Book Review – Mob Fest ’29: The True Story of the Birth of Organized Crime

Mob Fest ’29: The True Story of the Birth of Organized Crime was written by veteran mob writer Bill Tonelli, and while I don’t think this is a great book, it is certainly an excellent book that deserves your attention. Tonelli has written about organized crime for the New York Times, Slate, and Philadelphia Magazine, as well as several full-length books on the subject, an impressive resume to be sure, and none of which is wet behind the ears when it comes to the mob. . .

I would have given this book 4 ½ stars if that were possible, but since it’s not listed as an Amazon option, I gave it a full five stars.

It’s infuriating and I really don’t understand the caustic one star reviews that appear on the review page for this book. Saying that Mob Fest ’29 is misspelled can be an opinion, but it can also be a vendetta. Look up the term sock puppeteers and you’ll get an understanding of what I’m talking about. In my opinion, and I have been a published writer for nearly 40 years, this is a well-written book; maybe a little rude in parts, but certainly well-written enough that Tonelli keeps the reader reading, and that’s the result any good writer strives for anyway.

In these one-star reviews, readers complain that Tonelli is citing other books to make a point. Well, that’s exactly what writers do. They research books related to the topic they are writing about and attribute the quotes, rather than writing them as their own original words.

A true professional, Tonelli did extensive research for this book, even interviewing top-tier crime writers like Jimmy Breslin and Mike Dash. Regarding the fabled (imaginary?) grand mob summit of Atlantic City in 1929, Tonelli digests the facts as he sees them. He then jumps to a conclusion, which I won’t divulge for obvious reasons. I don’t totally agree with Tonelli’s conclusion, but I understand his reasoning and he may be right about certain events or non-events that, according to mob lore, have always been presented as gospel when they may have been total nonsense. .

For example, there are questions about the validity of the famous photo of Chicago mobster Al Capone jumping off the Atlantic City boardwalk with Atlantic City mob boss Enoch “Nucky” Johnson and three other mob dignitaries ( this photo is on the cover of Mob Fest ’29). Capone is on the far left and Johnson is on the far right.
Was the photo a false publication in the New York Evening Journal, owned by Heart, to discredit Johnson? According to Johnson, it was.

Tonelli noted at Mob Fest ’29, which Grace D’Amato originally published in Chance of a Lifetime: “I never walked with Capone. I told people that the New York Evening Journal photographer superimposed two photographs. If you noticed, I he had a summer suit, while Capone and his cronies had winter clothes”.

The alleged reason Hearst would do such a dirty deed on Johnson was because Johnson was playing with Hearst’s girlfriend and Hearst hit Johnson where it hurt the most: his reputation.

As Tonelli says at Mob Fest ’29, “Hearst was the press baron who instigated the Spanish-American War to increase readership. After that, faking a photograph didn’t seem like much of an ethical stretch.”

Despite the disturbing one-star reviews, mob fans should enjoy Mob Fest ’29.

I know I did.