Yet another book about the Mafia? Is there really anything left to say? Only if you like spending time in this corner of the true crime universe. The book follows the rise and fall of a mobbed-up union leader in 1970s Cleveland. “Irishman” Danny Greene is brash and ruthless and shockingly unafraid of his competitors over in Little Italy. The Mafia dons don’t know it yet, but by going after him they are sparking the beginning of the end of the Italian Mafia throughout the United States.
The story is told with crisp, journalistic discipline, but Porrello hits us with a gazillion characters with handles like “Whitey” and “the Weasel” and, perhaps inevitably, “Fat Tony.” It’s hard to keep track of who’s who, but this is at least a fast, diverting read—not the worst way to spend a couple evenings when a killer “heat dome” is broiling your town. Reviewed on July 8, 2021