Published 16th July 2020 by Sobriety Press.
Read July 2020.
Prohibition is over and Alex needs a new way to make money, although his job running Murder Inc. for Lucky Luciano does put him in good stead with the Syndicate.
Before long Alex finds himself trying to find ways to expand the prostitution racket for his powerful friends and taking a piece of the action from the next big thing - heroin.
Being a gangster is not quite the same these days though. With the high profile take-down of Al Capone on tax evasion charges, the Feds have found a new way to make a dent in organised crime and they are now casting an eye on operations in New York.
When Alex's boss, Lucky Luciano is taken down for racketeering, Alex loses his protection and becomes the next target for the ambitious law man who did for his mentor. Time has come for Alex to decide if he should cut a deal and grass up his criminal colleagues to save his own skin, or settle for prison time. Is this the end for Alex?
Before long Alex finds himself trying to find ways to expand the prostitution racket for his powerful friends and taking a piece of the action from the next big thing - heroin.
Being a gangster is not quite the same these days though. With the high profile take-down of Al Capone on tax evasion charges, the Feds have found a new way to make a dent in organised crime and they are now casting an eye on operations in New York.
When Alex's boss, Lucky Luciano is taken down for racketeering, Alex loses his protection and becomes the next target for the ambitious law man who did for his mentor. Time has come for Alex to decide if he should cut a deal and grass up his criminal colleagues to save his own skin, or settle for prison time. Is this the end for Alex?
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Welcome to the third adventure in the historical noir Alex Cohen series, Midtown Huckster.
When we last met Alex, he had become a great success in organised crime circles, rubbing shoulders with some very big names, running booze during Prohibition, and heading up the Murder Inc. operation for Lucky Luciano. However, his marriage had fallen victim to the amount of time and attention he spent on his nefarious work undertakings, his penchant for "skirt", and the lies he told - not to mention the danger he put his family in.
The end of Prohibition marks a big change for Alex. Although he is still flavour of the month with his boss Luciano, and continuing to run a slick hit man operation, organised crime is going through some big changes. With the loss of income from illegal booze sales, crime bosses are now looking at drugs to fill the gap - namely heroin. Although reluctant, at first, to get on board with this new direction, Alex recognises that there is big money to be made, and he is soon up to the gills in the drug venture and reaping the substantial monetary rewards. His marriage is still on the rocks though, even though he seems less enamoured by the attention of other females as time goes by.
But this is also a time of uncomfortable attention from the Feds, buoyed as they are from their success in bringing down Capone, and they are now making trouble in New York that will soon make Alex's life very difficult, and this all adds gloriously to the seedy gangster scene.
I take my hat off to Leopold Borstinski at the way he has manged to find ever more interesting storylines for Alex Cohen as this series progresses. He really seems to have found his niche in the noir historical crime genre, and this adventure is absolutely packed with glorious mob detail that gives the reader a real feel for the era.
In this book, we are in the middle of the 1930s organised crime world and can fully experience the way New York crime lords are organising themselves along syndicate lines, with gangs working closer together and sanctioning each other's operations in a more corporate way - although this doesn't mean they always agree and are not trying to out manoeuvre each other all the time behind the scenes! We also get to see how and why drugs become a big focus for organised crime, which was really interesting.
This is also the era of Eliot Ness and company, with the Feds getting a taste of how they could bring down some of the big criminal fraternity, such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano. Although everyone surely knows the name of Capone, and is aware of how he met his downfall, I found it fascinating the way Leopold Borstinski shows us how the the attention of the Feds was also focused on the gangs in New York, and that they also had success in making a dent in organised crime there too - gone were the days when you could payoff a few cops and judges, or threaten jurors and witnesses; this is the age of The Untouchables.
Interestingly, this also brings home how organised crime gangs were starting to think seriously about how they needed to create legitimate fronts for their operations that could provide a way to hide the sources of their ill-gotten gains and launder the huge amounts of money their were making.
Leopold Borstinski is really warming to his task in this episode of Alex's life. There is a tantalising feel of The Godfather and a touch of Goodfellas that makes it all very enjoyable - in fact, I think this is the best one yet - and I look forward to much more of this is Alex's next outing, Casino Chiseler.
Midtown Huckster is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer, or via the links below:
From the cover of the book:
Leopold Borstinski is an independent author whose past careers have included financial journalism, business management of financial software companies, consulting and product sales and marketing, as well as teaching.
Can you keep your gelt and freedom when the cops have enough evidence to take you down?
1930s Jewish gangster, Alex Cohen runs Murder Inc for Lucky Luciano. After the death of Prohibition he must find a new way to make money, just as the cops are baying at his heels. When Luciano goes down for racketeering, Alex loses his protection and is arrested for tax evasion-he must decide between saving his skin and ratting out his friends.
If he chooses prison time then his gang will fall apart and he will end up with nothing. If he squeals then he will have to flee the city he loves and the family he once adored. What would you do in a world where nobody can be trusted and you have everything to lose?
The third book in the Alex Cohen series is an historical noir novel, which plunges you deep into the early days of narcotics trafficking and the Jewish New York mob. Leopold Borstinski's piercing crime fiction delivers a fix to every reader like heroin from a needle.
About the author:
There is nothing he likes better so he does as much nothing as he possibly can. He has travelled extensively in Europe and the US and has visited Asia on several occasions. Leopold holds a Philosophy degree and tries not to drop it too often.He lives near London and is married with one wife, one child and no pets.
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Thanks so much x
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