by newera_212 » Thu Dec 22, 2022 9:03 pm
D'Arco always seemed truthful to me, but that's bias speaking - I only say this because of how he "carried himself" in his own biography, which he helped author. The whole humble, approachable, everyman he portrays himself to be could just be an act - regular people are capable of putting on masks like that when it serves them, so people who lived "that life", especially people who have lived that life and flipped...are more than capable. But given the reasons he states for flipping, plus how he talks about people and how he talks about himself, he seems to "come off" truthful at least.
In his book and his retelling, he really did have a lot of opportunities to badmouth people and he never did. Never says a bad thing about Amuso and never says a bad thing about Casso, nor does he ham up a story to make Casso look bad - he just said there were things being done by Casso he either didn't understand or didn't like. There were people he said he didn't like or care for. But, that's it. His encyclopedic memory of NYC in general, and it's history - also makes me believe he probably really is that good with recalling mob related names, situations, events, etc.
Maybe it was due to Capeci's involvement (say what you will about him and/or the column today but he is a real writer and a real professional) but there wasn't this narrative throughout the whole story that everyone in it was bad, or a scumbag, or was wrong, and the rat playing the main character is the only stand up, tough, moral man of substance in the world. I feel like we get that in a lot of other rat biographies, even some of the other bigger ones also co-authored by real, professional writers of merit.
D'Arco always seemed truthful to me, but that's bias speaking - I only say this because of how he "carried himself" in his own biography, which he helped author. The whole humble, approachable, everyman he portrays himself to be could just be an act - regular people are capable of putting on masks like that when it serves them, so people who lived "that life", especially people who have lived that life and flipped...are more than capable. But given the reasons he states for flipping, plus how he talks about people and how he talks about himself, he seems to "come off" truthful at least.
In his book and his retelling, he really did have a lot of opportunities to badmouth people and he never did. Never says a bad thing about Amuso and never says a bad thing about Casso, nor does he ham up a story to make Casso look bad - he just said there were things being done by Casso he either didn't understand or didn't like. There were people he said he didn't like or care for. But, that's it. His encyclopedic memory of NYC in general, and it's history - also makes me believe he probably really is that good with recalling mob related names, situations, events, etc.
Maybe it was due to Capeci's involvement (say what you will about him and/or the column today but he is a real writer and a real professional) but there wasn't this narrative throughout the whole story that everyone in it was bad, or a scumbag, or was wrong, and the rat playing the main character is the only stand up, tough, moral man of substance in the world. I feel like we get that in a lot of other rat biographies, even some of the other bigger ones also co-authored by real, professional writers of merit.