family’s history. Guided by paranoia and a never-ending thirst for blood, Scarfo weaved a path of destruction that would bring down not only himself but nearly the entire organization before being arrested and convicted due in part to the testimony of his nephew and former underboss Philip Leonetti. Leonetti, whose defection is perhaps the biggest in mafia history, gave testimony that sent dozens of mobsters to prison and played an indirect role in the conviction of the teflon don himself, John Gotti. Scarfo continues to serve out his sentence at the Federal Medical Facility in Butner, North Carolina with a projected release date of January, 2033 when he will be 103 years old. Now in his mid-eighties, his life is far removed from his days running the streets of Philadelphia and Atlantic City.
Many years have passed since the U.S. invasion of Iraq but the effects continue to linger. The conflict continues to rear its ugly head and provokes fierce debate. When Saddam Hussein was finally captured and subsequently convicted, many Muslims in Iraq and other nations breathed a sigh of relief. The region continues to deal with social and political issues, but the days of Hussein and his power-hungry sons are long gone. Stories of their inhumane treatment and the barbaric conditions of the country’s prisons are never-ending. Exiles from the country have opened up and revealed what they remember from their time under the brutal Hussein regime. This is the story of Mayada Al-Askari, a divorced mother of two who ran a local printing shop and was wrongfully accused of spreading anti-government. She was arrested, incarcerated and tortured on a regular basis by prison officials determined to find the source of the anti-regime literature. She was eventually released when it was determined that a subordinate of hers was the real culprit behind the printings.
Twenty-two years have passed since the African nation of Rwanda found itself caught in a civil war between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. Tensions between the two had been simmering beneath the surface for many years and when things finally came to a head in April, 1994, the conflict escalated into a full-scale genocide. Rwandan society had been shaped on ethnic grounds under the colonial governments imposed by German and Belgian settlers resulting in jealousy, mistrust and unfortunately, ethnic cleansing. The tragedy ranks high among the worst cases of large-scale genocide in history. One of the survivors, Immaculee Ilibagiza, decided to record her memories following the war and they have been turned into this chilling account of the horrors of the holocaust and the incredible effort by her and others to stay alive in the midst of what could only be described as hell. The book became a New York Times bestseller upon its release and remains a testament to the tragedy of Rwanda more than two decades later.
FREETHINKING BIBLIOPHILE 
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