His entry begins:Writing Tom & Lucky required a tremendous amount of reading; not just everything previously written about defendant Lucky Luciano, prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, and defense attorney George Morton Levy, but also the entire trial and appellate record and transcripts, which comprise many thousands of pages, as well as Levy’s personal file from the trial, to which I was given exclusive access. On top of that, I’d committed to writing a bi-monthly book review column for my local newspaper, the Four Corners Free Press, here in southwestern Colorado. Plus I belong to a book group, and I try to squeeze in the occasional guilty pleasure on the side. That makes for a lot of reading!About Tom & Lucky (and George & Cokey Flo), from the publisher:
I’m currently reading Purity by Jonathan Franzen, who’s a great favorite, and while it’s too soon to render a verdict, I’m enjoying it tremendously. Before that I...[read on]
The year is 1936. Charles "Lucky" Luciano is the most powerful gangster in America. Thomas E. Dewey is an ambitious young prosecutor hired to bring him down, and Cokey Flo Brown--grifter, heroin addict, and sometimes prostitute--is the witness who claims she can do it. Only a wily defenseLearn more about the book and author at C. Joseph Greaves's website.attorney named George Morton Levy stands between Lucky and a life behind bars, between Dewey and the New York governor's mansion.
As the Roaring Twenties give way to the austere reality of the Great Depression, four lives, each on its own incandescent trajectory, intersect in a New York courtroom, introducing America to the violent and darkly glamorous world of organized crime and leaving our culture, laws, and politics forever changed.
Based on a trove of newly discovered documents, Tom & Lucky (and George & Cokey Flo) tells the true story of a singular trial in American history: an epic clash between a crime-busting district attorney and an all-powerful mob boss who, in the crucible of a Manhattan courtroom, battle for the heart and soul of a dispirited nation. Blending elements of political thriller, courtroom drama, and hard-boiled pulp, author C. Joseph Greaves introduces readers to the likes of Al Capone, Dutch Schultz, Meyer Lansky, and Bugsy Siegel while taking readers behind the scenes of a corrupt criminal justice system in which sinners may be saints and heroes may prove to be the biggest villains of all.
Writers Read: C. Joseph Greaves.
--Marshal Zeringue
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