Prologue
Let me begin by saying that I’m just the author of this book. I just happened to hear and put down on paper the most incredible stories of the most incredible people I know. They belong to a different breed of men, they are alphas, they are fearless, and they are borderline crazy. They are goodfellas from Bensonhurst.
Believe it or not, when you meet them in person, they are the nicest people around; they laugh a lot, they have that cool old-school Italian swagger and attire that fascinates people so much. But don’t mistake their kindness for weakness—they will beat you senseless in seconds, throw your body into a dumpster and go back to drinking with their buddies like nothing happened. Some of them go away for several years; some just never get caught.
A lot of controversy surrounds them: rumors, tall tales—some of them are true, some are created by the vivid imagination of the crowd. But once a goodfella enters the room, everybody feels his presence. And even when you get too intimidated, you can’t show your fear; they have the senses of wild animals and will tear you apart right away.
Feel free to show your respect though, they like it, and if you happen to gain their trust and establish a friendly relationship with one of them through offering some free service or helping them out with something, you won’t regret it in the future. Just like in The Godfather, one hand always washes the other and believe me, when you get in trouble you want that hand to be there for you.
Yes, you can call them the bad guys, you can say that they make all their money by breaking the law (and the FBI will most certainly agree with you, otherwise they wouldn’t be spending their afternoons filming all the guests arriving at some funeral parlor or a wedding reception), but let me tell you the truth: they are people just like everybody else, and every single one of them has a reason for choosing the path that they did. It is what they do, not who they are.
And this was the main reason why I wanted to write down their stories, not just a regular dry biography based on the facts that everyone can get from the Internet or the FBI files, but real, true stories told by the people who were there. All the names, of course, were changed to protect the innocent; I don’t want anybody to go to jail because of the confessions they made. Enjoy!
The Brooklyn Boys Club Description:
Born and raised in Bensonhurst Brooklyn, Renzo has always been the craziest kid on the block: always first to sink a boat, to steal a car or to egg-bombard an unlucky cop. However, as he grows up, all his “stunts”, fearlessness and great personality attracts the attention of underground rulers of the heavily mob-associated neighborhood. Now Renzo and his friends have to decide for themselves if they want to become a part of the “family”… or create their own Brooklyn Boys “family”, where the first rule is that there are no rules.
Impossible to put down, The Brooklyn Boys Club is like a roller-coaster ride that will open the Italian-American side of New York City to you on a completely different level: you will laugh out loud, you’ll hold your breath and in the end you’ll fall in love with Renzo and his daredevils, who laugh in the face of danger and never play it safe or by the rules.
I would like to read the book