Book Reviews: Gangland

Gangland
by Chuck Hogan

Historically New York City had five separate Italian-American criminal organizations, or "Families" that were arguably the nation's most powerful Mafia collective. The only Mafia organization that could match or rival the NYC Families was the Capone descended Chicago Outfit. 

Anthony Accardo, a Capone protege, driver, bodyguard, and business associate, was the Outfit's longest serving overlord. Capone called Accardo "Joe Batters" because of his prowess with a baseball bat. Accardo rose quickly to leadership, combining brainy business acumen with violence. 

Accardo and his older but equally homicidal buddy Paul Ricca shared power as the Outfit's effective CEO and Chairman. No one called Accardo "Joe Batters" to his face. Close friends could call him "Joe". Everyone else called him "Mr. Accardo" or "The Man".

Later in life, Ricca and Accardo ceded authority over daily operations to other gangsters. Despite their "semi-retired" status, no hoodlum who liked living ever challenged or defied Accardo or Ricca. Outfit Boss Sam Giancana, himself a brutal killer, learned this the hard way in 1975, when he was murdered in his home. The slaying was unsolved.

Gangland starts with the Giancana murder. A low level Outfit hoodlum, Nicholas "Nicky Pins" Passero, (so-called because of his bowling alley ownership) killed Giancana on Accardo's orders. Accardo likes and seemingly trusts Nicky. Accardo gives Nicky special off the record jobs.

Nicky is excited and worried about getting close to Accardo. Although the seventy something Accardo no longer personally assaults people with baseball bats, he's still mentally sharp, vicious, and quick to notice mistakes or take offense. 

Displaying anything besides competence and respect in Accardo's presence is dangerous. Accardo pivots from gentle patient grandfather to scary snarling thug more quickly than it takes to read this sentence. 

During a recent prison stint Nicky discovered something about himself. Nicky's ex-wife either knows or suspects. Another person who knows is the FBI agent Gerald Roy, who constantly harasses Nicky for both business and personal reasons. 

When someone commits a crime against Accardo, Accardo taps Nicky Pins to deliver retribution. Nicky dislikes the assignment because Accardo's sense of "justice" is sickening. Accardo has many violent loyalists so why employ Nicky? Nicky fears that Accardo will throw away the tool after the work is done. 

Nicky also frets that Accardo might notice something amiss, that Roy will arrest Accardo, or that Roy might disclose Nicky's secrets. All of these scenarios would end in Nicky's death.

Gangland was a pretty quick read. The crime milieu and Nicky's secret might turn off some readers. Neither is that important. Nicky isn't a good man. He is a lost man trapped in a bad situation. The story wouldn't change much if Nicky were a disillusioned corporate drone. The book maintains the claustrophobic paranoid feeling by showing almost everything from Nicky's POV. Hogan also co-wrote The Strain trilogy with Guillermo Del Toro and Prince of Thieves, upon which the Ben Affleck film The Town was based.