The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe Gallo and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld - Softcover

Folsom, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1602861242 ISBN 13: 9781602861244

Publisher: Weinstein Books, 2010

Synopsis

The Mad Ones chronicles the rise and fall of the Gallo brothers, a trio of reckless young gangsters whose revolution against New York City’s Mafia was inspired by Crazy Joe Gallo’s forays into Greenwich Village counterculture.

Crazy Joe, Kid Blast, and Larry Gallo are steeped in legend, from Bob Dylan’s eleven-minute ballad “Joey” to fictionalizations central to The Godfather trilogy and Jimmy Breslin’s The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight. Called the toughest gang in the city by the NYPD, the Gallos hailed from the rough Red Hook neighborhood on the Brooklyn waterfront. As low-level Mafiosi, they were expected to serve their don quietly, but the brothers stood apart from typical gangsters with their hip style, fierce ambition, and Crazy Joe’s manic idealism.

Here, for the first time, is the complete story of the Gallos’ war against the powerful Cosa Nostra, an epic crime saga that culminates in Crazy Joe’s murder on the streets of Little Italy, where he was gunned down mid-bite into a forkful of spaghetti in 1972. The Mad Ones is a wildly satisfying entertainment and a significant work of cultural history.

About this title

About the Author:

Tom Folsom is a writer, director, and producer of television documentaries for A&E and Showtime, and the coauthor of Mr. Untouchable: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Heroin’s Teflon Don written with its subject, drug-kingpin Nicky Barnes. He lives in New York City.

 

From AudioFile:

Joey Gallo was a gangster who read existential philosophers, wrote poetry, painted watercolors, and was the inspiration for Bob Dylan's song "Joey" and popular journalist Jimmy Breslin's novel THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT. Narrator Josh Clark's reading of Folsom's history of the Gallo brothers is an odd mix of violence and comedy. Clark's tone is amused as he quotes Gallo: "My life is one foot in the coffin and the other on a banana peel." Clark is equally adept at recounting moments of utter brutality as Gallo brags about executing the barbershop hit on Albert Anastasia and delivering an assortment of vicious beatings. Clark has an upbeat, jazzy reading style that fits this colorful account of the life and times of "Crazy Joe." S.J.H. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Weinstein Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1602861242
• ISBN 13: 9781602861244
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256