Whacking Jimmy: A Novel - Hardcover

Wolf, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375501738 ISBN 13: 9780375501739

Publisher: Villard, 1998

Synopsis

It's 1975. Don Vittorio Tucci, head of the Detroit mob, lies on his deathbed as his family and associates secretly jockey for power. Meanwhile, his grandson Bobby Tucci--just an ordinary college student and rock musi-cian, who until now has steered clear of the family business--is drawn into the middle of a power play among the don's hotheaded first lieutenant, his consigliere, and Bobby's own mother, who has designs on being the first woman to lead a major crime family.
It seems simple: His grandfather promises him a $40 million payday if he'll just stay around for a while, lending some stability as the next rightful heir to the Family. But there's a little complication: He's going to have to "make his bones"--prove himself to the Family. His assignment? Kill Jimmy Hoffa.
Whacking Jimmy is a seventies flashback, mafia-style--a classic caper built around one of the greatest unsolved crimes in history. It is a hip, hilarious thriller for those who love writers like Elmore Leonard and for anyone who wants to know one possible, though a bit implausible, solution to the Jimmy Hoffa mystery.

Vittorio Tucci sat with Bobby on the Tillmans' screened porch and watched the little sailboat bob on the water. The sight of it sent a wave of nausea through him. He wanted to lie down with a wet towel on his head, but he wasn't finished with Bobby yet. He summoned the will to keep his voice strong and said, "In a few weeks, things are gonna pop around here. Maybe I'll be dead by then, but it don't matter, they're gonna pop with or without me. When they do, you're gonna be in the middle of it. People are gonna come to you--your mother and her old man, Catello, Relli, the New York Families, and I dunno who else. They're gonna promise you big money, tell you about your responsibilities, warn you about each other. You understand what I'm sayin'?"
"Why would anyone bother with me?" asked Bobby. "They know I've got nothing to do with the Family."
Don Vittorio paused. "You're the last Tucci," he said. "You got the name, and whoever gets you on their side has the strongest claim. In a battle royale the name's gonna carry weight. Now do you understand?"
Bobby nodded.
"Fine," said Don Vittorio. He reached into the pocket of his suit coat and took out an envelope. "This is for you."
"What is it?"
"Swiss bank-account numbers and the name of a guy in Zurich. The dough in the accounts is yours. Forty million bucks."
"Holy shit," said Bobby. "I never knew you had that much."
Don Vittorio's ravaged eyes flashed. "Kid, forty million ain't even the interest on what I got," he said. "But it's all you get."
Bobby wanted to tell his grandfather that he'd miss him. Instead he took the envelope and said, "Thanks for this."
"That's okay, kid," said Don Vittorio, rolling up the window. "I hope you live long enough to spend it."

About this title

Review

The Mafia is not an equal-opportunity employer, a fact made emphatically clear to Annette Tucci, daughter of one mobster, daughter-in-law of another, and the worst mother since Medea. When Don Vittorio, head of the Detroit mob, anoints Annette's son Bobby as his reluctant heir, Annette hatches a plot to take the reins of the Family. It all hinges on the $40 million the old man has promised Bobby once he's made his bones by whacking Jimmy--Jimmy Hoffa, that is. Annette knows her soft-hearted kid is much more interested in his college classes, his girlfriend Tillie, and his burgeoning career as a rock musician than running the mob, so she stages a power play that pits the Don's first lieutenant and her own father (chief of the Chicago Family) against Bobby. William Wolf's debut mystery is a romp that will delight fans of Donald Westlake and Elmore Leonard, with plenty of local color and a cast of lively, picaresque minor characters (including Mendy Pearlstein, a Runyonesque mentor who steers Bobby through the shark-infested waters of organized crime; Tillie's mother, Ann, who's seduced by Mendy's charm and prefers him to her banker husband; and Rudy and Delbert, a couple of black street kids who take over the former clubhouse of the Purple Gang and turn it into a neighborhood youth club funded by grants from a Grosse Pointe foundation). Whacking Jimmy is a fast, funny novel that offers an intriguing, if implausible, solution to one of the biggest mysteries since Judge Crater disappeared. --Jane Adams

About the Author

William Wolf is the pseudonym of a journalist and author who wishes to remain anonymous. His reluctance to reveal his true identity is unrelated to anything he may know about the actual events surrounding the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Really.

About this edition

• Publisher: Villard
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0375501738
• ISBN 13: 9780375501739
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 243