Alphonse (Al) D'Arco was born in 1932. He missed World War II, but enlisted in the United States Army for the Korean War. He wanted to go to Korea, but was sent to Alaska to guard some things. He wound up with an honorable discharge after two years of service. After that, he went back to the streets. He got married, having five children, one of which, (Joseph), became a member of organized crime. Al D'Arco became an official made member of the Lucchese Family in 1982, right after he turned fifty. (I thought that was a long time to wait for that, considering he had been on the street pretty much all of his adult life.) He was involved in a number of criminal activities, much like all other organized crime guys. Loansharking, theft, drugs, robbery, arson, hijacking, and murder were his most often committed crimes. He was involved with ten murders, including the murder of Bruno Facciola. D'Arco was convinced that he was marked for death, which was confirmed by FBI agents later, and he decided he was going to become a government witness. His testimony was used against several organized crime members, including Vincent Gigante. He also testified against two corrupt officers with the NYPD, which is how I became familiar with his name. The police, Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, were involved in all kinds of shenanagins. I also thought it was interesting that he was involved with the same people that are in the movie Goodfellas- Henry Hill, Jimmy Conway, and Tommy DeVito.

It took me absolutely ages to finish this book, no fault of the book. I kept falling asleep and having to go back to the last part I remembered. I think I have been listening to this book for about six days, which is abnormally long for me. I usually always enjoy a good organized crime book, and this one was no different. It is amazing to me how many irons these guys have in the fire, and how they are able to get away with things. I realize that this is covering a time period without all the technology we have now, but there are still organized crime families in operation and they are still managing to get away with activities. It is really amazing to me. I really liked the actual quotes from Al D'Arco. It gave the book a little more flavor.