Member-only story
Is currently the #1 show on Netflix. For a variety of reasons. The mafia has always fascinated Americans for some reason. Often idolized in entertainment media, the reality is much different. The series is about the late 1970s in New York City, where, according to the documentary, the mafia ruled and then the FBI’s ability to use RICO to take it apart.
I grew up in the city during those years. My father worked for the Sanitation Dept of the city. They were responsible for all garbage collection from citizens and snow removal. Garbage collection from businesses was privatized and as they say on the Sopranos: “Garbage is our bread and butter.”
I remember a little place on the corner of our block in the Bronx where a couple of old Italian guys would sit outside playing cards, weather permitting, and they made book out back.
I set my Will Kane books in the city starting in 1977. The summer of the Blackout. And Son of Sam. Who shot a girl I went to grade school with. She did survive. It was a pivotal year in many ways. Rupert Murdoch made his first inroads into the States by buying the NY Post, which I used to deliver as a boy. The venerable newspaper founded by Alexander Hamilton. All that history plays into the Will Kane’s stories.
I like writing about a time when there were no cell phones, no laptops, no google…
