The Washington Times published
my review of The Sopranos Sessions.
Being half-Italian and having
grown up in South Philadelphia, the center of the Philadelphia-New Jersey Cosa
Nostra crime family, I knew or knew of a good number of South Philly and Jersey
wise guys. As a crime reporter and columnist for a South Philadelphia
newspaper, I covered mob murders, FBI and police investigations, and
internecine mob wars back in the 1990s.
More recently, I interviewed
Ralph Natale, the former Philadelphia-New Jersey mob boss who became a
cooperating witness, as well as Philip Leonetti, another cooperating witness
who was former Philadelphia-New Jersey mob boss Nicodemo “Little Nicky”
Scarfo’s nephew and underboss. (I reviewed both of their books here).
Watching HBO’s “The Sopranos”
from the beginning of the series in January of 1999, I saw a cast of characters
that were very familiar to me (I especially liked Tony Sirico’s “Paulie
Walnuts” character). From the clever crooks and viscous murderers to the dim
and clueless criminals, I found their language, violence, nonstop hustling and
Machiavellian manipulation to be mostly realistic. I also liked the mobsters’
humor, as mob guys can be very funny — intentionally and unintentionally.
Although I thought “The
Sopranos” should have wrapped up a season or two earlier, and I disliked the
finale, I was and am a huge fan of the TV crime series. I recently rewatched
season one, which is the best season of the show, in my view.
… The
book is perhaps everything you’ve ever wanted to know about “The Sopranos.” The
authors offer recaps of every episode, a variety of essays and the authors’
newspaper articles from 1999 to 2007. The book also offers a series of
long-form Q&As with the series’ creator, David Chase. Mr. Chase, an
Italian-American whose family name was originally DeCesare, worked on “The
Rockford Files” and “Northern Exposure” before creating “The Sopranos.”
You can read the rest of the
review via the below link:
