Sam Giancana: The Rise and Fall of a Chicago Mobster, Paperback

Sent to the reformatory at the age of 10, Sicilian-American Sam Giancana lived a gilded life as mobster and mob boss at a pivotal point in history when the mafia decided who ruled America, who lived, and who died. Born in 1908, in The Patch, Chicago, Giancana joined the Forty-Two gang of lawless juvenile punks in 1921 and quickly proved himself as a skilled 'wheel man' (or getaway driver), extortionist, and vicious killer. Called up to the ranks of the Outfit, he reputedly held talks with the CIA about assassinating Fidel Castro, shared a girlfriend with John F. Kennedy, and had friends in high places, including Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Shirley Mac Laine, Marilyn Monroe and, some say, the Kennedys, although he fell out with them. The story of Sam Giancana will overturn many of your beliefs about America during the Kennedy era. If you want to know Giancana's role in the brother's deaths, and more of the intrigue surrounding that of Marilyn Monroe, this book will fill you in on the murky lives of many shady characters who really ruled the day, both in Chicago and elsewhere.