I’m reading Matt Birkbeck's The Life We Chose: William “Big Billy” D’Elia and the Last Secrets of America’s Most Powerful Crime Family.
I wanted to read the book as I’m interested in Russell Bufalino, who was portrayed by Joe Pesci in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, and because part of the book is about the South Philly Cosa Nostra crime family.
I grew up and still live in South Philly, and as a writer, I’ve covered the local mob for a good number of years.
Veteran organized crime reporter and author George Anastasia’s review of the book appeared in JerseyMan magazine.
Back in 1994 when John Stanfa was under indictment and headed for a
life prison sentence, he asked William “Big Billy” D’Elia to take over as boss
of the Philadelphia mob.
Big Billy said
no thank you.
“I didn’t want
to put a target on my back,” D’Elia said by way of explanation.
It was the
smart move. But then D’Elia was nothing if not smart. By that point, he had
been schooled for more than 30 years in the ways of the underworld by one of
the masters of that universe. It was an apprenticeship like no other and he
came away much the wiser.
D’Elia has now
put it all on the record in an intriguing and entertaining new book written by
journalist Matt Birkbeck.
The Life We
Chose comes out this month. It’s the story of D’Elia’s coming of age in an
underworld that was coming undone. The situation in Philadelphia in the 1990s
was a prime example and it was captured perfectly in one of the most succinct
and telling lines written by Birkbeck… D’Elia watched the murder and mayhem
that racked the Philadelphia crime family for years and that reached a
crescendo during the war between old-world mob boss Stanfa and the young and
precocious Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino.
D’Elia’s
thoughts, according to Birkbeck: “The propensity for violence there reminded
him of spoiled children with guns.”
You can read the rest of
the review via the below link:
The Life We Chose | JerseyMan Magazine
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