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Love or Honor: The True Story of an Undercover Cop Who Fell in Love With a Mafia Boss's Daughter
Chronicles the experiences of a New York City cop who went undercover to infiltrate the Mafia and--though married and with a family--fell in love with the capo's daughter
- GenresTrue CrimeNonfiction
263 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1989
16 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Joan Barthel
15 books12 followersJoan Barthel is the award-winning author of five nonfiction books and a contributor to many national publications. Her cover story on Elizabeth Seton in the Times Magazine inspired her to bring the singular life of this first American-born saint into contemporary focus and ultimately led to her book American Saint.
With her first book, A Death in Canaan, Barthel uncovered the miscarriage of justice in the case of a Connecticut teenager accused of murdering his mother. Her work brought the case to the attention of celebrities such as Arthur Miller, William Styron, and Mike Nichols, who championed his cause. Barthel won the American Bar Association Gavel Award for A Death in Canaan, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and was made into a CBS-TV film that was nominated for an Emmy Award.
Following A Death in Canaan, Barthel wrote A Death in California, the story of a Beverly Hills socialite caught in the thrall of the man who had murdered her fiancé, which was a Book-of-the-Month Club Featured Alternate and became a four-hour miniseries on ABC-TV. Her next book, Love or Honor, told the story of a New York City undercover cop who infiltrated the Greek mafia and fell in love with the capo’s daughter. After Love or Honor, Barthel collaborated with Rosemary Clooney to write the legendary vocalist’s critically acclaimed autobiography, Girl Singer. With her daughter, Anne Barthel, she has written a screenplay, The Truth About Home, based on a two-part article she wrote in New Choices magazine
Barthel was a staff writer at the weekly Life magazine, contributing editor at New Times, and instructor in feature writing at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her many magazine pieces include cover stories in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, and Notre Dame Magazine. She has written book reviews for The New York Times Book Review and articles and profiles on a wide range of people and issues: Ingrid Bergman, Bob Hope, New York governor Mario Cuomo, Sidney Poitier, Dan Rather, Nancy Reagan, Beverly Sills, Gloria Steinem, Oprah Winfrey; women and guns, medical ethics, the foster-care system, homeless families.
A graduate of the Writer’s Institute at Saint Louis University, Barthel holds an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, New York. Her other honors include the Outstanding Article Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the Distinguished Service Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. She lives in St. Louis.
- from her website
With her first book, A Death in Canaan, Barthel uncovered the miscarriage of justice in the case of a Connecticut teenager accused of murdering his mother. Her work brought the case to the attention of celebrities such as Arthur Miller, William Styron, and Mike Nichols, who championed his cause. Barthel won the American Bar Association Gavel Award for A Death in Canaan, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and was made into a CBS-TV film that was nominated for an Emmy Award.
Following A Death in Canaan, Barthel wrote A Death in California, the story of a Beverly Hills socialite caught in the thrall of the man who had murdered her fiancé, which was a Book-of-the-Month Club Featured Alternate and became a four-hour miniseries on ABC-TV. Her next book, Love or Honor, told the story of a New York City undercover cop who infiltrated the Greek mafia and fell in love with the capo’s daughter. After Love or Honor, Barthel collaborated with Rosemary Clooney to write the legendary vocalist’s critically acclaimed autobiography, Girl Singer. With her daughter, Anne Barthel, she has written a screenplay, The Truth About Home, based on a two-part article she wrote in New Choices magazine
Barthel was a staff writer at the weekly Life magazine, contributing editor at New Times, and instructor in feature writing at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her many magazine pieces include cover stories in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, and Notre Dame Magazine. She has written book reviews for The New York Times Book Review and articles and profiles on a wide range of people and issues: Ingrid Bergman, Bob Hope, New York governor Mario Cuomo, Sidney Poitier, Dan Rather, Nancy Reagan, Beverly Sills, Gloria Steinem, Oprah Winfrey; women and guns, medical ethics, the foster-care system, homeless families.
A graduate of the Writer’s Institute at Saint Louis University, Barthel holds an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, New York. Her other honors include the Outstanding Article Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the Distinguished Service Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. She lives in St. Louis.
- from her website
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 22, 2021
This book is about an apparently happily married NYPD detective, who gets assigned to go undercover and work on an organized crime case. He was undercover for approximately five years, working on the connection between the Italian organized crime syndicate and the Greek criminal underground. During this time, he wound up falling in love with the daughter of a capo in the Italian crime family. Trouble ensues. I wonder how many times this has happened when detectives go undercover... This was a decent book involving the Italian crime syndicate, and it was thought provoking for me to think about what the lives of undercover police must be like.
August 20, 2019
For anyone who is interested in true crime, the mafia, and New York City in the 70’s and 80’s, this book is a good read. It does go back in time a lot for background purposes, kind of distracting when you wanted to know what happens next.
Chris Anastos grew up in Queens from a Greek family. He never liked school, wanted to be a musician, and worked odd jobs. He joined the military, and eventually took the test to become a policeman. When his father was shot and killed in his coffee shop, Chris started to take his job much more seriously.
Chris was happy being a police officer in the rough parts of the city. But then he was called to a meeting at the Intelligence Division where he was asked to go undercover in the Greek community to see how they were connecting/what they were doing with the Italian mob. Chris didn’t want the job, but was talked into it.
Here begins the detailed making of a new life, with code names, being wired, eventually an apartment that was wired, no trace of him ever being a policeman, or any relations with his family and wife, Liz.
