by coldshoulder » Tue May 02, 2023 8:06 am
1. Don't know if you can edit or change the thread title, but you'd get more views if you did, say to: Pittsburgh: Steel City Mafia Book.
2. Don't think it's available on Kindle or any other e-book format. I purchased the softcover printed edition from Amazon, and I believe that was my only option. I'd even be willing to put it an envelope and mail it off to you if you'd like, because I finished it within a week, and don't intend to keep it for any reason, because...
3. While I appreciate the author's intent and certainly what had to be long and painstaking research, it still was disappointing, to me. I'm a Youngstown guy, so the long-standing ties and interconnection between Youngstown and Pittsburgh sparked my interest in the book. But I was expecting a little more depth and background to both John LaRocca's and Mike Genovese's character, activities, and actions, especially as they related to the early-80's Youngstown war that was fought over control in that area between the Pittsburgh and Cleveland factions. I was also disappointed in the lack of depth and detail about Kelly Mannarino and later Sonny Ciancutti, who were important liaisons with the Youngstown crew. Charlie Imburgia's importance was also understated (although that's how he operated), and I felt more of the 1990's relationship between Pittsburgh's Henry Zottola (oversee-er) and Youngstown's Lenny Strollo (made man and Youngstown boss, but was under Zebo's thumb) could have been explored and reported with more details.
Overall, I felt the book for the most part was well-written, factual, and did touch on many individuals and situations that expanded my knowledge of the Steel City Mafia from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. But I also felt like the narrative was disjointed and did not follow a logical, chronological pattern. Look, I understand that writing a book of this magnitude on this subject is inherently a difficult and challenging task. And while the book's footnotes detail a vast and comprehensive list of (mostly) newspaper articles, in my mind there was too much reliance on them, with the overall feel of the book being one of a series of newspaper stories strung together to write a book, without enough development, depth, and background of the main characters.
(At least one minor error: Photo on page 71 identifies the structure as Jimmy Prato's Calla-Mar Manor, when it was actually Prato's residence on the second floor, and former nightclubs of different names on the first floor, in Poland Township, outside of Youngstown. The Calla-Mar was a one-story brick restaurant and banquet hall in Beaver Township near the Youngstown interchange of the Ohio Turnpike.)
1. Don't know if you can edit or change the thread title, but you'd get more views if you did, say to: Pittsburgh: [b][i]Steel City Mafia[/i][/b] Book.
2. Don't think it's available on Kindle or any other e-book format. I purchased the softcover printed edition from Amazon, and I believe that was my only option. I'd even be willing to put it an envelope and mail it off to you if you'd like, because I finished it within a week, and don't intend to keep it for any reason, because...
3. While I appreciate the author's intent and certainly what had to be long and painstaking research, it still was disappointing, [i]to me[/i]. I'm a Youngstown guy, so the long-standing ties and interconnection between Youngstown and Pittsburgh sparked my interest in the book. But I was expecting a little more depth and background to both John LaRocca's and Mike Genovese's character, activities, and actions, especially as they related to the early-80's Youngstown war that was fought over control in that area between the Pittsburgh and Cleveland factions. I was also disappointed in the lack of depth and detail about Kelly Mannarino and later Sonny Ciancutti, who were important liaisons with the Youngstown crew. Charlie Imburgia's importance was also understated (although that's how he operated), and I felt more of the 1990's relationship between Pittsburgh's Henry Zottola (oversee-er) and Youngstown's Lenny Strollo (made man and Youngstown boss, but was under Zebo's thumb) could have been explored and reported with more details.
Overall, I felt the book for the most part was well-written, factual, and did touch on many individuals and situations that expanded my knowledge of the Steel City Mafia from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. But I also felt like the narrative was disjointed and did not follow a logical, chronological pattern. Look, I understand that writing a book of this magnitude on this subject is inherently a difficult and challenging task. And while the book's footnotes detail a vast and comprehensive list of (mostly) newspaper articles, in my mind there was [i]too much[/i] reliance on them, with the overall feel of the book being one of a series of newspaper stories strung together to write a book, without enough development, depth, and background of the main characters.
(At least one minor error: Photo on page 71 identifies the structure as Jimmy Prato's Calla-Mar Manor, when it was actually Prato's residence on the second floor, and former nightclubs of different names on the first floor, in Poland Township, outside of Youngstown. The Calla-Mar was a one-story brick restaurant and banquet hall in Beaver Township near the Youngstown interchange of the Ohio Turnpike.)