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Being Oscar
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Tony Spilotro was the Mob's man in Las Vegas. A feared enforcer, the bosses knew Tony would do whatever it took to protect their interests. The "Little Guy" built a criminal empire that was the envy of mobsters across the country, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta, helped him do it. But Tony's quest for power and lack of self-control with women cost the Mob its control of Vegas; and Tony paid for it with his life.
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A real-life story of love and betrayal set in America's favorite playground, Casino is a Mafia tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, as well as the inside account of just how the mob lost control of the neon money-making machine it created.
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Waste of free credit
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Double Cross
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One of the most feared Chicago mobsters, Sam Giancana, clawed his way to the top of the Mafia hierarchy by starting as a hit man for Al Capone. He was known as one of the best vehicle escape artists, a tenacious business man, and a ruthless killer. He partied with major stars such as Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe and did business with agents ranging from the CIA to the Vatican to the shah of Iran. When politician Joe Kennedy gave Giancana the chance to use mob muscle to get his son John elected, Giancana jumped at the task.
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Boss of Bosses
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Vegas and the Mob
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- Narrated by: Jason Sullivan
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4 out of 5 stars 54
Las Vegas was the Mob's greatest venture and most spectacular success, and through 40 years of frenzy, murder, deceit, scams, and skimming, the FBI listened on phone taps and did virtually nothing to stop the fun. This is the truth about the Mob's control of the casinos in Vegas like you've never heard it before, from start to finish.
-
3 out of 5 stars
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From Bugsy to Binion
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The Rise and Fall of a "Casino" Mobster
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- Narrated by: Clay Lomakayu
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 203
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 192
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 190
Tony Spilotro was the Mob's man in Las Vegas. A feared enforcer, the bosses knew Tony would do whatever it took to protect their interests. The "Little Guy" built a criminal empire that was the envy of mobsters across the country, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta, helped him do it. But Tony's quest for power and lack of self-control with women cost the Mob its control of Vegas; and Tony paid for it with his life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A terrific listen. Author and narrator were Great
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Grandissimo: The First Emperor of Las Vegas
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- By: David G. Schwartz
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- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 245
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 219
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Story4 out of 5 stars 223
Sarno's casinos - and his ideas about how to build casinos - created the template for Las Vegas today. Before him, Las Vegas meant dealers in string ties and bland, functional architecture. He taught the city how to dress up its hotels in fantasy, putting toga dresses on cocktail waitresses and making sure that even the stationery carried through with the theme. He saw Las Vegas as a place where ordinary people could leave their ordinary lives and have extraordinary adventures.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Listen - Thanks to Dr. Dave
- By Andrew on 09-08-14
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Casino
- Love and Honor in Las Vegas
- By: Nicholas Pileggi
- Narrated by: Ron Leibman, Fred Neumann, Ken Weitzman
- Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 173
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 144
A real-life story of love and betrayal set in America's favorite playground, Casino is a Mafia tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, as well as the inside account of just how the mob lost control of the neon money-making machine it created.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Waste of free credit
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Blood Aces
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- Narrated by: John McLain
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 135
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 123
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 123
The astonishing story of Benny Binion - a rip-roaring saga of murder, money, and the making of Las Vegas. Benny Binion was many things: a cowboy, a pioneering casino owner, a gangster, a killer, and founder of the hugely successful World Series of Poker. Blood Aces tells the story of Binion's crucial role in shaping modern Las Vegas. From a Texas backwater, Binion rose to prominence on a combination of vision, determination, and brutal expediency.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not much new
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Double Cross
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- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 98
One of the most feared Chicago mobsters, Sam Giancana, clawed his way to the top of the Mafia hierarchy by starting as a hit man for Al Capone. He was known as one of the best vehicle escape artists, a tenacious business man, and a ruthless killer. He partied with major stars such as Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe and did business with agents ranging from the CIA to the Vatican to the shah of Iran. When politician Joe Kennedy gave Giancana the chance to use mob muscle to get his son John elected, Giancana jumped at the task.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Boss of Bosses
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Mafia Spies
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- Narrated by: Fred Stella
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story5 out of 5 stars 26
Mafia Spies is the definitive account of America’s most remarkable espionage plots ever - with CIA agents, mob hitmen, “kompromat” sex, presidential indiscretion, and James Bond-like killing devices together in a top-secret mystery full of surprise twists and deadly intrigue. In the early 1960s, two top gangsters, Johnny Roselli and Sam Giancana, were hired by the CIA to kill Cuba’s Communist leader, Fidel Castro, only to wind up murdered themselves amidst Congressional hearings and a national debate about the JFK assassination.
