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Title: Mafia Wife : My Story of Love, Murder, and Madness by Lynda Milito, Reg Potterton ISBN: 0-06-621261-8 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (9 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting but Unenlightening
Comment: This is an interesting, even engrossing, read, but don't expect any startling revelations about the state of organized crime in America or a penetrating insight into the psychology of mobsters. People who read this book as an historical document do so at their own risk. Many of the dates given are erroneous, and Ms. Milito seems to arbitrarily assign aliases to many of the key characters in the narrative, thereby rendering it fairly useless as a research tool for those interested in the history of the Gambino Family. Ms. Milito does attempt to invest her mobster husband Louie with a certain tragic grandeur and depth, as Donald Goddard successfully did in his biography of Crazy Joe Gallo, or Kennedy did in his novelization of the life of Legs Diamond. She fails in this. Louie Milito emerges as little more a petty, self-destructive thug and hit-man, the kind of savage, cowardly fool who can shoot a friend in the back of the head on the orders of his criminal superiors and then go home and vicously beat his wife. Ms. Milito is straightforward in her examination of his cruelty, his venality, and she tries hard to contrast this by showing how he liked the solitude of the countryside and could manifest tenderness towards his children. Unfortunately, these observations are superficial and ultimately explain nothing about the man and how he became the malignant parasite that he was. It can be argued that this isn't entirely Ms. Milito's fault. After all, trying to explain evil and its causes is a topic that has continued to stump the most learned philosophers, sociologists, and theologians. Ms. Milito tells only what she knows- her tormented past, her relationship with her passive father and callous mother, her molestation as a child, her mental illness, the anguish and pain she often felt, a torment that almost killed her. She speaks openly of her disdain and hatred of an acknowledged monster like Sammy "The Bull" Gravano. John Gotti is barely mentioned, although he gave the sanction for her husband's murder. So, what's left? This book could be seen by some as urban soap opera. a sensationalistic melodrama with spousal abuse and the Mafia as its centerpiece, except that it happened to a real person, and Ms. Milito's pain is explicitly-rendered and genuine. You'll probably find yourself liking Ms. Milito, as I did, and wishing her well. The efficacy of Ms. Milito's book is as a 1st person recounting of the wounds that dysfunctional families can inflict, the scars they can leave, and the horrors of marriage to an abusive, sociopathic hood. But don't expect an insider's account of the state of New York's Mafia or a treatise on the brutal characters who populate that world. For that, you'll need to read Gravano's book.
Rating: 1
Summary: Tired of Sleazy People Cashing In
Comment: Lynda Milito would like to have you believe that she is a tragic figure that has suffered because her loving husband was murdered. She would like to have you believe that she is the victim and that the evil monsters of organized crime are to blame.
I'm getting kind of tired of these lurid tales of scummy people writing about organized crime. Ms. Milito's husband was a cold-blooded murderer who drew his wife and his entire family into a life of theft, robbery and general lawlessness. Ms. Milito was fully aware of what was happening and lived an extravegant lifestyle while her husband was alive.
Finally, it did catch up to her and she snivels about how the other mobsters hurt her. What did she expect?
The people whom I would recommend the book to would be to teenage girls who are thinking of dropping out of school. Ms. Milito's life is a great example of what happens to you when you don't take education seriously.
Rating: 5
Summary: What a slice of life!
Comment: As a local boy, I know the places and the types of people of which Lynda speaks. My mother-in-law's house was in walking distance to both Lynda and Louie's house as well as Sammy Gravano's. I drive past Paul Castellano's "White House" all the time. I smirked and giggled, so much of this rings so true. It's the story of Lynda, an outsider on the inside (or is it an insider on the outside?), "The Life" and the fear that is part in parcel of being married to Louie Milito - a thief, loanshark and murderer. She recounts her childhood in Brooklyn, dropping out of high school, meeting Louie, her tumultuous marriage, her friends in and out of "The Life" and the bittersweet day that Louie failed to make it home. Lynda provides stunning insights into the dynamics of trying to live a normal family life as her husband rises in the ranks of the crime family. Her struggles to escape the insular world that Louie draws her into, the despair, the fleeting joys, as well as the violent end of many of their acquaintances, make for a very compelling story. As I read Mafia Wife, I wondered who would write the screen play and who would be cast as Lynda and Louie. It would make a great double feature with Goodfellas.
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Title: Made Men: The True Rise-And-Fal Story of a New Jersey Mob Family by Greg B. Smith ISBN: 0425185516 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Blood Covenant: The Michael Franzese Story by Michael Franzese, Dary Matera ISBN: 0883688670 Publisher: Whitaker House Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
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Title: Born to Steal: When the Mafia Hit Wall Street by Gary Weiss ISBN: 0446528579 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Street Soldier: My Life as an Enforcer for Whitey Bulger and the Irish Mob by Edward Mackenzie, Phyllis Karas, Ross A. Muscato, Edward J. MacKenzie Jr ISBN: 1586420631 Publisher: Steerforth Press Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: For the Sins of My Father : The Legacy of a Mafia Life by Albert DeMeo, Mary Jane Ross ISBN: 0767906799 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 27 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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