In this page-turning narrative, noted true crime writer Ron Chepesiuk chronicles the story of one of history's lesser known but most important mob dynasties. For nearly seven decades, Santo Trafficante, Sr. and his son, Santo, Jr. were prominent gangsters on the Tampa crime scene. Santo, Sr. arrived in Tampa in 1902 and settled in the Ybor City area where he slowly began his climb to the top of the Tampa mob scene. Along the way, he became a clever and ruthless gangster who preferred to operate in the shadows. By the mid 1920s, Santo, Sr. had become a powerful force in the Tampa mafia. Two decades later, the U.S. government reported that he was "strongly suspected of having financed important narcotics transactions." During Tampa's "Era of Blood" from 1930 through the 1950s, in which several local gangsters were murdered, Santo, Sr. emerged as Tampa's most powerful mobster. He would remain so until his death in 1954. His successor, Santo, Jr., led the Tampa mob for more than three decades and became involved in some of history's most seminal events. They include mob dominance of the gambling scene in pre-Castro Cuba, the CIA plots to kill Castro, the spectacular mob hit of godfather Albert Anastasia in 1957, the famous mob meeting at Apalachin in upstate New York that followed shortly after, the John F. Kennedy assassination, and the development of narcotics networks in Latin America and Southeast Asia, among others. Unlike most other godfathers, Santo, Jr. never spent more than a night in an American jail. When he died in 1987, organized crime expert Ralph Salerno described Santo, Jr.'s death as "the end of an era" and the godfather as "the last of the old time (gangland) leaders." In vivid prose and concise detail, Chepesiuk weaves the fascinating story of the legendary gangsters, the Trafficantes. "Ron Chepesiuk's book on the Trafficantes takes the reader behind the headlines to the real story, uncensored and without filters. The book is fast-paced with fascinating factual details told in Chepesiuk's trademark tell-it-as-it-is writing style. A must read for true crime aficionados." --Elle Andra-Warner, author of several best-selling books, including Edmund Fitzgerald: The Legendary Great Lakes Shipwreck and The Mounties; Robert Service.

The Trafficantes: Godfathers from Tampa, Florida: The Mafia, the CIA and the JFK Assassination

Biographies & Memoirs

Chepesiuk, Ron

True Crime

Strategic Media Books

Sergeant Smack chronicles the story of North Carolina's Leslie "Ike" Atkinson, an adventurer, gambler and one of U.S. history's most original gangsters. Under the cover of the Vietnam War and through the use of the U.S. military infrastructure, Atkinson masterminded an enterprising group of family members and former African American GIs that the DEA identified as one of history's ten top drug trafficking rings. Ike's organization moved heroin from Thailand to North Carolina and beyond. According to law enforcement sources, 1,000 pounds is a conservative estimate of the amount of heroin the ring transported annually from Bangkok, Thailand, through U.S. military bases, into the U.S. during its period of operation from 1968 to 1975. That amount translates to about $400 million worth of illegal drug sales during that period. Born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, Ike Atkinson is a charismatic former U.S. Army Master Sergeant, career drug smuggler, scam artist, card shark and doting family man whom law enforcement nick-named Sergeant Smack. He was never known to carry a gun, and today many retired law enforcement officials who had put him in jail refer to him as a "gentleman." Sergeant Smack's criminal activities sparked the creation of a special DEA unit code named CENTAC 9, which conducted an intensive three-year investigation across three continents. Sergeant Smack was elusive, but the discovery of his palm print on a kilo of heroin finally took him down. In 1987, Ike tried to revive his drug ring from Otisville Federal Penitentiary, but the Feds discovered the plot and set up a sting. The events that follow seem like the narrative for a Robert Ludlum novel. Atkinson was convicted again and nine years added to his sentence. Ike was released from prison in 2006 after serving a 31-year jail sentence. Atkinson's story is controversial because his ring has been accused of smuggling heroin to the U.S. in the coffins and/or cadavers of dead American GIs. As this book shows, the accusation is completely false. The recent movie, "American Gangster," which depicted the criminal career of Frank Lucas, distorted Atkinson's historical role in the international drug trade. Sergeant Smack exposes the lies about the Ike Atkinson-Frank Lucas relationship and documents how Ike, not Lucas, pioneered the Asian heroin connection. "Drug kingpin Ike Atkinson, is the real deal, and not the stuff of Hollywood legend. The author delivers an eminently readable book about a genuine Mr Big who knows that no fictional makeover is required for his compelling story - the truth is more than enough." -Steve Morris, Publisher, New Criminologist "Sergeant Smack is meticulously researched and its prodding for the truth by author Ron Chepesiuk makes it an excellent non-fiction crime story. Along with a compelling history of Ike Atkinson's life and criminal career in drug smuggling, the author has managed to put the truth to numerous falsehoods contained in the major movie, American Gangster, about the life of Frank Lucas." -Jack Toal, retired DEA agent who worked the investigation of Frank Lucas "Finally, the real story. I've waited 40 years for this book." -Marc Levin, Director of the documentary, "Mr. Untouchable" "Ron Chepesiuk has gone from publishing the Black gangster classics, Gangsters of Harlem and Black Gangsters of Chicago, to crafting Sergeant Smack, an astonishing masterpiece." -David "Pop" Whetstone, Owner, Black Star Music and Video "Sergeant Smack forcefully debunks the urban legend of Black family groups smuggling heroin from Southeast Asia in the bodies of dead GI soldiers while recounting the colorful saga of the authentic American gangster. Highly recommended." -Gary Taylor, journalist and author of the award-winning true crime memoir, Luggage by Kroger.

Sergeant Smack: The Legendary Lives and Times of Ike Atkinson, Kingpin, and His Band of Brothers

Leaders & Notable People

Many books have written about the black gangster. They have been, for the most part, lengthy tomes focusing on the kingpins of the gangland scene, gangsters with names like Nicky Barnes, Frank Lucas, Lorenzo Fat Cat Nichols and Kenneth Supreme McGiff. Yet there are many stories about the black gangsta that have not received much press coverage or have simply been ignored or missed by the media. They indeed reveal a lot about the history of the hood. Straight from Hood is a compilation of some of those fascinating stories In Straight from the Hood, you will find tales feature drug kingpins, entertainers, hit men, street gangs, con men, corrupt cops and reformed gang bangers. Read about the most feared man in the entertainment industry, the love story between Fran, a former heroin addict, and David, a reformed gangsta, both of whom have become celebrities; the unlikely alliance between an ambitious Black gangsta and a violent-indeed crazy-white Italian-American mobster; the terrorist plot involving a Chicago street gang, and more. Did you know old "Scarface" Capone had an impact on the Chicago's African American community? What does Alcatraz have to do with Harlem's most famous godfather? Why is Denzel Washington in this book? Who is a modern day desperado who died by the gun but managed to live on through rap music? How did a stick-up artist from Brooklyn become Hip-Hop's Answer to Lee Harvey Oswald? Each of the following stories may be amazing, but all of them are true. Straight from the hood. They have been gathered for your reading pleasure to inform, educate and enlighten you. You will certainly be entertained.

Straight from the Hood: Amazing But True Gangster Tales

Politics & Social Sciences

Wilson, Professor and Chair of Political Science Scott

Social Sciences

Chili Pimping in Atlantic City: The Memoir of a Small-Time Pimp and Hustler, the controversial autobiography of Michael Mick-Man Gourdine, AKA the Candyman, as he was known on the street. The book pulls no punches and provides an honest and sometimes shocking look at what one man from the wrong side of tracks felt compelled to do to achieve the American Dream. Gourdine became a pimp who operated primarily on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey, while working as a corrupt NYPD cop who specialized in narcotics trafficking and prostitution. Employed as a police officer from 1990 to 2000, Gourdine reportedly made an estimated $2.5 to 3 million dollars in illegal graft, bribes, prostitution and drug dealing before being fired. Gourdine was a chili pimp-that is, a small time pimp who had between one and three girls working for him. As a chili pimp, Gourdine didn't stay in the most expensive hotels or eats in the most expensive restaurants; he couldn't afford it. Instead he relied on is his ability to give his girls more care, attention and on-the-spot dependability than a bonafide pimp could give. Today, Gourdine recalls, "It is a sad existence that I was lucky enough to escape and maybe some readers will avoid after reading my book." Chili Pimping in Atlantic City describes how Gourdine developed the stomach for the pimping game, became a corrupt cop, learned the pimping trade and survived on the mean streets. The author paints vivid profiles of some the interesting characters he meets along the way. He concludes with some hard lessons. "The best way to steer a young boy away from pimping is to change his environment," Gourdine writes. "If a young boy is starving, living without heat in his house, with no real men around him, guess what he's going to take when he sees the first person who he deems the best fit to survive in his dismal circumstances? And believe you me, he will not be a law abiding citizen." Gourdine now resides somewhere in New Jersey where he owns and manages numerous properties, and changes residences often. He is married with four sons.

