Saturday, 29 November 2008
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My Father, My Don
By Tony Napoli, Charles Messina
see relatedAbout Tony Napoli’s rollercoaster account of family legend & organized crime
My Father, My Don: A Son’s Journey from Organized Crime to Sobriety
Tony “Tony Nap” Napoli is the son of one of the most powerful and respected organized crime leaders of the modern era. Tony’s father was Genovese Family Capo, James “Jimmy Nap” Napoli—a mob kingpin who ruled over the largest gambling empire in America for almost 40 years.
Tony’s autobiography is a bold recounting of the confidential world that he and his father inhabited. In candid, no-holds-barred language, Tony describes his life as boxer, army soldier, enforcer, casino boss, fugitive, hustler, and offspring to one of the most powerful mobsters of the century.
His story is not only about the spellbinding dealings of the Napoli empire, but also—and equally important—the singularly cherished relationship he had with his father, his don. Tony Napoli’s rollercoaster account of family legend and organized crime followed by his turnaround focus on sobriety and civic contribution is a narrative of our time.
About Tony Napoli –
Tony grew up in Brooklyn and has had a checkered life as a soldier, a boxer, an enforcer, a casino boss, a fugitive, and a hustler. Finally, after a brutal attack against a young man who sexually abused his daughter, Tony was sentenced to a period at a VA hospital. During these years, Tony cleaned himself up, successfully completing a sobriety program, becoming pivotal in the rights-for-veterans movement, and helping former boxers get counseling and other services.
Visit Tony's website for a Napoli photo gallery - http://www.napoli.beckhamhouse.comI asked Tony if there were any difficulties in writing about such a frank and controversoal issue as growing up in a crime family and how his family reacted to the news that he was writing such a tell-all account:
My Story is a TRUE story. My staff of writer's assisted me in verifying all the facts from newspaper articles, books that mention my father's activities, books that mention my activities, FBI files, local police records and confirmed information from the Internet, relatives and close friends. My Father is deceased since December, 29, 1992. If he were alive today, I would never have published my book. The deal I made with him was "not to write or publish my story while he was alive, and if I outlived him, then I could do as I wanted." As far as any slander claims, I was careful not to introduce any characters in my story that might file a claim. And, if anyone should try, then they will have to take the stand in a court of law and swear on the bible. I'm not worried about that, because the people I mention are not about to do that. The Statute of Limitations has run out on all of my crimes.
My immediate family encouraged and assisted me financially in publishing my book. Their only request is that I tell the world, how I left the mob and found SOBRIETY and a better way of life. They want other families to know how to live with a recovering alcoholic, and, how I'm making amends by helping others, (Veterans, ex-boxers who need medical assistance after retirement and recovering alcoholics.)
I, also, paid my debt to society in the form of doing time for the crimes I committed and for which I got caught. Just like that punk in the first chapter of my book. He assaulted one of my daughters in the hallway of the college, they both attended at the time. He confessed to that on the witness stand, and got only one year probation. I got three and a half years, for taking the law into my own hands, when I cut his testicles. It's the Italian tradition, in making an example of a rapist. I did not follow the tradition to a tee, because I was supposed to cut his penis off, and put it in his mouth. With all the blood on the floor, I couldn't find it to complete my task. I showed the love I have for all my children, and how I will always protect their honor.
I have four daughters and one son. I was able to talk to my daughter, the one who was assaulted, to let me use that incident in my story. She agreed, because it became the turning point in my life. When the judge sentenced me to three and a half years in the hospital ward at the VA Hospital in Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, NY, I found Sobriety and a better way in life. My daughter is a school teacher with two Masters, and happily married. Because, of my sobriety, which I has been a big part of my life for the past 15 years, I've turned all of my assets over to my wife and children. This is the way for me, to make amends for all the harm I caused them, during my drinking years. In the past, I was involved in the mob life, and that didn't help matters. All of the mob bosses I mention in my story are deceased. I was very careful not to introduce anymore characters, like brothers and sisters. Let them keep their privacy and stay close to their immediate families. That way their will be no defamation of character. I really have nothing good to say about them anyway.
I'd have to thank my mother, who died of cancer in 1962, when she was only 47 years old. When I was a teenager, she said to me "Brother," that's the nickname she gave me when I was born,
"you should be a writer." I went to Catholic grammar school, where I was able to learn good penmanship. She always sat down with me in the evening to help me with my homework and was very impressed with the way I structured my work.I would like to thank my wife, Laura, who saved years of Newspaper articles about me and my father. I was able to use these articles for my story. Everything is documented in one way or another to prove it's authenticity.
As a volunteer, I continue in helping Veterans with their compensation cases, and ex-boxers with their financial and medical problems. When I wrote this book, I often thought of my father, when he used to say, "You can use my name, but sometimes it will get you a subpoena."
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