A Bloody Business

February 18, 2019
Based on a series of interviews with gangster Jimmy Alo (1904–2001) in his old age, Struzan’s first novel takes a sweeping look at the Prohibition era from 1920 to 1933. The narrative focuses on friends and business partners Charlie Luciano and Meyer Lansky, but it also includes a large cast of lesser-known Italian, Jewish, and Irish mobsters fighting for a piece of the pie made possible by prohibition. If this version of the familiar story of bootlegging, rumrunning, cargo heists, and rub-outs in the streets lacks the soaring soap operatic grandeur of Mario Puzo’s novels or the superb characterizations of The Sopranos, it holds its chunk of turf with sheer energy. Readers will know how it all plays out, but hanging with Scarface, Lucky, Bugs, and the gang is always fun. The text includes illustrations by movie poster artist Drew Struzan, the author’s husband. Just in time for the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 18th Amendment, this crime saga thunders along with the authority of an erupting Tommy gun

May 24, 2019

[DEBUT] For her first novel, Struzan sat down with an aging Vincent Alo, famed member of the American mafia during its formative years, and interviewed him extensively about how the 1920s street gangs he ran with rose from petty crime to lords of the international criminal underworld, responsible for stealing millions of dollars and thousands of lives. Alo recounts his dealings with legendary figures such as Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and even Al Capone, all framed as brief vignettes from the memory of a dying mobster, interspersed with the author's movie poster illustrator husband Drew Struzan's stylish artwork. Alo's memories don't have much drama or insight attached to them, and the lack of an overarching narrative or historical context of this important and influential segment of American history lessens the work. VERDICT Scholars and hard-core fans of American mafia history will sift through these stories to find the occasional gem; however, the work isn't compelling or satisfying enough for leisure readers who can find a better account of the period elsewhere.--Gregg Winsor, Johnson Cty. Lib., Overland Park, KS

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