This text provides useful information on the most important characteristics of an effective middle school program, as identified by on-going research and study. Each chapter discusses the general nature of each characteristic, procedures for developing that particular characteristic, as well as ways of dealing with some of the problems that might arise in developing the characteristic. Each of the chapters has been carefully prepared by practicing middle school educators and university educators recognized for their middle school involvement in the U.S. and abroad.

Building an Effective Middle School

Politics & Social Sciences

ROMANO, LOUIS

Georgiady, Nicholas P.

Sociology

Brown & Benchmark Pub

An Albanian's word of honor, their BESA, is the pride that has made their clans fearless fighters for centuries. In the streets of the Bronx, New York their code has made the "sons of the eagle" a community that has become a powerhouse over the last forty years.   When one of their own is killed, the Albanians will stop at nothing in their quest for vengeance.  Enter Gino Ranno, uncle to the accused killer with connections to a New York mafia family. With no choice but to enter the fray, it is up to him to expose the truth and defend the honor of his own family before more blood is spilled.

Besa

9ine Inc.

Intercession

The Bronx. A priest is found dead with a sharpened crucifix sticking in his neck. A crazed killer on the loose or a damaged man with an extreme sense of justice? Three tough New York city cops hot on the trail, one with a painful secret. What happens when those we trust most in our communities abuse that trust? Who should we believe? Intercession is a fastpaced controversial crime thriller that penetrates all the way into the heart of the Catholic Church and beyond to reveal some uncomfortable truths.

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Thrillers & Suspense

It's 1957. On a cold, February night, along a lonely road in Philadelphia, a little boy is found. DEAD. Someone still holds a secret. From HistoricMysteries.com "However, hope still remains as Court TV, 48 Hours and America's Most Wanted have featured this case on recent episodes. Perhaps the lead everyone has been waiting for will present itself." Two main questions still abound, having left kind-hearted people around the world stumped. #1 WHAT would be the motive for wanting this little boy dead? #2 WHY hasn't this murder been solved all these years? It was a simplistic time in the United States. Pre-Kennedy assassination, pre-landing on the moon, before Viet Nam, before Love-Ins, and unfortunately, before DNA testing. Now it's 58 years later and Detective Vic Gonnella and Raquel Ruiz with their Type A personalities won't rest until the heinous injustice that was done to this little boy is exposed. Follow them as they criss-cross the country to conduct interviews and tear apart clues left cold in the police files of the Philadelphia Police Department. As clues and leads are followed, Detective Gonnella and Raquel find themselves continuously detoured by people's secret, double lives. YOU THINK I'M DEAD is the second in the detective Vic Gonnella series with INTERCESSION being the first.

You Think I'm Dead: Based on the True Story of The Boy in the Box (Detective Vic Gonnella)

Biographies & Memoirs

True Crime

Vecchia Publishing

The tough streets of The Bronx, NY brings the Albanian's highest code of honor and loyalty, their BESA, to town. It is the pride that has made their clans fearless fighters for centuries, and in the murky, underground world of the city streets, that code has made the "Sons of the Eagle" a powerhouse over the last forty years. When one of their own is killed, the Albanians stop at nothing in their quest for a bloody revenge. Enter Gino Ranno, uncle to the accused killer, with "connections" of his own to an Italian NY mafia family. With no choice but to enter the fray, it is up to him to expose the truth and defend the honor of his own family before more blood is splattered.

