Overview
Of course Pulitzer Prize winner Jimmy Breslin recognized Burton Kaplan right away as the Mafia witness of the ages. Breslin comes from the same Queens streets as mob bosses John Gotti and Vito Genovese. But even they couldn't match Kaplan in crime—and neither could anybody else.
In his inimitable New York voice, Breslin, "the city's steadiest and most accurate chronicler" (Tom Robbins, Village Voice), gives us a look through the keyhole at the people and places that define the mafia—characters like Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Gaspipe Casso (named for his weapon of choice), Thomas "Three-Finger Brown" Lucchese, and Jimmy "The Clam" Eppolito, interwoven with the good rat himself, Burt Kaplan of Bensonhurst, the star witness in the recent trial of two New York City detectives indicted for acting as hit men in eight gangland executions.
Breslin takes us to the old-time hangouts like Pep McGuire's, the legendary watering hole where reporters and gangsters (all hailing from the same working-class neighborhoods) rubbed elbows and traded stories; the dog-fight circles and body dumps at Ozone Park; and the back room at Midnight Rose's candy store, where Murder, Inc., hired and fired.
Most compelling of all, Breslin captures the moments in which the Mafia was made and broken—Breslin was there the night John Gotti celebrated his acquittal at his Ravenite Social Club on Mulberry, having bribed his way to innocence only to incite the wrath of the FBI, who would later crush Gotti and others with the full force of the RICO laws.
As in his unforgettable novel The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, Breslin brings together these real-life and long-forgotten Mafia stories to brilliantly create a sharp-eyed portrait of the mob as it lived and breathed, as it sounded and survived.
Synopsis
In his inimitable New York voice, Pulitzer Prize winner Jimmy Breslin gives us a look through the keyhole at the people and places that define the Mafia—characters like John Gotti, Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso (named for his weapon of choice), and Jimmy "the Clam" Eppolito—interwoven with the remarkable true-crime saga of the good rat himself, Burt Kaplan of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the star witness in the recent trial of two NYPD detectives indicted for carrying out eight gangland executions. Through these unforgettable real-life and long-forgotten Mafia stories, Jimmy Breslin captures the moments in which the mob was made and broken.
The New York Times - Marc Weingarten
The Good Rat is not an apologia for old killers now departed. Its main narrative is devoted to the story of Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, two New York police detectives who were fingered as mob assassins a few years ago by Burton Kaplan, a drug dealer and friend of the Luchese crime family who dropped a dime on the cops in exchange for less prison time…Breslin chronicles the cops' sordid tales with a mixture of awe, repugnance and perfect diabolical detail. He remains a master of transforming crookery into opera.
Editorials
Marc Weingarten
The Good Rat is not an apologia for old killers now departed. Its main narrative is devoted to the story of Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, two New York police detectives who were fingered as mob assassins a few years ago by Burton Kaplan, a drug dealer and friend of the Luchese crime family who dropped a dime on the cops in exchange for less prison time…Breslin chronicles the cops' sordid tales with a mixture of awe, repugnance and perfect diabolical detail. He remains a master of transforming crookery into opera.—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
Throaty New York dialogue is wonderfully realized by Richard M. Davidson, who leads the way for a small cast of narrators who assume various roles in this powerful Mafia tale. Davidson is so firm and solid in his delivery, he actually becomes the hard-nosed characters in question: Sammy "The Bull" Gravano and Gaspipe Casso. Kaipo Schwab offers a fantastic supporting performance as U.S. Attorney Robert Henoch, while Richard Mover takes on the role of turncoat mob associate Burton Kaplan. Each character is so well developed and believable that listeners will suspect they're listening to actual recordings rather than outstanding performances. Breslin's words are perfectly suited to these fine readers, who make them their own in three stunning performances. Simultaneous release with the Ecco hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 12, 2007). (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Library Journal
Breslin (America's Mayor, America's President?: The Strange Career of Rudy Giuliani) presents a personal view of the heyday and decline of the New York Mafia. Its central framework is Burton Kaplan's testimony during the 2006 federal trial of police officers Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito. Kaplan, who worked for the Lucchese organized crime family, cooperated with authorities when he learned that Caracappa and Eppolito would implicate him for murder. The excerpted trial transcript presents a detailed account of kidnapping, money laundering, drug dealing, obstruction of justice, imprisonment, and murder over the course of 50 years. Interspersed with the account of the trial are Breslin's asides and remembrances of organized crime in New York. The narrative features figures such as Paul Castellano, John Gotti, and Joe Massino; even actor Robert De Niro makes a brief appearance. At the trial's end, Caracappa and Eppolito were convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy, while Kaplan was released on bail. This is no scholarly study of the modern Mafia but a longtime observer's lively, well-written memoir of a notorious institution as it passes into history. Breslin fans will certainly enjoy; recommended for all libraries.
—Stephen L. Hupp