Rain of Bullets

by Patricia A. Martinelli

On the night of November 17, 1950, Ernie Ingenito went on a murderous spree. When he was finished, five people were dead and four wounded, including a 9-year-old girl.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2010

Reviews

[Steve Sanducci · Rating 1 out of 5]

poorly written. The author points out the many reasons ingenito acted as he did yet she cant figure out why he did. The book features photos or Ernies' 41 Ford sedan that the author claims is a coupe! The author does has very little knowledge of guns-she doesnt know the difference between a magazine and a clip! The author tries to avoid the fact that Ernie married into dysfunctional family who refused to let go of their daughter and let him and his family live a life of their own. They took his wife to a doctor who gave her "shots" to attempt to abort their second child, expected him and his family to live with them and work their farm. They knew he was temperamental to the point of being dangerous yet continued to push him-get out, our daughter is divorcing you and you cant see your sons-they knew he was armed, Mike Mazzoli began pushing him out the door as Ernie held a 9 millimeter pistol on him, Mike wasnt afraid, seconds later he was dead. The author claims she is related to the Mazzolis by marriage, no wonder she takes such a biased view making Ernie look like a monster ignoring the fact that the mazzolis pushed him to far.

[Teresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This has to be the worst of the hundreds of true crime books I have read. Potential here for so much more...a man shoots nine members of his estranged wife's extended family killing five of them. Does the author explore how the survivors coped with this horrible tragedy? Is there any followup of how they were affected by their loss? Do we even get details from the officials involved regarding their perceptions of the victims or the perp? No!! Instead it's an endless litany of the murderer's feelings of being mistreated, misrepresented and ignored. Page after boring page of descriptions of letters he writes and attorneys he abuses & then fires, and his attempts to negate the seriousness of his actions. This was a free book and I still feel like I've been ripped off. If I could give this book less than one star I would. Very disappointing.

[AM · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love true crime books, typically . "Rain of Bullets" had an interesting premise, but the execution fell short. The pacing dragged in places, and the characters never felt fully developed, making it hard to stay invested.

While the historical details were well-researched, the story lacked emotional depth and tension. Overall, it had potential but didn’t quite deliver the impact it promised, and felt dry.

[Kaitlin Kee-Dayton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as it was recommended to me by a distant family member of the families involved. If I didn't have this "link" to read it, I would have DNFed it. So long winded...could have been shortened in half. On the pro side, this was an incident I had no idea of and it was interesting to learn about this sad history. I also saw some of my own relatives involved (one of the judges) and thought it was interesting I'd never heard of this case before.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book isn't particularly well written, but it's a true crime story about something that happened in my town. I was acquainted with descendents of some of the victims and when I read the book I discovered our neighbor, for whom I did chores, and was one of our choir teachers in church, was on the jury!

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Horrific story but way too much detail about the murderer post-trial. I didn't need to know that much about his appeals, firing and rehiring of attorneys, etc. It doesn't seem like the survivors wanted to contribute to this book, which is understandable, so it's really missing the personal touch that would have made it more emotional and hard-hitting. If you read through The Trial chapter, and skip to the Epilogue, it's an interesting and informative read.

[Suzanne Bennage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

Interesting relatively unknown true crime. A little dry in spots, but overall good. It paints a good picture of the bungling of justice.

[Debi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my least favorite genres. I read it for a book club. I must say I was captivated by the writing. The characters are all interesting and complex. Very well done.

[Felicia Bianco · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book last year because I learned from family members about this story that took place in our area some 60 years ago. Crime/murder books are not my usual choice but I was intrigued that this happened in our area of Piney Hollow. Pioppi, Mazzoli, and many other local family names pop up in the book. Man slaughters family members of his estranged wife in revenge for not being granted visitation of his two young sons. Although I really wanted to give this book a higher rating, I couldn't for the following reasons:

1. Too many unimportant facts about the trial.
2. Book needed to focus more on what became of the victims and their families and focus less on the trial (which became drawn out).
3. Did not enjoy the writing style. Choppy at best.

I did like the fact that the author is a Vineland resident. So I would recommend this book only to locals who want to know about this crime. All others will be bored.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read about a terrible crime. The author effectively takes us back to the early Fifties, sets the scene for us, and describes where it all went wrong. She takes a lot of liberties, for instance saying what this or that person was thinking at a given moment when she couldn't have known, but it's easy to see when she's doing it. There were some maddening gaps in the information, however, and I can see that she left those holes unfilled in order to respect the wishes of people who did not want to be interviewed. This book could really have benefitted from a diagram of family tree involved -- almost everyone was related somehow to almost everyone else in the story and at times it made for a confusing read. That did not keep me from reading it through to the last word.

[DAISY READS HORROR · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one dragged on a bit too much in regards to some of the history of the people in the book. Honestly this was a case that could have been written about as a newspaper story.

The crime was discussed right away in the book which isn't a bad thing, but it made me feel like there was nothing else to read. I think I would have possibly held more interest in the book if the history of the people involved would have been talked about earlier in the book rather than later. To be honest I really didn't care about where their parents came from etc after reading about the crime.

[larry brashear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad Story

This book was written well that though, like most crime stories it is depressing. The tremendous amount of research showed. EVIL person with no conscious was this murderer.

[Gina Palmonari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heard this story while growing up while sitting around the dinner table. Was told that the family went to the review every year he went up for release in order to voice their concerns. Mike and Frank Mazzoli were my grandmother's brothers. Very interesting read.

[Lori Petticrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW!

[Lisa Collins · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is no meat and potatoes to this book. It is pretty much just the facts.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book started out good, but the last 3rd or the book seemed repetitive and had a lot of spelling errors.. To the point of distraction.

[Debbie King · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok. It got very lengthy in the middle talking about all his appeals. There was a lot of repitition and jumping around.

[Ken Weinert]

False