Besa: Vecchia Publishing

Mystery

The head of the biggest NYC crime family, Carmine Miceli, Jr., is taken in on racketeering charges. His life-long friend, Gino Ranno, is forced to become the head of the family he has so desperately tried to keep at arm's length in this 3rd book of Louis Romano's Gino Ranno, mob series (FISH FARM, BESA). The first order of business: The Russian mob. Infringing on the illegal profits made on the streets through prostitution, insurance scams, and the drug world, the Russians are also engaged in harvesting young, female body parts, through surgeons who are secretly on their payroll, to be sold onto the black market to the highest bidder. As Gino and the Albanian mafia join forces to end these brutal murders, a well-to-do American family find themselves in a quandary when their college-aged son is in desperate need of a kidney transplant and they are offered one for a price. How far will they go to save their son? Drawn into their high stakes game... A GAME OF PAWNS ... Gino soon comes to the heart-pounding realization that his life and a slew of people he's known for years are dependent upon him to keep them safe and any of his decisions now will determine whether he, his friends, and associates live or die. The Gino Ranno series: The streets of NYC are getting increasingly narrow as the different nationalities of mob families are wanting more than their fair share of illegal, money-making activities. In FISH FARM it was the mafia vs the Colombian drug lords, then in the 5-time award-winning BESA the Albanians start an inner mob war when one of their own is shot during a drug deal gone bad, and now the Russians, who think they can muscle their way into Gino's backyard. Louis Romano's extensive hands-on research for GAME OF PAWNS has been compared to a Patricia Cornwell novel for its accuracy

Game of Pawns: Gino Ranno Takes Control

Shanda (6) (Vic Gonnella Series)

A Covid-19 global pandemic wasn't the only reason the Orthodox community in Rockland County, New York were in crisis. 
A deranged, lone wolf sniper decided to prey upon unsuspecting Hasidic Jews, for reasons only known to him. Serial Killer experts Vic Gonnella and his partner Raquel Ruiz are recruited to stop the carnage.

Sicilian BLOODLINES run thick . . . Gino Ranno and the Miceli family share a friendship that has lasted generations, from the mountains of western Sicily in 1890 to today’s New York landscape of the Hamptons and East Harlem. Lucho Gonzales, a drug dealer from Colombia with a penchant for sex and murder, has no friends—only the wild companionship of a few psychotic men who dare to do his dirty work, and a family too scared of his temper to do anything else. When Gino and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Lisa cross paths with Lucho, they unwittingly upset the balance of crime. The result: kidnapping, rape, and murder. The Colombians may be dangerous, but when it comes to family, the New York mob draws a line in the sand. Winner takes all.

Fish Farm (Gino Ranno)

Literature & Fiction

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

An Albanian's word of honor, their BESA, is the pride that has made their clans fearless fighters for centuries. In the streets of the Bronx, New York their code has made the "sons of the eagle" a community that has become a powerhouse over the last forty years. Kirkus Reviews..."An engrossing, solidly entertaining organized-crime story with a few twists." When one of their own is believed to have been killed by an Italian American with ties to a weakened New York Mafia family nothing will prevent the Albanians from taking back blood...a gjakmarrja is called for. The result is a head-on collision with two cultures that place blood vengeance above all forms of justice.

Contemporary

Gene Borrello's story is not something that everyone has already heard or read about or have seen on various documentaries and dramatic cable shows on the history of the Mafia. His story is current day, not something from the days of Bugsy Siegel, Albert Anastasia and Mayer Lansky or a Mario Puzzo compilation of the old days. The Borrello saga is about a thirty-six-year old mob enforcer, who was born into the life with the true nitty gritty, unglamorous street life that led to his being locked up for a third of his life, until he finally said... enough.

Born In The LIfe: Gene Borrello: The Story of An Ex-Bonanno Family Mafia Enforcer

BookBaby

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by ROMANO, LOUIS. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by ROMANO, LOUIS

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by ROMANO, LOUIS. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Building an Effective Middle School

Besa

Intercession

You Think I'm Dead: Based on the True Story of The Boy in the Box (Detective Vic Gonnella)

Besa: Vecchia Publishing

Game of Pawns: Gino Ranno Takes Control

Shanda (6) (Vic Gonnella Series)

Fish Farm (Gino Ranno)

Besa

Born In The LIfe: Gene Borrello: The Story of An Ex-Bonanno Family Mafia Enforcer