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About The Book

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author of Missing Beauty comes a fascinating inside look at the mafia.

Growing up among racketeers on the Lower East Side of New York City, Arlyne Brickman associated with mobsters. Drawn to the glamorous and flashy lifestyle, she was soon dating "wiseguys" and running errands for them; but after years as a mob girlfriend, Arlyne began to get in on the action herself—eventually becoming a police informant and major witness in the government's case against the Colombo crime family.

About The Author

Photo Credit: Marion Ettlinger

Teresa Carpenter, editor of New York Diaries: 1609-2009, is a former senior editor of the Village Voice where her articles on crime and the law won a Pulitzer Prize. She is the bestselling author of four books and lives in New York City with her husband, author Steven Levy, a senior writer at Wired magazine.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (December 13, 2016)
  • Length: 288 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781501166129

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Raves and Reviews

“A chronicle of savage callousness in a world where bestial behavior is commonplace. . . . Carpenter’s complexly detailed characterization of Brickman is powerful.”

– The Chicago Tribune

“The female counterpart of the pseudonymous Henry Hill, the star of Wiseguy. . . . An insider’s view of mob life that is by turns comic and chilling.”

– The Los Angeles Times

“Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Carpenter has done a superb rendering of Brickman’s story. . . . Vividly re-creates Brickman's exhilaration over her triumphs and pain over her defeats in her pursuit of the mob girl lifestyle.”

– Library Journal

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