Tom Folsom, THE MAD ONES, MR. UNTOUCHABLE biographer: Mr. Media Radio Interview

Tom Folsom
Author
The Mad Ones
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Joey and Larry Gallo were some bad hombres. So bad, even most of the mafia wanted nothing to do with them in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Murder, extortion, armed robbery—all in a day’s work for these guys.

But if they were so bad, why do so many literary types come to admire them, especially Joey? Bob Dylan, for example, early in his career, thought of Crazy Joey Gallo as more folk hero than outlaw.

I’ve now read Tom Folsom’s rich, colorful history of the Gallo Brothers, The Mad Ones, but I still don’t get their appeal. Hopefully, the author can clear up the mystery.

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You can LISTEN to this interview with TOM FOLSOM, author of THE MAD ONES: CRAZY JOE GALLO AND THE REVOLUTION AT THE EDGE OF THE UNDERWORLD, by clicking the BlogTalkRadio.com audio player above!


Copyright 2009 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

Joe Pistone, DONNIE BRASCO: UNFINISHED BUSINESS author, ex-FBI agent: Mr. Media Interview

My favorite book in the 1970s was Serpico by Peter Maas, the story of a New York City cop who seemingly single-handedly fought the force of corruption in the city’s police department. I read all the books of that genre in that era, from Supercops to The Valachi Papers and The French Connection.

One of the most fascinating parts of those works was always the tales of cops who went undercover to infiltrate the bad guys, from drug dealers to the Mafia.

No one ever did undercover police work better or with more distinction than Joe Pistone, who you probably know better as “Donnie Brasco.” Brasco became a household name in the 1980s as the undercover character played by Pistone, perhaps the ballsiest FBI agent ever. His six years undercover ultimately led to testimony that sent more than 200 mobsters to jail and – indirectly, several to their deaths.

Pistone was famously portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 1997 movie, Donnie Brasco, which co-starred Al Pacino and was based on Pistone's book of the same name.

He’s just published a new book – with Charles Brandt -- Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business, that fills in some gaps from the first book.

You can LISTEN to this Mr. Media interview with JOE PISTONE -- a.k.a. "DONNIE BRASCO" -- by clicking the BlogTalkRadio.com audio player below!

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Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!