What I'm Reading 4/3

I'm now reading another off-the-shelf whim, Blood Relation, by Eric Konigsberg (HarperCollins, 2005). It's a non-fiction book, a look at the life of the author's uncle, who, it turns out, was a rather serious mobster from the '40s up to the 60s. His name is Harold Konigsberg...aka Hesh, aka Hershey, aka Kayo! He's been in prison since the '60s and is kind of the author's family's "skeleton in the closet" that no one wanted to talk about. By the account in this book, he was one BAAAD dude in his heyday. The interesting twist to this account is that the family is Jewish. It's no big secret that there were Jewish mobsters; Meyer Lansky is one of the most famous mobsters bar none. So the book is a look at early Jewish immigrant history as well as a close look at a sociopath.

This book has an interesting resonance for me right now because I've been watching the Sopranos on DVD. Not having cable, I'd never seen the show until recently, but had always wanted to because I have a long-standing interest in the history of the mob. The anecdotes in the book certainly confirm much of the authenticity of the tv show. In fact, there's a Jewish Soprano associate who has the same name as the subject of this book...Hesh! However I'd say the Sopranos' Hesh is much less brutish than Kayo. And Kayo's stomping ground (word used advisedly) was in fact New Jersey.

So far, I must say, Kayo is a truly fascinating guy, scary but fascinating.