I read this book in a day and was captivated by the story of Crazy Joe Gallo and his brothers, Larry and Albert ("Kid Blast"). Gallo is truly a unique figure in the history of the Italian underworld and there are so few books out there that tell a complete story of his life. Still, while this is more a thumbnail sketch of an extremely complicated tale, Folsom goes fairly in-depth into the characters that inhabited the mob of the mid-20th century, as well as the history of the long-running conflicts between the Gallos, Profacis, and Gambinos, and a great story of Bobby Kennedy's interrogation of Joey during this time. Folsom leaves little doubt that the Mafia was somehow involved in both JFK getting elected and in his assassination. Gallo was an intellectual with a sense of humor but also a madman and a killer. He aligned himself with the black gangsters in Harlem before and during his 10-year incarceration in the '60s, as well as the Beatniks in the emerging counter-culture scene in Greenwich Village. When he got out of prison in 1971, he was courted by many high profile celebrities who wanted to be seen with him, including Jerry Orbach and his wife Marta, who became close friends with Gallo before his assassination the following year. The Gallos provided the basis for many of the plot points in the first two Godfather movies, including Sonny Corleone's need to seek revenge for his father's attempted assassination, and the infamous phrases "going to the mattresses" and "sleeps with the fishes." If you're interested in the Mafia, true crime, or Brooklyn of the 1950s and '60s, I can't recommend this book enough.
