WISEGUYS

by Vincent Teresa ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 31, 1977

From his secret hiding place somewhere out there, ex-Mafioso government stoolie Teresa sends us this autobiographical orgy of bloodthirsty wish-fulfillment. Vinnie calls himself Johnny Forza, but the mob assassin out to get him is called Butch just like for real in Vinnie Teresa's Mafia (1975), and when the Feds ""terminate"" Johnny after the trial--no more protection--he's torn between running and going after boyhood buddy Butch. ""I could take him and mangle his goddam face and head."" But first Johnny wants to see his ""real high-style tomato"" Nancy, so he picks her up in N.Y., they hijack a trailerload of RCA TVs, they sell them to ""Abbie the Jew,"" they get Johnny's $600,000 stash out of Irving Trust, they head for Niagara Fails, Nancy is killed in an ambush, Johnny steals a car, kidnaps a kid, and flies back to N.Y. for a shoot-out with Butch in a Brooklyn garage. Teresa's not out to win any popularity contests. The Feds here are either jerks or crooks (""You half-fag. I'll screw your old lady in the mouth for two dollars,"" Johnny remarks to one of them), and big-mouth Johnny is mean, mean, mean. But fluently, almost musically florid. And smart. And brave. Shot in the arm, he tells Nancy: ""Ah, it's nothing. I got a little hole in me. Don't worry about it."" No, don't worry about it, unless there's a Vinnie Teresa fan club in the neighborhood.

Pub Date: Jan. 31, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION