The Last Jewish Gangster: 1944-1969

📖 The Scoop

In this first of two true-crime biographies covering his life, you'll meet Michael J. Hardy, The Last Jewish Gangster. He has just been arrested in 1990 in La Jolla, California for a murder he committed in 1985. His jailed son Robert fingers him - he helped Michael bury the body. After hiring criminal defense attorney Jimmy Blatt, Michael recounts the first 25 years of his life to him under client-attorney privilege.Michael was born into a world of crime, starting out with having Bugsy Siegel as his godfather. His mother, through her mob connections, rose to become queen of NYC crime where she ran the city's largest bookmaking operation and doled out mob payoffs to dirty politicians, judges and cops. And she took suitcases filled with dirty money to Havana to launder in casinos for Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano and Joey Adonis.But what drives Michael J. Hardy all his life and makes him so fearless is his mother's rejection, as she chooses to love and run with famous gangsters rather than raise and nurture her son. Michael's heritage is a mix of Ukrainian Ashkenazic Jews and Southern Baptists and all the conflict that brings. You'll discover his unique code for dealing with the mob, his accomplices, his family, those he robbed, those who incarcerated him, betrayed him, tried to kill him, and those he killed.In this first book, he has run-ins with notables like JFK, mob bosses like Sonny Franzese, the Gottis (shot twice by them within 24 hours), and he ends his 24th year working for a gay drug lord as his pistolero while incarcerated in the world's most dangerous prison - where he took a counterfeiting rap for his mother.Sometimes comical, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes you have to look away, but you'll find yourself rooting for Michael J. Hardy, The Last Jewish Gangster.

Genre: Biography & Autobiography / Criminals & Outlaws (fancy, right?)