Wiseguy

Wise Guy - Nicholas Pileggi This is the chronicle of the life of Henry Hill, a half-Irish half-Sicilian kid from Brooklyn, New York who rose through the ranks of the Mafia back in it's heydays. The most entertaining book concerning organized crime that I've ever read, by far (these guys really had it all. they were both feared and respected. they could quite literally do whatever they wanted to do, whenever they wanted to do it and they need not have any fear of reprisal from anything or anybody). Also, this is the book that gave birth to the Martin Scorsese movie GoodFellas -- but as is so often the case, the book is much better than the movie. Given that the movie is fantastic, that is really saying something IMHO.