Killer

Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller: This groundbreaking tell-all by a mob hit man is “chilling and compelling—a must-read” (Former FBI agent Joe Pistone, aka Donnie Brasco). The Bronx-born son of a Jewish bootlegger, “Joey the Hit Man” was introduced to crime when he was just eleven years old. For the next thirty years he was a numbers king, scalper, loan shark, enforcer, and drug smuggler. He hijacked trucks, fenced stolen goods, and trafficked in pornography. But Joey really made his name as a Mafia assassin, racking up thirty-eight cold-blooded hits—thirty-five for cash, three for revenge. In Killer, Joey tells the true story of life in organized crime. He exposes the reality of gang wars, discusses how he raised a family while living on the wrong side of the law, and documents the day-to-day business of crime—from making and breaking alliances to staying one step ahead of the cops. He reveals how he faced a grand jury seven times with no convictions (“never lie to your lawyer”) and kept a seven-figure fortune out of reach of the IRS. He lays out in graphic detail the difference between getting paid to kill and doing it for personal reasons. “People think because they saw [The Godfather] they know everything there is to know about organized crime,” Joey contends. In this no-holds-barred account, he reveals the brutal truth behind the Hollywood fantasy. Forty-five years after this true crime classic shocked readers all over the world and set the standard for bestselling Mafia biographies including Joseph Bonnano’s A Man of Honor and Philip Carlo’s Ice Man, the new edition of Killer includes an afterword by coauthor David Fisher that unmasks Joey’s real identity—and the circumstances behind his death that add another layer of mystery to his complicated, colorful, and fascinating life.