All fall down: One man against the waterfront mob

by Donald Goddard

Book by Goddard, Donald

Genres: History

312 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[John Bradford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts of great but gets a bit drawn out . If you are in the industry this is a must read. Great true story about the history and evolution of the waterfront.

[Burt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mobile (Alabama) Public Library had a discarded copy of All Fall Down. It looked good, so I bought it for a song and read it over four days. The book is a good account of corruption on America’s docks. The story centers on the government’s attempts in the 1970s to bring the corrupt, mafia-connected longshore unions to justice.

Joe Teitelbaum was born into a family with a longshoring business in Miami. By the 1970s, he’d become frustrated with having to pay under the table each time he employed longshoreman. Eventually, he ended up recording his payoffs while working with the federal government - but only after the feds charged Tietelbaum with hiring a hitman to kill some of Tietelbaum’s Honduran business partners.

All Fall Down introduces the reader to an underworld that is “hidden in plain sight.” The action centers on my Miami, but also takes place in port cities across the U.S. and the Caribbean. The level of corruption astounds the reader. At the same time, the story bogs down a bit in places because author Donald Goddard relies too much on verbatim transcriptions of conversations between Tietelbaum and the corrupt union officials. (Also, Goddard never provides sufficient clarity on how much Tietelbaum was involved in the murder-for-hire plot).

But All Fall Down is compelling and well worth reading. Tietelbaum paid a heavy price for cooperating and the reader wants to know how it will all end.

[Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

All Fall Down :One Man Against the Waterfront Mob, Miami and sadly it's still that way at the Ports and with the ILA Union, nothing has changed,same people or connected working the docks In South Florida, some names which weren't mentioned in the book as the trial itself was Huge. One company neglected to Mention was Jasca Transfer which later became Yasca/Yasco and Sunshine Cartage this was Before Maritime Cartage and was with Acosta and Medina who had connections to Florida Welding(source: trial,public domain). I wish the book would have had more companies and principals mentioned, and followed up with who was this Roberto who ran a Trucking company that was suicided or committed it? And I wish there would have been Pictures included. Nonetheless, although dated(1980) book is just as important today, the Connections with Organized Labor and The Democrat machine are well-documented. I also recommend the documentaries from 1982, Crime Inc Part 1 and Part 2 which come as separate dvds and Which has a segment on The Miami Mob Case/Barone as well as other Mob Stories.