by alfredlion » Fri Aug 02, 2024 11:27 am
There are 2 books about this robbery (that I am aware of).
The Man Who Robbed the Pierre: The Story of Bobby Comfort and the Biggest Hotel Robbery Ever by Ira Berkow (with Bobby Comfort, one of the masterminds of the heist)
and
The Pierre Hotel Affair by Daniel Simone (with Nick Sacco, one of the participants in the heist)
I have not read the Berkow book, so I can't speak to that, though apparently Comfort only gave pseudonyms for 3 accomplices, beyond himself and Sammy "the Arab" Nalo.
I just listened to the Pierre Hotel Affair, which is essentially a novelization of the events and must be read with a great deal of skepticism. Simone seems to have the major facts straight, but he essentially makes up huge sections (largely unnecessary) of the book. There are sex scenes, internal monologues and side stories for which he could have no possible source. These offer nothing as a contribution to the true story and only serve to "spice up the narrative". All these factors throw the rest of the book into question for me.
This did get me to go back and reread Contract Killer: The Explosive Story of the Mafia's Most Notorious Hitman Donald "Tony the Greek" Frankos, which I am currently doing. I'll follow up on this post when I'm done.
There are 2 books about this robbery (that I am aware of).
The Man Who Robbed the Pierre: The Story of Bobby Comfort and the Biggest Hotel Robbery Ever by Ira Berkow (with Bobby Comfort, one of the masterminds of the heist)
and
The Pierre Hotel Affair by Daniel Simone (with Nick Sacco, one of the participants in the heist)
I have not read the Berkow book, so I can't speak to that, though apparently Comfort only gave pseudonyms for 3 accomplices, beyond himself and Sammy "the Arab" Nalo.
I just listened to the Pierre Hotel Affair, which is essentially a novelization of the events and must be read with a great deal of skepticism. Simone seems to have the major facts straight, but he essentially makes up huge sections (largely unnecessary) of the book. There are sex scenes, internal monologues and side stories for which he could have no possible source. These offer nothing as a contribution to the true story and only serve to "spice up the narrative". All these factors throw the rest of the book into question for me.
This did get me to go back and reread Contract Killer: The Explosive Story of the Mafia's Most Notorious Hitman Donald "Tony the Greek" Frankos, which I am currently doing. I'll follow up on this post when I'm done.