Red Hook: Brooklyn Mafia, Ground Zero

The year was 1961, and the soldiers of the Gallo crew prepared for war. Larry, Albert, and Crazy Joe were at their President Street headquarters plotting their strategy against their boss, Joe Profaci. Newspapers and TV stations breathlessly reported on the spate of shootings and deaths, but gangland violence wasn’t a new phenomenon in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Men of various ethnicities had been waging war in the neighborhood for supremacy in the underworld, dating back to the days of the White Hand with leaders like Bill Lovett and Peg Leg Lonergan. Al Capone rose in the gangland ranks in Red Hook while providing his murderous trade for his mentor, Frankie Yale. As the 20th century progressed, ambitious young Turks tested the old guard, and Red Hook would serve as the nucleus.

Author Frank Dimatteo and Michael Benson (“The Cigar: Carmine Galante, Mafia Terror”)provide a wealth of anecdotes and insight into the storied Brooklyn neighborhood. The infamous personalities who resided in the Brooklyn enclave are only a fraction of what makes this book memorable as the environment, diversity, and food all factor into this book’s readability. Dimatteo and Benson offer up another winning history of Organized Crime.