City on Fire

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Poohbah
Posts: 3510
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 2:08 pm
Location: San Diego, CA

City on Fire

Post by Poohbah »

Just finished Don Winslow's City on Fire. It's the first of a trilogy, it focuses on a Irish v. Italian mob war in Providence, Rhode Island during the 1980s. Apparently, this trilogy will be his last.

It's a damn good read, the plot points are excellent, the surprises are genuinely surprising yet we'll foreshadowed and perfectly logical, and the writing is excellent. This gets a Poohbah thumbs-up.
MikeKozlowski
Posts: 2158
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 9:46 pm

Re: City on Fire

Post by MikeKozlowski »

Poohbah wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 11:59 am Just finished Don Winslow's City on Fire. It's the first of a trilogy, it focuses on a Irish v. Italian mob war in Providence, Rhode Island during the 1980s. Apparently, this trilogy will be his last.

It's a damn good read, the plot points are excellent, the surprises are genuinely surprising yet we'll foreshadowed and perfectly logical, and the writing is excellent. This gets a Poohbah thumbs-up.
...I wish somebody would do one on the Irish mob vs the Italian and Jewish mob war of the 1970s in Cleveland. Thirty-six bombs and IIRC only two fatalities, but the Irish mob ended up wrecked, the Jewish mob was crippled, and the Mafia was badly hurt (and was pretty much wiped out by the feds within twenty years). Check out the movie Kill The Irishman for a surprisingly well done account of the shenanigans.

Mike
Poohbah
Posts: 3510
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 2:08 pm
Location: San Diego, CA

Re: City on Fire

Post by Poohbah »

MikeKozlowski wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 12:24 pm
Poohbah wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 11:59 am Just finished Don Winslow's City on Fire. It's the first of a trilogy, it focuses on a Irish v. Italian mob war in Providence, Rhode Island during the 1980s. Apparently, this trilogy will be his last.

It's a damn good read, the plot points are excellent, the surprises are genuinely surprising yet we'll foreshadowed and perfectly logical, and the writing is excellent. This gets a Poohbah thumbs-up.
...I wish somebody would do one on the Irish mob vs the Italian and Jewish mob war of the 1970s in Cleveland. Thirty-six bombs and IIRC only two fatalities, but the Irish mob ended up wrecked, the Jewish mob was crippled, and the Mafia was badly hurt (and was pretty much wiped out by the feds within twenty years). Check out the movie Kill The Irishman for a surprisingly well done account of the shenanigans.

Mike
One of the things Winslow mentions is that as long as it's just shootings, the rest of Providence looks on the war as a sporting event, but blow up one car and everyone freaks out...
MikeKozlowski
Posts: 2158
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 9:46 pm

Re: City on Fire

Post by MikeKozlowski »

Poohbah wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 1:01 pm
MikeKozlowski wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 12:24 pm
Poohbah wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 11:59 am Just finished Don Winslow's City on Fire. It's the first of a trilogy, it focuses on a Irish v. Italian mob war in Providence, Rhode Island during the 1980s. Apparently, this trilogy will be his last.

It's a damn good read, the plot points are excellent, the surprises are genuinely surprising yet we'll foreshadowed and perfectly logical, and the writing is excellent. This gets a Poohbah thumbs-up.
...I wish somebody would do one on the Irish mob vs the Italian and Jewish mob war of the 1970s in Cleveland. Thirty-six bombs and IIRC only two fatalities, but the Irish mob ended up wrecked, the Jewish mob was crippled, and the Mafia was badly hurt (and was pretty much wiped out by the feds within twenty years). Check out the movie Kill The Irishman for a surprisingly well done account of the shenanigans.

Mike
One of the things Winslow mentions is that as long as it's just shootings, the rest of Providence looks on the war as a sporting event, but blow up one car and everyone freaks out...
It was kinda bad in Cleveland - Danny Greene and his guys used a bomb first, and then it was an eye-for-an-eye after that until Greene started to get rattled towards the end, and then it got ugly to the point where Dad refused to go downtown for a while.

Never bothered my grandmother, though. She grew up in Second District (to give you an idea, whenever Cops filmed in Cleveland, they went straight to Second District) and she waved it off.

Mike
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