American Gangster: And Other Tales of New York

This title can easily be misconstrued, for "American Gangster" is much more than a simple crime story, even though the rise and fall of legendary Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas is chronicled in the first chapter. This book is comprised of a series of articles the author had written over the years for New York magazine and the Village Voice describing life in the city of New York and the people who made it tick. In addition to profiles of such celebrated luminaries as U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel and jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, the reader is introduced to Patty Huston, a one-man crime wave dubbed "the last Irish cowboy of Sunnyside (Queens)"; Jason Itzler, the nice Jewish boy who ran a $25,000-a-night prostitution ring from a Soho loft; the homeboys from Harlem who produced "Dead Roses," the 'hood's version of "Night of the Living Dead," this one taking place in the city's housing projects. The sleaziness of East Fourteenth Street and Third Avenue, where drug dealing and prostitution were rampant, is recalled in the years before the area was virtually taken over by NYU and such stalwart landmarks as the Academy of Music and Julian's Pool Hall were gutted and replaced with dormitories. The diversity of the subject matter ranges from the humble, hard-working hispanic couple who emigrated to the U.S. and opened up a successful cigar store in Manhattan's Flower District, to the gang wars which ripped Chinatown apart in the Seventies and Eighties, to the daily goings-on at the now-defunct Dover Garage on Hudson Street (upon which the sitcom "Taxi" was based). This is one of the few collections in which I found every chapter interesting, due in large part to Mr. Jacobson's gifted writing. I would strongly recommend "American Gangster" to anyone who would like to know what the pre-gentrified city was really like (although there is a chapter on 9/11) or even for those who, such as myself, remember it quite vividly.

People who read Pete Hamill will love Mark Jacobson. I purchased the book because I saw the film, American Gangster, and discovered that the book is a collection of Jacobson's writings from New York Magazine and the Village Voice. Like Hamill, he makes the city come alive in all of its splendor, tawdriness, cruelty, and magnificence. The stories are all true, and if the reader didn't know that upfront, credibilty could be an issue. Some of the people who populate these pages are unreal in the extreme but extraordinarily riveting in their portrayal. The best essay in the book is not about crime. It is about the author's house.....the house that his mother sold after his father's death. That is, without exception, one of the most insightful memoirs of family and place that I have read in a long time. That esssay alone made me keep the book rather than pass it on to the Friends of the Library resale rack. Having read this collection of essays, I now actively search out anything this author has written. He is that good.

Chapter 1 of the book features the story of legendary gangster Frank Lucas (now made famous by the movie American Gangster), but it delves deeper into the lives and culture of a few select people that help make New York an eclectic and mesmerizing city. You will walk away from this book satisfied, but longing to learn more.