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Americans love the Mafia. It's an odd sort of affection, given our reported high regard for moral values. But if actions truly speak louder than words, then we have a serious wise guy addiction. Consider the popular success of HBO's "The Sopranos," the return of "Growing Up Gotti" for another season on A&E, and the fact that Mario Puzo's GODFATHER saga no longer sleeps with the fishes, thanks to the efforts of author Mark Winegardner. So let's be stand-up guys and dolls and own up to it: we can't get enough badda-bing badda-boom.
So who better to fill our minimum requirement of whacking and wisecracking than a couple of guys with explicit knowledge of the life? Bill Bonanno is a former high-echelon member of the Bonanno crime family. Joe Pistone is a former FBI agent whose undercover exploits as Donnie Brasco made their way from the page to the big screen. This unlikely pair constitutes a kind of mob fiction dream team, the product of which is THE GOOD GUYS.
Bonanno and Pistone, along with co-author David Fisher, have crafted a surprisingly entertaining mystery that manages to combine insider knowledge of the mob and the FBI with well-drawn characters (including several large, dangerous men with interesting nicknames like "Tony Cupcakes"), frequently hilarious dialogue, and enough gunplay and violence to add a satisfying edge.
The story revolves around the search for the missing Professor G, a Russian language educator. He's simultaneously being sought by FBI agents Connor O'Brien and Laura Russo, and by Mafia career climber Bobby San Filippo, aka Bobby Hats, aka Bobby Blue Eyes. The trail to the missing professor leads through the Slavic Studies department at Columbia to the Russian mob in Brighton Beach and on to the trunk of an abandoned car into which is stuffed the enormous and grotesquely mangled corpse of 320-pound Skinny Al D'Angelo.
THE GOOD GUYS rewards readers with a crisp, tightly woven story told at a brisk pace. It isn't Tolstoy, but then it doesn't have to be. It's solid entertainment that will provide a lasting wiseguy fix for even the most rabid Mob-o-phile. It's a good read, pally. Caspisce?
--- Reviewed by Bob Rhubart
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