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2 out of 5 stars
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So-So
- By Scott on 06-13-19
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The Sinatra Club
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- By: Sal Polisi, Steve Dougherty
- Narrated by: Pete Simonelli
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 166
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 153
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 153
The Mob was the biggest, richest business in America...until it was destroyed from within by drugs, greed, and the decline of its traditional crime family values. And by guys like Sal Polisi. As a member of New York's feared Colombo Family, Polisi ran the Sinatra Club, an illegal after-hours gambling den that was a magic kingdom of crime and a hangout for up-and-coming mobsters. But the nonstop thrills of Polisi's criminal glory days abruptly ended.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The gangster with a heart of gold...
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The Outsiders' Guide to Las Vegas
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- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story5 out of 5 stars 68
Along with "what happens here stays here" and "Circus Circus isn't that bad", one of the biggest Las Vegas myths is that so-called insiders are the city's best sources of tips, reviews, and information. Often, however, obsessive Las Vegas visitors offer more trustworthy suggestions and accurate insights about the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great information and very entertaining
- By JKLM on 01-16-16
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Made Men
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- By: Greg B. Smith
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 57
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4 out of 5 stars 52
For years, the DeCavalcantes, the most powerful Mob family in Jersey, labored in the shadows of the more famous families in New York - the likes of the Gambinos and the Columbos. Dismissed by the big-city capos, the DeCavalcantes finally came into their own when they found their lives mirrored in the television hit, The Sopranos. Overnight it legitimized the made men of the Garden State. Now they were a familia to be reckoned with. Unfortunately with high profile came high risk.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Captivating! I couldn't put it down...
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The Righteous Mind
- Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
- By: Jonathan Haidt
- Narrated by: Jonathan Haidt
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,522
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,672
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,583
In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition - the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right.
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4 out of 5 stars
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This should give you pause.
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The Gambler
- How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History
- By: William C. Rempel
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 366
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 330
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Story5 out of 5 stars 327
The rags-to-riches story of one of America's wealthiest and least-known financial giants, self-made billionaire Kirk Kerkorian - the daring aviator, movie mogul, risk taker, and business tycoon who transformed Las Vegas and Hollywood to become one of the leading financiers in American business. Kerkorian combined the courage of a World War II pilot, the fortitude of a scrappy boxer, the cunning of an inscrutable poker player, and an unmatched genius for making deals.
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4 out of 5 stars
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An Engrossing Biography
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Mafia Prince
- Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family and the Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra
- By: Phillip Leonetti, Scott Burnstein, Christopher Graziano
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 912
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 827
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 826
Mafia Prince is the first-person account of one of the most violent eras in Mafia history - "Little" Nicky Scarfo’s reign as boss of the Philly family in the 1980s - written by Scarfo’s underboss and nephew, "Crazy" Phil Leonetti. The youngest-ever underboss at the age of 31, Leonetti was at the crux of the violent downfall of the traditional American Mafia in the 1980s when he infiltrated Atlantic City after gambling was legalized, and later turned state’s evidence against his own.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Guilty pleasure.
- By Nurture Learners and Able Observers on 03-28-14
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When Corruption Was King
- How I Helped the Mob Rule Chicago, Then Brought the Outfit Down
- By: Robert Cooley
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
This is the story of a Mob lawyer turned mole with a million-dollar contract on his head, a man who has clanged back and forth between sin and sainthood like a church bell clapper - a turbulent youth, a stint on Chicago's police force, law school, and then the inner sanctum of Chicago's leading mobsters and corrupt political officials. With wild abandon he chased crooked acquittals for the likes of Pat Marcy, an Al Capone protégé, who had become the Mob's key political operative.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I great read about Chicago and the mob
- By Stephen A. Isaacs on 03-03-15
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Ghost
- My Thirty Years as an FBI Undercover Agent
- By: Michael R. McGowan, Ralph Pezzullo
- Narrated by: Mike Dawson
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 280
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 264
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 261
