ALIAS BIG CHERRY: Confessions of a Master Criminal

by Robert H. Adleman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 14, 1973

Sylvan Scolnick, alias Big Cherry, is no ordinary criminal. For one thing he weighs 700 lbs., give or take a hundred. For another his intelligence, humor and generosity are well-nigh irresistible. Author Adleman who is quite aware of the current vogue to glamorize the Mafiosi and other bigtime hoods nonetheless confesses point blank: ""I like Sylvan Scolnick."" Big Cherry specialized in graft, embezzlement and intricate financial chicanery; banks, bankers and insurance companies were his pet targets. His fleecing operations were brilliantly planned and his schemes involved strategies worthy of a chess Grand Master. If Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's little-known brother, had turned his genius to crime perhaps he would have been a match for Big Cherry. Adleman views this massive and singular man from all sides and happily for the reader he doesn't try to reduce the psychological complexities of mind and motives to manageable proportions. Eventually one of the swindles backfired; a loyal henchman squealed and Big Cherry landed in the pen. End of the story? Not at all. His career inside was as amazing as his career outside. The DA's office at one point staged a surprise Christmas party in his honor. His friendship with the partner-in-crime who turned him in for what might have been a life sentence is still going strong. The book is filled with underworld color and Big Cherry's ""jobs"" will hold your interest like a top-notch thriller. Adleman has interviewed doctors and psychiatrists, prison officials and crooks in an attempt to get a handle on the fat man. But Big Cherry, speaking for and about himself, outclasses them all.

Pub Date: Sept. 14, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dial

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION