Body Mike: An Unsparing Expose by the Mafia Insider Who Turned on the Mob [VINTAGE 1990] [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

Fine condition black boards, black cloth spine, black front cover letter, & red and silver spine lettering contained in a fine condition non price-clipped color photographic dust jacket. Includes List of Other Books by Thomas C. Renner; Authors' Dedications; Introduction; Epilogue: Lure of the Informer; Appendix; Index and About the Authors. "A courageous double expose of life in the Mafia and life in the Witness Protection Program. I was especially intrigued by mobster-turned-informer Joe Cantalupo's glimpse into the secret world of the late Mafia don, Joseph Columbo. Another triumph for veteran Mafia observer Thomas Renner." - John H. Davis, author. "With the publication of Body Mike, Tom Renner has produced another valuable contribution to the popular understanding of organized criminal activity, thus demonstrating once again why he is rightfully acknowledged to be the dean of investigative reporter/Mob biographers. Body Mike provides the reader with critical insights into the Cosa Nostra turbulence of the seventies and, as in Nick Pileggi's Wiseguy, artfully explains the fascinating phenomenon of how Mob associates can at the same time have a dozen money-making scams operatng and yet walk around penniless." - Ronald Goldstock, Director New York State Orgainized Crime Task Force. "A piercing look inside the greedy, grubby, vain and violent mind of the Mob. It's a world where no man can be trusted to keep his word, not even the Feds. A gripping primer for anyone who wants to know what the Mafia is really like." - Jim Polk, NBC News, National Investigative Correspondent. "Tome Renner has once again probed La Cosa Nostra and exposed its Machiavellian inner workings. Body Mike will become a classic text in the dymanmics of organized crime. Renner has once again proven why he is the capo de tutti capi of investigative reporters." - Frederick T. Martens, Executive Director Pennsylvania Crime Commission. "Body Mike offers a chilling look into the frightening reality of organized crime through the eyes of someone who has lived through it. Joseph Cantalupo proved to be an invaluable asset in our effort to run the Peerless Importer organization out of Arizona, subsequently blocking its spread throughout the West." - Robert Corbin, Arizona Attorney General. "Joseph Cantalupo was like a son to crime leader Joseph Colombo. He became personal notary to "chairman of the board" Carlo Gambino. He did business in partnership with Genovese crime-family boss Frank "Funzi" Tieri. Cantalupo was a young guy on his way up, a hustler confidant of top value to the Mafia - and to the FBI. Body Mike presents the startling, real-life mob revelations of Joseph Cantalupo, the most effective "wiseguy" informant in years, written in collaboration with Thomas C. Renner, best-selling coauthor of Vincent Teresa's My Life in the Mafia and Antoinette Giancanna's Mafia Princess. When the assassination of Joseph Colombo left a frightening power vacuum, Cantalupo succumbed to FBI pressure and agreed to serve as an undercover agent and state's witness against Mafia kingpins. For six years he wore a body mike in compromising situations and recorded incriminating conversations in secret late-night drives in his bugged Lincoln. He was an essential player in New York crime-buster Rudolph Giuliani's campaign to break the control of the Mafia, testifying in the Colombo family racketeering and the Commission trials, which put Mafia bosses in jail. In an unsparing expose, Joe Cantalupo takes you deep into real life and death - in the world of organized crime. Cantalupo saw it all and tells all: the gang rubouts, real estate scams, loansharking, heists, Mafia weddings and funerals. A marked man, he writes about the unsettling, often terrifying world of the informer, about living under the Witness Protection Program after his testimony and about his frustrated attempts to lead a normal life undercover." - excerpt from the inner front jacket flap.…