Handsome Johnny
The Criminal Life of Johnny Rosselli, The Mob’s Man in Hollywood
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
'A smile can get you far, but a smile with a gun can get you further.'
- Al Capone
Featured in Vice
A man of singular influence in the American underworld, Johnny Rosselli's career flourished for half a century, from the bloody years of bootlegging in the Twenties - the last protégé of Al Capone - to the modern era of organised crime as a dominant corporate power.
The Mob's 'Man in Hollywood', Johnny introduced big-time crime to the movie industry, corrupting unions and robbing moguls in the boldest extortion plot in history. Meanwhile, he consolidated his empire by smoothly befriending studio bosses and seducing their biggest stars, including Marilyn Monroe.
In the 50s, Rosselli saw a new opportunity overseeing the birth and heyday of Las Vegas, and became the gambling mecca's behind-the-scenes boss, enjoying the Rat Pack night life with pals Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
Then, in the 60s, incredibly, he became the central figure in a bizarre plot involving the Kennedy Whitehouse, the CIA and an attempt to assassinate Castro.
Based on years of research, this utterly compelling, richly detailed page-turner takes you inside American organised crime at the highest level. A story of extreme violence and superstar glamour - with Handsome Johnny in both roles.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Server (Robert Mitchum: "Baby, I Don't Care") traces the astounding life of gentleman gangster Johnny Rosselli in this exhilarating, exhaustively researched account, revealing how the dapper Al Capone prot g befriended mobsters and glamorous movie stars, and seduced beautiful showgirls while smoothly corrupting Hollywood unions and local politicians for more than 50 years. Rosselli rose from the poverty of a Boston ghetto to the top echelons of the underworld, directing extortion of golden age Hollywood unions and studio chiefs, supervising the criminal heyday of Las Vegas, and participating in a Fidel Castro assassination plot, as well as producing two critically acclaimed film noirs. Server employs evocative phrasing ("Politics, showbiz, sex, crime, come together that season like dirty water clogging a drain, and Johnny wielding the plunger") to luridly examine the shady underbelly of movies, moguls, and politics from the 1930s through the '60s, all through the prism of the charming Rosselli. Filled with crackerjack writing and Damon Runyonesque characters, this entertaining page-turner is a rich look at one of organized crime's most intriguing characters.
