The Boys from New Jersey: How the Mob Beat the Feds - Hardcover

Rudolph, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688092594 ISBN 13: 9780688092597

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1992

Synopsis

The true story of the government's 1988 prosecution of the notorious Lucchese crime family describes how the family beat the most ambitious legal attack ever mounted against underworld figures

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Absorbing story of how the FBI developed a new mode of attack on the New Jersey crime family--and then failed to make its case in court. Rudolph covers organized crime for Newark's Star-Ledger. Once the FBI had admitted, during the mid-70's, that there was such a thing as the mafia, it began insinuating undercover agents into crime families, especially--in the mid-80's--into the Lucchese family, which had a lock on New Jersey rackets such as loan- sharking, gambling, fraud, extortion, and drug-dealing. Masterminded by FBI agent Dennis Marchalonis, the government operation was carried on with such enormous secrecy--it had been decided to make a case against an entire crime family and wipe it out all at once, a historic decision--that FBI agents might find themselves under surveillance by two or three other legal agencies. When the secret task force finally had its evidence--gathered from wiretaps, informants, and agents--it rounded up the entire Lucchese family, then headed by Anthony (``Tumac'') Accetturo and Michael (``Mad Dog'') Taccetta, and brought indictments against 21 defendants. The government had a strong case and assembled a terrific team of prosecutors, led by hot-tempered, aggressive V. Gray O'Malley, who had never lost a case. The defense had a huge, strong, smartly chosen team as well. The flaw in the federal case was its size and the nearly two years it took to prosecute before a jury so wearied by picayune detail and evidence wandering off on endless tangents--with the jury's families under intense scrutiny all the while--that long before the 21 cases went to the jury, the jury had decided not to convict--in part, says Rudolph, to spite the government for having put it through such an ordeal. Richly served up and dotted with absurd moments as the fat cats go free and the feds eat their shoes. (Eight pages of b&w photographs.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review:

The true-life account of a mob trial so bizarre that it could pass for fiction . . . [Rudolph] has captured the longest and most expensive mob trial in U.S. history in all of its behind-the-scenes intrigue and courtroom lunacy. . . meticulously reported by a veteran journalist. (New Jersey Monthly)

[An] absorbing story of how the FBI developed a new mode of attack on the New Jersey crime family--and then failed to make its case in court. . . . Richly served up and dotted with absurd moments as the fat cats go free and the feds eat their shoes. (Kirkus Reviews)

The dialogue is so frank at times that the reader wonders if the tale is fiction or fact. (The Denver Post)

An incisive who's-who in the ranks of organized crime. . . . a major portrayal of how a trial went wrong, of how a system of justice failed, of how the bad guys became the good guys . . . one of those books you won't want to put down until the end. (Herb Jaffe Star-Ledger)

Rudolph is a journalistic stylist of the highest order. (Publishers Weekly)

The case described here involved 20 alleged members of the Lucchese crime family led by Newark, New Jersey mob boss Anthony Accetturo. . . . Readable and entertaining. Recommended for Mafia buffs. (Library Journal)

A good read. (The Houston Chronicle)

The bizarre untold story of how federal authorities let the 'big one' get away. (The Jersey Journal)

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0688092594
• ISBN 13: 9780688092597
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 431