The Plumber

Who is worse? The mobsters or the government? It's hard to tell after reading this book. Joe Salerno went through absolute torture. Excellent eye-opening book.

This book is a real eye opener about how organized crime uses the "average Joe" to complement its criminal ranks. Salerno was a professionally licensed plumber who dabbled on the fringes with gambling and numbers and was inadvertently sucked into being a witness to a full fledged "mob hit".The story appears to be highly credible in my opinion. Salerno appears to have been used by the mob as a layer of deniability.By making him a witness to the murder,the Philly mafia could later use him as an alibi.Salerno however reported the crime,when the FBI divulged to Salerno that the mob had put him on a "hit" list.A real lose-lose-lose situation for Salerno.The latter section of the book is given to Salerno's manueverings in the "Witness Protection" program which is a book itself.Apparently this "program" at times isn't efficiently(or competently)? run,thus endangering the lives of the participants and subjecting them to unnecessary humiliations(besides the necessary ones). So now your asking,"Does Salernos' wife hit him in the head with a frying pan and do his kids and relatives turn on him?". Read the book and find out.This book I would recommend in regard to the importance of cleaning up the bureaucratic screw-ups of the Witness Protection programs.Some of these situations Salerno gets into after he wisely turns States Evidence would be hilarious if they weren't so dangerous.This tale is highly believable(to be redundent) and a smooth easy read.

An excellent book,how one small time man can bring down a large powerfull organisation,very well detailed, leaving you in no doubt as to the strugle that the plumber and his family had to go through, the court transcripts at the end are and added bonus that i enjoyed very much