War of the Dons / Black Mafia

WAR OF THE DONS The Guarda brothers run capo Messina’s territory. Pepe, the oldest, is the muscle. Nuncio, the younger brother, is the accountant. And Marco, he’s the wolf. Restless, hungry, he’s through taking orders. It’s his idea to get rid of Messina and take over. But to do that, the hit has got to look like an accident, or they risk the wrath of Messina’s boss, Don Angelo. So Marco hires a twitchy drug addict with a penchant for danger, a guy who knows how to turn Messina’s simple hospital visit into a fatality. It’s all going so well, so smoothly. Then Don Angelo steps in to take control, and the Guarda brothers really go to war. BLACK MAFIA Cutter used to be part of the movement, but got busted for knocking over a bank. He did his time, now he’s out. But things have changed. His former mentor is now a teacher, and wants nothing to do with him. It’s all Cutter can do to stay one step ahead of the Man. And now some white guys are coming into the Belt to stir up trouble, busting the local action and making it look like a Perrini job. But Perrini is quite happy with the status quo. Sure he skims the Belt, but he’s not looking for trouble. Trouble finds him anyway in the form of Don Santino’s nephew, Angelo, who’s got a hidden agenda all his own. And that’s when Cutter figures it’s time to make his move.

Peter Rabe was born in Germany as Peter Rabinowitsch in 1921, immigrating to the U.S. with his brother in 1938 to escape the Nazis. He enrolled at Ohio State University and received his Ph.D. in psychology from Western Reserve in Cleveland. Married, he began his writing career by turning in a humorous story about the birth of his first son. Soon after, he began submitting hardboiled stories to Gold Medal where he found an enthusiastic editor and a ready market. After three divorces, health problems and the death of the paperback original, Rabe eventually quit writing and took up teaching psychology at California Polytechnic State University in the late 60's. He died in 1990 at his home in Atascadero, California.