Within FBI field operative circles, groups of people known as “Special” by their titles alone, Michael R. McGowan is an outlier. Over the course of his career, McGowan has worked more than 50 undercover cases. In this extraordinary and unprecedented book, McGowan will take listeners through some of his biggest cases, from international drug busts to the Russian and Italian mobs to biker gangs and contract killers to corrupt unions and SWAT work. Ghost is an unparalleled view into how the FBI, through the courage of its undercover Special Agents, nails the bad guys.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting story, but narration eh
- By Ahdumb on 10-06-18
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Top Hoodlum
- Frank Costello, Prime Minister of the Mafia
- By: Anthony M. DeStefano
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 39
Using newly released FBI files, eyewitness accounts, and family mementos, Top Hoodlum takes you inside the Mafia that Frank Costello helped build from the ground up, from small-time bootlegging and gambling to a nationwide racketeering empire. Sometimes shocking, sometimes amusing, and always riveting, these are the stories that have inspired American crime classics like The Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos. This is the man who made the Mafia such a powerful force in our nation's history. This is Top Hoodlum.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent look at Frank Costello
- By Jeffery D. Giuliani on 08-14-18
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Chin
- The Life and Crimes of Mafia Boss Vincent Gigante
- By: Larry McShane
- Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 90
Vincent "Chin" Gigante. He started out as a professional boxer - until he found his true calling as a ruthless contract killer. His doting mother's pet name for the boy evolved into his famous alias, "Chin", a nickname that struck fear throughout organized crime as he routinely ordered the murders of mobsters who violated the Mafia code. Vincent Gigante was hand-picked by Vito Genovese to run the Genovese Family when Vito was sent to prison. Chin raked in more than $100 million for the Genovese Family, all while evading federal investigators.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Not as good as others
- By KMRKR on 02-05-17
-
Blood Covenant
- The Michael Franzese Story
- By: Michael Franzese
- Narrated by: Michael Franzese
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 261
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 230
A sworn member of the Colombo crime family in New York City, Michael Franzese was considered the biggest moneymaker in the mob since Al Capone. At age 35, he was number 18 on Fortune Magazine's list of the 50 most wealthy and powerful Mafia bosses in America. But then he did the unthinkable. He quit the mob. Franzese met Camille Garcia, who turned his world upside down with her innocent beauty. He fell in love with her, married her, and began a new life that didn't include the Mafia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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interesting book
- By ron on 03-12-14
Publisher's Summary
In Being Oscar, one of America's most celebrated criminal defense attorneys recounts the stories and cases of his epic life. The Mafia's go-to defender, he has tried an estimated 300 criminal cases, and won most of them. Goodman's roster of clients reads like a history of organized crime: Meyer Lansky, Nicky Scarfo, and "Lefty" Rosenthal, as well as Mike Tyson and boxing promoter Don King, along with a midget, a dentist, and a federal judge.
After 35 years as a defender, Goodman ran for mayor of Las Vegas, and America's greatest Mob lawyer became the mayor of its sexiest city. He was so popular his image appeared on the $5, $25, and $100 chips. While mayor of Vegas, Goodman starred on the big screen in Rush Hour 2 and on TV in CSI. He is as large a character in the history of organized crime as any of his clients and as legendary a figure in the history of Las Vegas as the entrepreneurs (his friends and clients) who built the city. This is his astonishing story - the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
What members say
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
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4 out of 5 stars
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- Eric Schurr
- Boston, MA
- 11-16-14
Not as good as I expected
This book is moderately interesting, but I got bored with it and returned it. After a while all the stories pretty much sounded the same, and his voice isn't the easiest to listen to after a while.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Octalpus
- 09-17-14
Somewhat interesting bio; lousy performance
How did the narrator detract from the book?
Goodman's narration was like that of a kid reading aloud from an assigned book in English class. Phrasing and emphasis were largely random.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Donald Howard
- 02-23-17
great story
it always fascinates me hearing the stories of mob lawyers. these are amazingly talented guys. an inspiration to young lawyers like me
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Carl
- 07-28-16
Oscar is my hero
I am native to LV and I remember Oscar as the 2nd best mayor in LV history. (1st being Carolyn). this book is true to the attitude of Vegas and so is Oscar. I would recommend this to anyone who wants some insight into why many of us say that mob-run Vegas was safer and better than government run Vegas. of you're. a local you'll be surprised by how much Oscar really did for LV but o can assure you no one else has done so much.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Dana
- 06-29-15
Found Stories to be good... Reader, not so good
What did you love best about Being Oscar?
All the stories and interaction he had with most of the mob individuals.
What other book might you compare Being Oscar to and why?
None come to mind at this time...
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
Had someone else read the book. His stories are interesting but his reading takes away from the story some.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, listen to while driving back and forth to work
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Shelly Dee
- 08-10-14
Wow!
If you could sum up Being Oscar in three words, what would they be?
I never heard of this guy before, but what an amazing life he has had! What's the audio equivalent of a page-turner? Whatever that is, this book is.