"Wiseguys and the White House is an eye-opening, authoritative, remarkably detailed exposé of the interplay between organized crime and our presidents, shockingly revealing how close we have come to Mob rule."--Ronald Kessler, New York Times bestselling author of The Secrets of the FBI and The First Family Detail
"Mobsters and presidents? The ties aren't just in pulp fiction. Eric Dezenhall tracks down the startling deals and deceptions that both sides might prefer to keep secret--from FDR to JFK to Trump."--Susan Page, New York Times bestselling author of Madam Speaker
A "connected" account of how the Mob has worked with America's Commanders in Chief and have influenced the presidency for nearly a century.
Gangsters and presidents have long captured the American imagination, but how much does the underworld actually affect presidential power? How deep are their "connections"? As Eric Dezenhall reveals in this eye-opening history, in some instances, one couldn't have functioned without the other. From Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Richard Nixon to Joseph R. Biden, the mob has done presidential dirty work, including attempts to assassinate foreign leaders, harass America's enemies, and put our chief executives in office.
Wiseguys and the White House documents when mobsters and presidents have traded favors--and double-crossed each other, including:
- The deal cut with Lucky Luciano to protect the waterfront during World War II.
- How the Chicago Outfit (and Frank Sinatra) got one Kennedy elected, only to be pursued by another.
- How LBJ and the FBI used a mob hitman to hunt down the killers of Civil Rights activists in Mississippi
- Reagan's association with Lew Wasserman, the powerful and influential Hollywood mogul
- Trump's blatant ties to construction and gambling cartels
- Biden's early links to "the Irishman" Frank Sheeran, the labor union official and enforcer for Jimmy Hoffa and Russell Bufalino.
- And more
Combining exhaustive research, including newly released government records and the private recollections of leading gangsters, Wiseguys and the White House offers insight into the myths about the power in America and the drive for recognition and respectability that unites consiglieri and commanders-in-chief alike.
Wiseguys and the White House includes 65 black-and-white photographs throughout.
About the Author :
Eric Dezenhall is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction. He founded one of the nation's first crisis management firms and worked in the White House, where President Reagan once called him "Derek." His organizational skills were deemed insufficient for membership in organized crime, but he's really trying. He lives outside of Washington, DC.
Review :
"Wiseguys and the White House is a remarkable work of investigative journalism which not only uncovers the multitude of mob fingerprints left all over the Oval Office, but in the telling of that story gives us a compelling, factual, inside history of the real gangsters who reigned from the end of prohibition into the 21st century. Eric Dezenhall is a superior and witty writer working with impeccable mob scholar credentials--having had, for example, unlimited access to Meyer Lansky's personal records and diaries." - Paul Dickson, author of The Rise of the G.I. Army 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor
"Strange bedfellows doesn't begin to tell the story of Wiseguys and the White House. This is a fast-paced and fascinating look at a dark side of American history, a political primer that isn't part of Poly-Sci 101. Goodfellas, it turns out, have ALWAYS been bedfellas." - George Anastasia, author of Gotti's Rules
"Entertaining history in which mobsters often come off better than presidents." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Eric Dezenhall treads new literary ground with this book. The writing is sharp and agile, and the insights are well earned. Read it, and you might find yourself surprised by the fine line between the underworld and the upperword in American history. You might even be disturbed. But most of all, in Dezenhall's hands, you will be highly entertained by this fresh, bracing expose of the dark side of American politics." - T.J.English, New York Times best-selling author of Havana Nocturne and The Last Kilo
"Equal parts entertaining and informative, Eric Dezenhal's new book explores the connections between those who made it to the White House and those who made it to the Big House. . . . From FDR's wartime partnership with racketeers to foil Nazi sabotage, to JFK's sub-rosa use of the Mafia to bring down Cuba's Castro, to how a mob-connected union heavy helped advance the early career of President Joe Biden. One of the country's true experts on the mob, Eric does a masterful job of penetrating both the code of Omertà and the secrets of the state in writing this revealing book." - James Bamford, bestselling author of The Puzzle Palace, Body of Secrets, and SpyFail
"Wiseguys and the White House is an eye-opening, authoritative, remarkably detailed exposé of the interplay between organized crime and our presidents, shockingly revealing how close we have come to Mob rule." - Ronald Kessler, New York Times bestselling author of The Secrets of the FBI and The First Family Detail
"In this fascinating and wholly original book, Eric Dezenhall excavates the long and troubling history of the Mafia's octopus-like reach into that most storied of America's residences, the White House--and vice versa. With painstaking research, keen intelligence, and acute analysis, Dezenhall illuminates the mutually beneficial relationship between presidents and gangsters that has helped to define the modern era. From FDR's WWII enlistment of Lucky Luciano to guard the New York waterfront from saboteurs, to the Chicago Outfit's efforts to secure the presidency for JFK, to Trump and Biden's connections with Irish and Italian mafioso, nobody emerges unscathed. Dezenhall has gifted readers with the essential shadow history of the American presidency over the past eighty-plus years." - Corey Mead, author of The Hidden History of the White House
"A cautionary tale about the mob's role in American presidencies that has the considerable virtue of being true." - Laurence Leamer, New York Times bestselling author of The Kennedy Men
"Impeccably sourced and brilliantly written, Dezenhall provides a tour de force of the shadowy hypocritical world where mobsters and our apex political leaders have intersected over generations. Eye popping revelations in shocking detail jump off the page in every chapter." - Richard Ben-Veniste, Watergate special prosecutor, author The Emperor's New Clothes
"Mobsters and presidents? The ties aren't just in pulp fiction. Eric Dezenhall tracks down the startling deals and deceptions that both sides might prefer to keep secret--from FDR to JFK to Trump." - Susan Page, New York Times bestselling author of Madam Speaker