Chris becomes a part of this new identity with the Greek and Italian mob men. He learns to impress by being an earner. He starts by getting cigarette deals, then antiques, owning clubs, and helping out any way he can. He meets Marty at a christening party. Her father was one who Chris had a great interest in since he was experienced, knowledgeable, and successful. Chris starts taking Marty out to get to her father. But the more he takes her out and gets invited to dinners every Sunday, the more he’s becoming closer to falling in love with her. Chris even is asked by John, her father, to drive him into the city to help with errands on many occasions. Years are going by. Chris seems to barely think about his wife, seeing her on rare occasions, this undercover work encompassing his entire life. The relationship with Marty has become more of a priority. How Chris could think in the back of his mind that they were only friends is beyond me. And I’m surprised Marty wasn’t mentioned as being more of a “nag” with wanting to get married. Their relationship has been going on for years! And because this has been going on for years, Chris’ control officer, Harry, has to bring this undercover work to an end. Chris keeps thinking of telling Marty the truth, but never does. He just tells her he’s going to the west coast and doesn’t know when he’ll be back. Then he disappears. He miraculously lives from battling cancer, and does get a job on the police force back, but will forever have to keep his identity a secret because a lot of the guys he hung out with were killed or arrested. I’m assuming that’s why I couldn’t find much of anything about Chris on the Internet. Is he still living? What does he look like?
Chris Anastos grew up in Queens from a Greek family. He never liked school, wanted to be a musician, and worked odd jobs. He joined the military, and eventually took the test to become a policeman. When his father was shot and killed in his coffee shop, Chris started to take his job much more seriously.
Chris was happy being a police officer in the rough parts of the city. But then he was called to a meeting at the Intelligence Division where he was asked to go undercover in the Greek community to see how they were connecting/what they were doing with the Italian mob. Chris didn’t want the job, but was talked into it.
Here begins the detailed making of a new life, with code names, being wired, eventually an apartment that was wired, no trace of him ever being a policeman, or any relations with his family and wife, Liz.
Chris becomes a part of this new identity with the Greek and Italian mob men. He learns to impress by being an earner. He starts by getting cigarette deals, then antiques, owning clubs, and helping out any way he can. He meets Marty at a christening party. Her father was one who Chris had a great interest in since he was experienced, knowledgeable, and successful. Chris starts taking Marty out to get to her father. But the more he takes her out and gets invited to dinners every Sunday, the more he’s becoming closer to falling in love with her. Chris even is asked by John, her father, to drive him into the city to help with errands on many occasions. Years are going by. Chris seems to barely think about his wife, seeing her on rare occasions, this undercover work encompassing his entire life. The relationship with Marty has become more of a priority. How Chris could think in the back of his mind that they were only friends is beyond me. And I’m surprised Marty wasn’t mentioned as being more of a “nag” with wanting to get married. Their relationship has been going on for years! And because this has been going on for years, Chris’ control officer, Harry, has to bring this undercover work to an end. Chris keeps thinking of telling Marty the truth, but never does. He just tells her he’s going to the west coast and doesn’t know when he’ll be back. Then he disappears. He miraculously lives from battling cancer, and does get a job on the police force back, but will forever have to keep his identity a secret because a lot of the guys he hung out with were killed or arrested. I’m assuming that’s why I couldn’t find much of anything about Chris on the Internet. Is he still living? What does he look like?
February 18, 2021
I just finished this book, and I’m a little teary. It makes me sad that a guy who was such a good cop and was vehemently opposed to accepting an undercover assignment (because he loved his job so much) got drawn in and ended up alone and close to dying from cancer. The undercover lifestyle kept him away from his wife. As hard as he tried not to, falling for a mob guy’s daughter was the beginning of the end for him. I struggled myself wondering what he should do. He clearly cared deeply for Marty and her Mom. Despite being in a mob family, they were good people. Telling them would have broke their hearts (and possibly get him killed). Not telling them and leaving surely broke their hearts, too. I’m honestly surprised someone from the life didn’t track him down and kill him, or maybe they did since this book was written in 1989, and we don’t really know who Chris was. I felt bad that he lost his wife, the other woman he loved, ended up with cancer, and was never able to return to his old police job because he had become too valuable as an undercover. They basically forced him in, left him too long, and swallowed him up. It was an interesting, but sad story that leaves me a little depressed about it. I hope, whoever he was (or is) that he was able to enjoy his life after all that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 3, 2018
A New York City policeman goes undercover and falls in love with the daughter of the Mafia. He wants to believe that he can live in both worlds, but he has to make a choice. The writing style is tedious. Several times I was ready to quit reading, but then I would become involved with the story and continue reading.
October 13, 2019
I was a wreck the entire book.....I also had to keep reminding myself it wasn’t fiction. A good look into what the life of criminals is like.
August 18, 2008
The teaser on the bookcover made me believe there was going to be more to the story. It was very easy to read and follow Chris as an undercover NYPD weaving his way into the world of organized crime. He is married, but takes up with a Mafia daughter during his 1/2 of his time undercover. I felt bad for his wife since he seemed to fit her in when the mood struck him. Hard to believe that his wife stuck it out that long and he wasn't checked out while stringing the girlfriend along given who her father was.
January 19, 2016
Ok book. Was hard to follow and a page turner. It is about a undercover cop who falls in love with the Mafia boss's daughter.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews