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| Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution | 
 enlarge | Author: T. J. English
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $13.99
You Save: $13.96 (50%)
New (54) Used (21) from $13.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  41 reviews
Sales Rank: 1382
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.5
ISBN: 0061147710
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.106097291
EAN: 9780061147715
ASIN: 0061147710
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Myopic View August 3, 2008
11 out of 19 found this review helpful
An interesting book, but alas, another attempt to romanticize the emerging organized crime fiefdom in Cuba. As one reviewer mentioned, the mob operated in Cuba at Batista's pleasure, not the other way around. Had that not been the case, the mob would have had a greater impact on the change in government in 1959, instead of losing their shirts. Cuba in the 40's and 50's was inundated with American investment - mostly from rapacious, "legitimate" US corporations. The big word missing in all these reviews is SUGAR. Cuba was and is a SUGAR island. The United Fruit Company, Hershey's, ITT, and other US companies were the primary players in Cuba's economy and Cuba had a sugar-based economy, with market prices artificially propped-up by the US government. The mob occupied a limited sphere in Havana. If you want to read the real Cuban story up to 1959, try the excellent scholarship by Hugh Thomas. His work "follows the money," which is the best way to understand any society.
 Havana Nocturne July 22, 2008
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
Book gave an excellent description of life before and after Castro regarding the Mob. Enjoyed the book, a good read.
Enjoyable, informative -- but I found the writing pretty poor. August 12, 2008
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
Enjoyed the book, learned from it, buzzed through it pretty quickly. But I found some of the writing pretty poor:
"He was like a Cheshire cat, his countenance without emotion" -- Though Lewis Carroll's cat didn't give away much, its predominant feature is a gigantic grin.
"there is no known photo of Lansky and Batista together, or any documents signed jointly by them. Their partnership seems to have existed on a near mystical plane, with each man knowing intuitively what the other required to manipulate the levers of power and create opportunities for personal remuneration." But they are known to have spoken to each other, which makes the relationship a touch less mystical.
"Lansky, age forty-four, was trim and tanned, as usual. His 5-foot-4-inch stature had earned him the nickname 'little man.' It was meant ironically: in his chosen profession as an underworld entrepreneur who specialized in gambling, Lansky was anything but little." but that's not really irony...
"commonly known as gangsterismo (gangsterism)." -- yes, I could have figured that out myself.
"When Batista heard this news, Smith detected a slight irregularity in his breathing, as if the Cuban dictator had been kicked in the testicles." What?
I felt that I came across poor similes, awkward phrasing, overblown description, odd/unnecessary translation etc. every couple few pages. Still enjoyed the book, but wish that it had been worked on a little more.
As a Cuban I'd like to clarify some issues July 31, 2008
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
Cuban born, and living in the Havana of the fifties during my teenage years, I find most of English's book to be factual, well researched and entertaining, but somewhat novelistic.
From an eye witness point of view, I disagree with some of the 'facts' presented in "Havana Nocturne."
For example, when Castro's revolutionaries were in the Sierra Maestra mountains fighting Batista, the Mafia to which the book refers, in order to be in good terms with the bloody dictator and at the same time with a potential Simon Bolivar, contributed (underhandedly of course)with thousands of dollars to Castro's revolution. Thus they were as responsible for their own demise, as most of us Cubans were.
The book misrepresents Castro as the son of a wealthy family, instead of the bastard son of a wealthy man and one of the household maids. From there, the communist egomaniac's hatred for Cuba's wealthy and middle classes.
Another book flaw is that Batista did not escape to Portugal but to the land of the chocolate soldier next door, Rafael L. Trujillo, owner and dictator of the Dominican Republic at the time.
It's also worth mentioning that the reasons for Cuban and most Latin American dictators to thrive in those days were because of they were endorsed by the US Government to protect its financial interests, and on the dark side, those of the mafia as well.
It's also important to note that historical ignorance, and the generalized apathy shown by the Cuban people toward government corruption
for over fifty years was the main reason that caused our beautiful country to become the private farm of the brothers Castro for over fifty years...and still counting.
Signed: Andrew Rodriguez, author of "Adios, Havana" a memoir.
 Cuba Libre? Fuhgedaboudit ! August 2, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
T.J. English serves up a fascinating brew of Mob lore and Cuban history in this hard-to-believe, difficult-to-put-down account of wiseguys in a Caribbean paradise. Led by criminal mastermind Meyer Lansky, legendary goodfellas Lucky Luciano and Santo Trafficante swooped in on Cuba after WWII in an effort to transform the island, ruled by the corrupt right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista, into a fiefdom of La Cosa Nostra. Establishing a string of glamorous casinos on the Havana waterfront, the mobsters created a gambler's paradise and a money launderer's dream. For a while, the casinos with their often salacious nightlife attracted mainstream American politicians (look for a shocker about JFK's visit to the island), writers, great mambo musicians, and ordinary Americans looking for a good time, and generated millions for the bad guys. The men who ran organized crime did not imagine that a tiny, very disorganized group of ragtag intellectuals under Fidel Casto, who launched his small and seemingly ludicrous "July 26 Movement" by invading Cuba's Sierra Maestra in a leaky boat, could stop them. But stop them he did -- and here is the often grim, occasionally hilarious, and ultimately incredible story of how. Eminently readable and highly recommended.
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