Chili Pimping in Atlantic City: The Memoir of a Small-Time Pimp

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Gourdine, Michael Mick-Man

Psychology & Counseling

The cut throat world of organized crime has long been dominated by men, and such macho godfathers and kingpins as Al Capone, John Dillinger, Pablo Escobar and John Gotti have become legendary. Yet, dig deep into the annals of crime and one can find smart, ambitious and ruthless women who have cracked the glass ceiling of the underworld and became notorious in their own right. Little has been written about these queenpins; that is, until now. For the first time, noted crime writer Ron Chepesiuk profiles the major queenpins of modern times and how they not only survived but thrived in gangland. "Queenpins: The Notorious Women Gangsters of The Modern Era" provides an engrossing and fresh look at life in the highest echelons of the criminal world. Some of these queenpins have become well-known, thanks to Hollywood and the ubiquitous media. Others have are not so well known. Many rose and fell in the world of drug trafficking. Others achieved notoriety as madams, bank robbers, bootleggers, and gambling. Several operated in the U.S., but there are queenpins in China, Colombia, Mexico, Australia, Italy and even India whose stories chronicled. "Queenpins" offers a fresh but engrossing look at crime history. You will discover Stephanie St. Clair, who got rich in the numbers game and then became a legend when she stood up to mobster Dutch Shultz, who wanted to put her out of business. In the 1920s, Gertrude Lythgoe was known as the "Queen of the Bahamas" for her bootlegging exploits. Gertrude's nickname was "Cleo" because people thought her exotic looks made her a dead ringer for Queen Cleopatra. Kathryn Kelly was the master of public relations and marketing who turned her unambitious husband, Machine Gun Kelly, into one the FBI's most targeted criminals. Griselda Blanco, the so-called Black Widow, taught infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar the tricks of the cocaine trade and sparked a crime wave in Miami that left hundreds dead. Xie Caiping, the Mama San of Chinese crime, led a shocking life of decadence, excess and sexual depravity while dominating the Shanghai underworld. Sandra Beltran Avila, the Queen of the Pacific was beautiful and vain, but she skillfully used her assets to build powerful alliances between Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, an accomplishment that fueled the Latin American drug trade. The stories of these queepins need to be told; their place in crime history, documented. Chepesiuk's research reveals the important role that women have played and can play in organized crime.

Queenpins: Notorious Women Gangsters of the Modern Era

Community & Culture

Kevin Cooper was convicted of the brutal murders of a Chino Hills, California family and a young houseguest in 1985 and has been on death row at San Quentin ever since. In his new explosive expose, SCAPEGOAT, investigative journalist J. Patrick O'Connor reveals how the sheriff's office and the district attorneys office of San Bernadino County framed Cooper for these horrific murders. SCAPEGOAT provides a rare direct examination of the broken justice system in the United States, where homicide detectives and district attorneys all too often become blinded by their goal of winning convictions rather than searching for justice for both the victims and the accused.

Scapegoat

O'Connor, J. Patrick

This edition of Rogue Mobster: The untold story of Mark Silverman and the New England Mafia is no longer available.

Rogue Mobster: The Untold Story of Mark Silverman and the New England Mafia

Scott M. Deitche

Mark Silverman

This is the remarkable story of Frank Matthews, a charismatic drug kingpin from the late 1960s and 1980s who organized a huge criminal enterprise before jumping bail and 1973 with $15 million and a beautiful woman. Nicknamed Black Caesar, Matthews has never been seen again in what has become one of organized crimes most intriguing mysteries.
Black Caesaris a 2013 USA Best Book Award Winner in the True Crime: Non-Fiction category.

Black Caesar: The Rise and Disappearance of Frank Matthews, Kingpin

This book is the first comprehensive account of three centuries of thug life in the city where America began. In chilling new detail, veteran Boston journalist George Hassett reveals the legendary crime stories of Boston - from Prohibition to the Mafia, the Irish Gang War to Whitey Bulger. The forgotten chapters of Boston gang history are also covered - from the role of street gangs in the American Revolution to Chinatowns infamous Tong Wars to the murder of number king Daddy Black - it is all here. Every neighborhood, every era, every gangster.

Gangsters of Boston

History

Hassett, George

Americas

Justice Denied - Bermuda's Black Militants, the 'Third Man' and the Assassinations of a Police Chief and Governor is the first full account of the 1972/1973 assassinations of Bermuda's Governor and Police Chief. The book includes a Foreword by Dr. Carol Shuman, psychologist, former newspaper reporter,editor and author. During the 1970s, a black power organization in Bermuda who modelled themselves on the American Black Panthers, conspired to bring about social change "by any means necessary", including assassination. The struggle for equal rights in Bermuda during this period both imitated events in the United States and was heavily influenced by them, especially the role American black militants played in encouraging Bermuda's youth to challenge the white power structure on the island. Bermuda became the first nation to suffer the violent effects of the importation of 1960s-style American Black Power militancy. As a result, Governor Richard Sharples was murdered as well the island's Police Chief George Duckett and others. Justice Denied points the finger of guilt at a faction of the black militant group, led by the 'Third Man', who controlled the convicted assassins. The author names the Bermuda businessman, a convicted drug dealer, who assisted the assassins in financing their political aims through drug deals and bank robberies. He also concludes that the real story about the assassinations was 'whitewashed' by consecutive Bermudian Governments in the interests of racial harmony. This investigative book is based on interviews with police officers involved in the investigation into the assassinations and murders as well as interviews with prison officers familiar with two members of the assassination team. Additional material for the book was gleaned from the previously secret Scotland Yard Murder Files, British Foreign Office Files, court records, newspaper archives and interviews with the Governor's widow.

Justice Denied - Bermuda s Black Militants, the Third Man, and the Assassinations of a Police Chief and Governor

Ayton, Mel

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