Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba - T. J. English

Written by T. J. English
Read by Mel Foster
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba…and Then Lost It to the Revolution

Publisher: Tantor Media
Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
Release date: 08-20-08

In Havana Nocturne, T. J. English offers a riveting, multifaceted true tale of organized crime, political corruption, roaring nightlife, revolution, and international conflict that interweaves the dual stories of the mob in Havana and the event that would overshadow it: the Cuban Revolution.

Bringing together long-buried historical information and English’s own research in Havana—including interviews with the era’s key survivors—Havana Nocturne takes readers back to Cuba in the years when it was a veritable devil’s playground for mob leaders Meyer Lansky and Charles “Lucky” Luciano. Thanks to strong ties with the island’s brutal dictator, President Batista, the mob soon owned the biggest luxury hotels and casinos and launched an unprecedented tourist boom. But their dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others who would lead the country’s disenfranchised to overthrow their corrupt government and its foreign partners—an epic cultural battle that English captures in all its sexy, decadent, ugly glory.

“This well-researched account will please history and entertainment fans, as well as those interested in the Mafia. …. Mel Foster’s reading is competent, though somewhat wooden, and his pronunciation of difficult names and places is excellent. Still, it’s disappointing that he reads comments by the characters rather than acting them–as he does so well in fiction.”— AudioFile 2008