While I've always been into movies like Godfather and Scarface, I'd not put much effort into reading non-fiction about it.
This changed when I picked up Corn Sugar and Blood: The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia, by Rick Porrello. It's a quick read history of the Cleveland Mafia.
Porrello, a Cleveland-area cop, is a descendent of one of the two major 'families' in the corn sugar wars that ended up causing a lot of death and destruction in Cleveland during Prohibition.
The other major group in these wars was the Mayfield Road Mob, which was based out of Cleveland's Little Italy section where I now live. It's got money, gambling, bootlegging, sliced necks, sex, people getting shot, bombs going off.... all the things you kids love.
While it's certainly not the most amazing prose I've ever laid eyes on, I really enjoyed reading about events that happened at places near where I now live.... and some of which I walk by every day and can see from my living room window!
One thing I found out through a little more research is that the head of the Cleveland Mafia for a time in the late 70s lived in a house that is still just 3 doors down from me. He died in prison in the 80s after a RICO conviction.
Luckily, this Porrello seems to have found his calling and I've picked up another one of his books, about the murder of Cleveland hood Danny Green. More about how they blew up the Irishman in a later post.
This changed when I picked up Corn Sugar and Blood: The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia, by Rick Porrello. It's a quick read history of the Cleveland Mafia.
Porrello, a Cleveland-area cop, is a descendent of one of the two major 'families' in the corn sugar wars that ended up causing a lot of death and destruction in Cleveland during Prohibition.
The other major group in these wars was the Mayfield Road Mob, which was based out of Cleveland's Little Italy section where I now live. It's got money, gambling, bootlegging, sliced necks, sex, people getting shot, bombs going off.... all the things you kids love.
While it's certainly not the most amazing prose I've ever laid eyes on, I really enjoyed reading about events that happened at places near where I now live.... and some of which I walk by every day and can see from my living room window!
One thing I found out through a little more research is that the head of the Cleveland Mafia for a time in the late 70s lived in a house that is still just 3 doors down from me. He died in prison in the 80s after a RICO conviction.
Luckily, this Porrello seems to have found his calling and I've picked up another one of his books, about the murder of Cleveland hood Danny Green. More about how they blew up the Irishman in a later post.
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