The Pizza Connection

by Shana Alexander

book

Genres: True Crime, Crime

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Julio The Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you don't know the author of THE PIZZA CONNECTION you know the legend. Many of us remember Shana Alexander for her biweekly columns in NEWSWEEK; one of those rare op-ed writers whose intelligence shone through no matter what the topic. Her weekly debates on SIXTY MINUTES, where, playing the token liberal, she would spar with NATIONAL REVIEW conservative James Kirkpatrick not only gave her national exposure but inspired the Jane Curtin and Dan Ackyroid's POINT/COUNTERPOINT segment on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, with the infamous, "Jane, you ignorant slut!" Shana may have been a liberal, but she was also a prosecutor groupie, from D.A.s to USDA.s. This is what makes THE PIZZA CONNECTION such a frustrating reading. The 1985 federal trial of dozens of Sicilian and Sicilian-American mafiosi for trafficking in heroin for over a decade, 1975-1985, at a street value of $25 billion dollars, mostly through pizzerias in the Midwest, is gripping true crime material, but Shana has not written a history of the case so much as a fan's notes of sitting in a courtroom in New York's Southern District (NYSD) and scribbling to herself what the defendants said, looked like and she assumes, must have been thinking during the year long trial. She's ecstatic every time the government attorneys take aim at the top Sicilian defendant, Gaetano Badalamanti, and ex-mafioso turned government witness Tomassino Buscetta. (Another indicted mobster, Cesare Bonventre, never showed on the sensible grounds that he was dead; a fact unknown to the government until he turned up hacked to pieces and stuffed into two oil cans in New Jersey.) The government had compiled over 55,000 hours of recorded conversations between drug traffickers from Italy, Brazil, and the United States. Who thrills Shana the most? Why, U.S. Attorney and future indicted felon Rudy Giuliani. Too bad Shana did not live to see Rudy indicted under the same RICO statute he used against the defendants. The discontinuity of this terrifying tale, a paragraph on mob lawyers followed by another on the stifling poverty of Sicily, makes it hard for the reader to care about the outcome of a trial that can only end one way. All guilty on all counts. Although her prose is precise the pieces of testimony she puts together never generate excitement. Dear reader: Get thee to Ralph Blumenthal's LAST DAYS OF THE SICILIANS; same conspiracy but with gusto, and Ralph had the good grace to leave the trial for the last, quick chapter.

[Joe Rodeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Then comes a 'major meeting' attended by Ganci and Joe Lamberti, Amato and Bonventre, Castronovo, Mazzurco, Ligammarie, Frank Pollizi . . . ."

Hey Rocko! Give me a break already!!

There's lots to admire in *The Pizza Connection.* Mainly, the workings of crime family armies from Sicily and the dynamics of high level trial lawyering. The story is told with style, wit and pithy soundbytes. The problem is the author is like the college professor who has to tell you everything he knows. The burden of literally dozens of lawyers and defendants, not to mention witnesses, jurors, and so forth, kills the momentum and has a numbing effect.

"Ganci, Bono, LaMattina, Zito, Baldinucci, Filippo Salamone, Soresi, Vito Roberto Palazzolo and somebody in Sam Evola's family. . . ."

[Walt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Pizza Connection was a complicated legal case that focused on Sicilian Mafiosi operating in the United States. The author follows the case along very well; but has difficulty reinforcing the connections between the Sicilians and their American counterparts. The result is that the readers cannot gauge for themselves how significant the case really was.

[Camillo Gigliotti]

A REAL STORY FROM BEGENING TO END

[Seán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms. Alexander gives an accurate portrayal of Uncle Pat, one of the more than 20 defense attorneys for this Mafia "megatrial." This balanced examination of the man lends credence to her work as a whole. Also, readers should pay attention to the description of Uncle Pat's summation for the Gaetano Badalamenti defendants (pages 341 to 350). I buy it.

Interesting Sidenote: the prosecution of the case was overseen by then U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani on the eve of his first and unsuccessful run for mayor, and tried in large part by Louis Freeh, future head of the FBI.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is about the largest federal trial in U.S. history. it deals with the mafia, heroin-smuggling and money laundering. I'm a big fan of anything dealing with the mafia and so far this one is really good.

Update: Overall I really liked this book. It was a little dry at times and there a lot of characters to keep straight (though it has an index of characters to help) but all and all I would recommend this book to anyone who is into true crime stories.

[Sheryl Clark]

I grea in one of the towns with the family and was there when they were arrested. I went to high school with the kids of one of the convicted members. Its an interesting story.