<p>The son of dirt-poor Italian immigrants, Generoso Pope Snr. would become president of the company that made the bricks for the Rockefeller Center and myriad other New York landmarks, but also create a media empire whose legacy was a family feud which resulted in his youngest son, left sidelined and broke, creating an icon of journalistic audacity - The National Enquirer. With a loan from 'Uncle Frank', mobster Frank Costello, his real-life godfather, and forcing the Enquirer's distribution onto grocery checkout counters across America, Gene Pope Jnr. created a new species of modern media - the supermarket tabloid. Seven million copies were sold of the Enquirer's 1977 expose on the death of Elvis Presley. Drawn from over 500 interviews, and voluminous documentary and archival sources, Paul David Pope chronicles a saga of a splendidly dysfunctional family in a candid and unvarnished fashion.</p>

Deeds of My Fathers

Politics & Social Sciences

Paul David Pope

Social Sciences

Quartet Books (UK)

A story that reads like The Godfather has been crossed with Citizen Kane. The Deeds of My Fathers is the riveting true story of two men, a father and a son, who each started with nothing and built an empire.  Generoso Pope, Sr., an Italian immigrant, arrived in New York in 1906 with only pennies in his pocket. He got a job shoveling sand, but through his intelligence, natural leadership, ruthlessness, and ability to woo powerful politicians such as Jimmy Walker and Franklin Roosevelt, he worked his way up to become the biggest provider of cement, just as it was becoming the key building material for New York, vital to landmarks such as Rockerfeller Center and Radio City Music Hall.  Gene Pope, Jr. was his father's choice to inherit and run the business, but Gene's mother and two brothers forced him out, and he found himself penniless and on his own. With a loan from his godfather, mobster Frank Costello, Gene bought the New York Enquirer. He renamed it the National Enquirer and focused on the paranormal, celebrities, and the hopes and fears of Americans. Gene forced the tabloid into the supermarkets and became a powerful media force, peaking with the seven million copies sold of the blockbuster expose' on the death of Elvis.  This captivating narrative, told for the first time, chronicles the emergence in America of an Italian immigrant and his son whose deeds would make them among the most prominent practitioners of power and influence in this country. Based on previously untapped sources, this book presents an archetypal story of the American century, told candidly by a consummate insider who lets all the chips--the light & the dark--fall where they may.

The Deeds of My Fathers: How My Grandfather and Father Built New York and Created the Tabloid World of Today

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Blackstone Audiobooks

<p>This captivating true story reads like a cross between The Godfather and Citizen Kane. It chronicles the emergence in America of an Italian immigrant and his son whose deeds would make them among the most prominent practitioners of power and influence in the new world. Based on previously untapped sources, this engrossing book presents an archetypal story of the American century, told candidly by a consummate insider.</p>

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

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Books by Paul David Pope