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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 12 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Extraordinary Biography Missing From The Lit Jul 09, 2007
By Benjamin
"Book Guy"
This book supplies a missing biography of one of the most colorful mobsters from the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. Gosh, he knew everyone and had the strangest collection of friends. There is some good stuff in here about how the mob worked with the politicians, plus a great history of the Sunset Strip and the old clubs. I really enjoyed it. It should be in everyone's collection. It also tells how it was like to grow up poor in the Jewish communities like Brooklyn and Boyle Heights in California. It's a great read for fans of Las Vegas, too. I never knew how corrupt Los Angeles was, and how the movie people worked with the Jewish mafia and the Italians. Anyone interested in True Crime or historical biographies will really enjoy this.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Terrific book on the life of Mickey Cohen Jul 10, 2007
By Paul S. Levine
A comprehensive, thorough expose of the early Mafia days of New York, Hollywood, and Las Vegas. A fascinating read!
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
A Neon Life Jun 22, 2008
By Scott A. Kallick
"Pugwash"
When most people hear the word "gangster", Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Bugsy Siegel or Meyer Lansky spring to mind. These were brilliant, charismatic, ruthless men who built financial empires on the backs of illegal activities, and often, other peoples misery.
I had never thought of Mickey Cohen as a first rate gangster of the magnitude of the aforementioned, but in reading this book, it is clear that he cut a wide swath through twentieth century American history.
The book is well written, although details of Cohen's life remain surprisingly sketchy. The author never does get a handle on where Cohen's opulent wealth comes from, although he does hint that prostitution and gambling are it's main source.
Cohen and Benny Siegel moved from East Coast to West to capture the vice at the request of Meyer Lansky, and each had a storied career. Siegel's has been told many times. Cohen's, normally as an adjunct to Siegel's.
This book makes clear that Cohen's life and influence far surpassed "Bugsy's". Cohen not only controlled much of the traditional vice along the West Coast, he had in's with Senators, Presidents, Hollywood icons, and even The Reverend Billy Graham.
Through it all he comes off as an upstanding, decent, and charismatic person.
He survived up to twelve attempted "hits", two extended prison stays, and not least, two marriages.
He is a piece of American folklore I would like to know more about, and for anyone who feels the same, this book is an excellent chronicle of a twentieth century enigma.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Mickey Cohen the Gangster Jul 12, 2007
By Robert L. Miller
"George Lawrence"
This is a firts bio of Mickey Cohen but it's much more and in fact covers a whole period in Mafia history centered on the West Coast. Made lively by hundreds of anecdotes, this book is very satisfying and fills a huge gap in the known history of the Jewish Mob, its political and business ramifications and the incredible reach of some of its memebers. From Bugsy Siegel to the rat Pack: all the Hollywood "gangs" are shown here and Mickey was almost like a puppet master pulling strings! A must read.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
It reads like a film noir movie, but its more exciting, more detailed, with infinite story lines, and it's all true. Jan 26, 2010
By Agapemou
As a native of Chicago and fan of film noir, I enjoy reading histories of prohibition era gangsters and period stories. This book was right on point.
The author, Brad Lewis, has, though obviously exhaustive research, uncovered facts of Mickey Cohen's life and presented them in a cradle to grave account of his rise and fall in the gangster and Hollywood communities. He provides overwhelming details of how Mickey Cohen rose to become someone who, inter alia, became a Nixon fundraiser and friend of Sinatra. Tying all of these facts together is the author's insightful interpretation of the facts, editorializing on the subject's actions, and speculating on his motives.
Intertwined with the story Mr. Lewis provides the reader with fascinating and unknown snippets about people, places and events in 38 pages of endnotes. I found the information provided in these notes to be more interesting than the main text. For example, did you know that David Bagleman who was Al Pachino's manager, committed suicide in the Century City Hotel after spending the night out with Sandi Bennett, Tony Bennett's former wife? Or that the straight laced Dorothy Kilgallen, who I used to watch on "What's My Line", died of an overdose of alcohol and barbiturates in 1965 soon after interviewing THE Jack Ruby. These and numerous other epitaphs may have little or nothing to do with Mickey Cohen but contributed to the dynamic flow of the book and captivated my attention.
I found the book to be entertaining, informative, interesting, and above all well written. The author has an astonishing command of the written word and uses it to present a gripping story of a noteworthy individual and people who crossed his path. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested crime novels, film noir, gangsters, biographies and just well written books.
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