THE LAST JEWISH GANGSTER: The Middle Years

Review\n5-STAR REVIEW
Philip Zozzaro of Readers Favorite
In The Last Jewish Gangster: The Middle Years by David Larson, Michael Hardy opines, "I developed a keen sense of where danger lurks, what money can buy, and some of the unstated rules," as he languishes in La Mesa Del Diablo Prison in Mexico. He was nabbed for his role in a counterfeiting operation run by his mother. During his 24 years as the godson of Bugsy Siegel, Brooklyn was his home. Now he has a front-row seat to greed, desperation, and carnage on an unimaginable scale. He learns the tools for survival while serving his time. In jail he becomes a hitman for a gay drug lord, bribing and utilizing muscle to get things done. Upon his release, the straight and narrow path proves to be unrealistic, and Michael throws himself into crime full-time. The schemes and double-crosses are now commonplace.\nThe Last Jewish Gangster, The Middle Years is a riveting true crime memoir that continues the rise and fall of gangster Michael Hardy. From its inception, the second volume grips the reader's attention as the indeterminate incarceration of Hardy and the conditions he faces leave his future in question. The theme of the book is the subject's firm resolve to beat the odds and somehow make his mother finally love him. Hardy is a fighter and a survivor, rendering him a charming rogue. David Larson captures the life of his subject and pens a frank depiction of a longtime and unrepentant criminal. The life and crimes of Michael Hardy never fail to garner interest and shock the reader. This is an immensely enjoyable gangster book on par with Wiseguy and The Last Mafioso.\nThe second installment of this saga of gangland lore follows gregarious gangster, Michael Hardy, further down his twisted criminal path. The Last Jewish Gangster, The Middle Years, starts in 1968 with Hardy sentenced to twelve years in the world’s most dangerous prison in Mexico after taking the rap for his mother’s counterfeiting scheme, hoping to have finally earned her love and respect.\nOnce he’s released from prison, Hardy returns to Brooklyn and tries to go straight, but drifts back into a world of crime. He gets Sammy “the Bull” Gravano to join his crew to pull major heists like kidnapping drug lords for million-dollar ransoms, and robbing cop bag men. To evade the law, he goes to Europe and ends up in Israel where he works on a Kibbutz, touching the hem of his Jewish heritage.\nHardy devolves further into a gangster’s life when he returns to Brooklyn, running a finger of the Mob’s Five-Fingers International Car Theft Ring, participating in a stolen airline ticket scam, and doing fourteen hits for the Mob, still hoping his mother will take notice. When she gets busted for the car theft ring, she turns him in to reduce her time.\nCrushed by his mother’s callous self-interest, Hardy ends up cutting a deal with Rudy Giuliani to nab a dirty cop to reduce his time and negotiate his place in the witness protection program. Relocating to LA under an alias, it doesn’t take long for Hardy to land a gig as muscle for a Hollywood studio and meet his future wife, a sex worker who stole from his mother. The lines between love and revenge begin to blur.