<p>Charlie and Paulie consider themselves "family" even though they are only fifth cousins. Neither of them is 100 percent legitimate but they are not heavy thieves either. They beat the system as best they can with the various inside hustles of New York City's bar and restaurant scene. Charlie, managing a Village restaurant at age thirty-five, needs one shot to realize his dream of owning his own place in rural New England. Meanwhile, he's just a jump ahead of two shylocks and into the worst streak of losing horses he has ever gone through. Paulie is only a five-foot-three-inch waiter but he thinks big. Very image conscious, he even tips toll booth attendants. And he went into hock to become part owner of a "turrow bed" racehorse. Now he has an idea for one foolproof burglary that will solve all his problems for good, and he enlists Charlie in his scheme. The third member of the team is Barney. A semi-retired locksmith and safecracker from the Bronx, Barney has a retarded son and is willing to take one last gamble to provide for his future. A clean break-in, a three-way split, and each of their dreams will come true. Maybe. Before it's over, they find themselves relentlessly hunted by both the Mafia "wise guys" and the police. And each of them grasps for survival in a different way. Acutely realistic yet wondrously funny, The Pope of Greenwich Village captures the speech, the scams, the flavor, the dread, and the humor of ordinary people scrambling to make it big in a neighborhood that prides itself on creating and enforcing its own laws.</p>

The Pope of Greenwich Village

PATRICK, VINCENT

Literature & Fiction

Vincent Patrick

The most lovable family ever to live outside the law gives us a wild, funny, tough-talking, big-hearted novel. Between Grandpa Jessie, son Vito, and grandson Adam, the McMullen men represent a good portion of the ethnic groups in America—Cherokee Indian, Irish, Jewish, and Italian—but there's something "unadulterated" they all share—what Grandpa Jessie calls "the criminal gene." And Jessie intends to capitalize on it with one last big scam that will keep them in clover forever. Although Vito has long since sworn off partnering with Jessie in his outrageous schemes, when he learns that Adam is the mastermind behind this scam, Vito reluctantly joins in to look out for his son. From the drunken revelry of an Irish wake in Brooklyn to a backstreet bar in Hell's Kitchen, to a not-so-secure genetic engineering firm in San Jose, FAMILY BUSINESS abounds in streetwise wit, colorful characters, and crisp dialogue, with all the strains of love and loyalty that exist in every family.

Family Business

Genre Fiction

In the wee hours of the morning, four men in latex masks enter the elegant Montclair Hotel in midtown Manhattan. After detaining the night staff, Frank Belmonte, one of the best jewel thieves in the business, breaks into the safe deposit boxes held by the rich old inhabitants of the hotel. "Frankie Rocks" takes roughly ten million dollars' worth of jewels from the boxes. The heist seems to be running smoothly until some unexpected guests arrive at the hotel and the burglars are forced to take them as last minute hostages. But these are no ordinary hotel guests, and three of the four thieves aren't really looking for jewels. Their agenda is one of national security. One of the hostages is a renegade Cuban doctor who has smuggled a deadly airborne virus out of the Angolan jungle. The Cuban government has threatened to unleash this epidemic on America unless the President meets Castro's demands for an immediate, complete end to the economic embargo on Cuba. To thwart this international blackmail, CIA director Linwood Cutshaw needs to capture the doctor before he releases the virus on American soil, but he must create a smoke screen, so the Cuban authorites won't know the doctor has fallen into U.S. government hands. Cutshaw has recruited Teddy Tedesco, an honest ex-NYPD detective, two ex-CIA operatives, and Frank Belmonte for this nervy scheme—but only Belmonte believes they are out for the jewels. All at once their elaborate plans go awry and the thieves must face the unexpected. The quirky team of Teddy and Frank is forced to work together to root out the missing jewels while the enraged Cuban doctor prepares to inflict a new black plague on millions of unsuspecting Americans. An electrifying and all too believable caper, SMOKE SCREEN twists unpredictably toward an explosive denouement.

Smoke Screen

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Thrillers & Suspense

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Books by Vincent Patrick

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The Pope of Greenwich Village

Family Business

Smoke Screen