Gangster's Cousin

The autobiography of a member of Charles "e;Lucky"e; Luciano's Mafia family. "e;The reader gets a real sense of code, of honor, courage and commitment"e; (London TV). "e;I was born an outlaw in outlaw culture. I refused to be forced into the powerless class of the ordinary, law-abiding citizen. I always saw things from outside the box because I was born outside the box, so I was free to think for myself."e;Born in 1942, Salvatore "e;Sal"e; Lucania was not only raised but educated by the streets of East Harlem. Dropping out of his Catholic high school at fifteen after punching out a priest, a formal education was not Sal's future. As such, it would have been easy to fall into the trappings of "e;made man"e; status in the mafia, like his cousin Charles "e;Lucky"e; Luciano. But Sal had a different vision of the future, if he could just escape the confines of his neighborhood and defy the ways of the people in power: the bullies, the "e;ruling class,"e; local government corruption and his own mafia family culture in order to create a different life than the one fate might have otherwise intended. The Gangster's Cousin is a wonderfully different take on the usual Mafia story. Sal's memoir takes the reader on a sometimes exciting, sometimes poignant, and often humorous adventure as he finds himself in unbelievable situations and meeting an array of unique and funny characters along the way. Follow Sal's one-of-a-kind perspective and find out why he strives so hard to stay ahead of a different type of criminal class the people who make the rules.