Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jimmy Breslin is at it again, telling some of his favorite mob stories in "The Good Rat." The center of the book is Burton Kaplan, the titular rodent and star witness in the recent trial of the New York Police Department's so-called "Mafia cops." Using Burton Kaplan as a way into New York's mob, Breslin takes us on a broader tour of the underworld. We meet famous mobsters like Sammy "The Bull" Gravano and "Gaspipe" Casso. (Guess what his favorite weapon was). But there's also Thomas "Three-Finger Brown" Lucchese, and Jimmy "The Clam" Eppolito, and many of the guys who hung out at Pep McGuire's, a mob-friendly Queens bar. Breslin even takes us inside the world of John Gotti on the night he celebrated his infamous acquittal at the Ravenite Social Club on Mulberry Street in Little Italy. (He basically bribed his way to innocence.) All of this is told with Breslin's inimitable grit and humor, proving that after all these decades, Breslin is still a must read. ($24.95 / 288 pages / Ecco)
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