| Ride a Tiger is the kind of spellbindingnovel that comes along all too rarely Theghetto of New York s Lower East Side, thetrenches of World War I, hijackings at seaduring Prohibition, pre- and post-CastroCuba, Israel, and Las Vegas are only a fewof its dramatic backdrops. And always atits center is the figure of Leo Gorodetsky,loyal to his friends, ruthless to his ene-mies, the only Jew to rise to the highestcouncils of the Mafia. Born to poverty at the turn of the cen-tury, Leo might have, at another time andanother place, become president of a giantcorporation. Instead he turns his brilliantbusiness mind and organizational talentsto defying the law. In his own words,"Gambling is a business. Entered into forprofit, just as a farmer grows corn forprofit. It is a business endeavor no differ-ent from General Motors, or the telephonecompany,or the corner drugstore." He has learned his lessons from the bot-tom up first when he drops out of schoolat fifteen to manage a neighborhood crapsgame. then in the state reformatory, wherehe has been sent after his boss s wife hassexually induced him to join her in a fool-ish scheme, and finally on the battlefieldsof France, where he discovers what hero-ism really means. |
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