12th and Bruce

Brad Mason and Gabe Randinoli were friends. They grew up in the same Newark, New Jersey, Central Ward neighborhood, on the corner of 12th Avenue and Bruce Street. They were taught by the same nuns and teachers at Saint Joseph’s Parochial School. Together they served as altar boys at Mass and participated in parish life. Mason became an FBI agent. Randinoli became a member of a New York La Cosa Nostra crime family. Both accepted their respective positions and rendered very different oaths affirming their loyalty and willingness to perform according to long-established but vastly different guidelines. How could it be explained? How could they remain adult friends when they held such different views of right and wrong, were so different concerning things that truly mattered? This novel captures Newark’s slow decline, festering economic despair, and political corruption. As products of this environment, Mason and Randinoli are forced to contend with outside forces seeking to control and influence their friendship, but they will not willingly exploit each other. While their city is losing its soul and their friendship is under attack, the author introduces us to memorable, loving, witty characters, willing to share their lives and stories with the reader.

TOM MacGEORGE, while serving in the FBI's Boston office, supervised the special operations group's participation in the first-ever electronic interception of a La Cosa Nostra/Mafia induction ceremony, to include the oath of omertà, the code of silence. During this age-old ritual, four Boston individuals were inducted as "made" members of the Rhode Island Patriarca crime family. The author also served as the Boston Division's White Collar Crime Supervisor and Coordinator for the New England region. In these positions he testified in federal and state court criminal trials to include kidnap/murder, public corruption and bank fraud and embezzlement. In addition to his assignment in Boston, Tom served in the FBI's Chicago and Tampa offices and later at the Fort Myers resident agency investigating drug violations and voter fraud. Following his retirement from the FBI, Tom founded and currently serves as president of a private investigation company aiding national and international corporate clients. Born in New Jersey, Tom and his wife Pat reside in southwest Florida. At present, Tom is planning his next novel. MacGeorge may be contacted at email tjmpi@outlook.com or through his website: www.tommacgeorge.com.