Tough Guy: A Memoir by Louis Ferrante [Paperback]

Well having read the previous reviewer's thoughts on the first few chapters i felt compelled to write a review of the whole book.

Mr Ferrante was first brought to my attention on a late night bbc news/chat program, and to be honest there wasn't a lot else on! But luckily I resisted temptation to turn over. What first struck me was the man's eloquence, and soon i became to be enthralled by what he had to say on life in serious crime; on the harshness of state and federal prison; and on his redemtion and eventual rejection of criminality.

Like the previous reviewer, when i first started reading, i found the style to not be immediately engrossing. From what had seemed a well spoken and considered man, the initial tone of the book was conversational; heavily laden with New York slang and styling; and launched into a detailed and sometimes violent description of criminal undertakings. I felt the machismo of the man, Ferrante, on every page as he launched from one scheme to the next; asserting himself always- neccesarily quick, sharp witted and brutal. And so this was mirrored in the language.

The book began to flow however, and the pace with which i read picked up. Ferrante did not paint himself nor his lifestyle in a particularly endearing way, save for the odd moment of conscience when caught by an elderly lady robbing her house! And so as the book progressed, so did the narrative of the once street urchin and petty criminal rising the ranks of the mafioso to become involved with some of the most notorious crime organisations in America.

Ferrante, however, although being successful at what he did, was soon caught and eventually embarked on what would be a nine year stint in prison. And at this point the book started to entrall me with the description of the brutality of life in US prison; but more importantly how Ferrante went about establishing himself inside and ultimately fighting for his survival. Ferrante talks of the almost necessary need for violence to establish oneself- explaining that one had to defend against the type of man who was already serving a long or life sentence, and who would therefore not be inclined to care what harm they inflicted on other men. The sheer claustraphobia of the situation is conveyed well by the author as he struggles to compete against so many disadvantages.

And then comes the moment of beauty of the book. Ferrante begins a journey away from the mafia heirarchy, which is still strong in the prison system, and commits himself to a slow and arduous task of self-education and self-masterty. He begins, for a man who had previously barely picked up a book, to read vast amounts of literature and history and philosophy... whatever he could get his hands on. And it is here that the stark contrast in the language of the book, in my opinion, the masterstroke of this book begins.

The first half of the book was written in the words of a criminal whose consciousness was limited to all that he believed to be important and necessary to survive in such brutal circumstance. And once Ferrante starts to open his mind to the great ideas presented to him in his reading, so it is reflected in the clear and crisp prose of the second half of this memoir. Ferrante consumes by the bucket load a huge amount of literature, describing the nights when he would read until the strain on his eyes was too much to bear, and would fall asleep for a few hours with the book rested on his chest.

Ferrante goes on to describe in detail the transformation of his entire and fundamental outlook on life. He begins to question what had previously been the stone foundations of his world, and rejects the very life in which he had been raised and paid so much faith into. The way in which this is conveyed in the book is beautiful, eloquent and inspiring.

Ferrante's Tough Guy is definately worth a read for anyone interested in the possibility of redemption; of the strength of will and character of the human soul; and for the ability to create beauty out of ugliness. A fantastic read, which i thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend anyday!

most of the mob books you read are written by wiseguy's either in hiding or in the witness protection,due to the fact they ratted out their fellow mob friends....louis ferrante is a true stand up guy,who needs to hide from no-one...and who chose to turn his life around.a must read for any mob fan.

k.o'brien,
liverpool.

It's a real pity that Louis Ferrante didn't make 'Tough Guy' into two books.

The first half of 'Tough Guy' recounts his life as a teenage hood running a 'crew' of truck-jackers for John Gotti and the Gambino Mafia family in New York in the early nineties. The early chapters offers us a pen portrait of the felons and fences that Ferrante encounters as a 'tough guy' for the Mob. This is often very funny and well written.

However, the second half of the book is much nastier. It deals with the nine-years Ferrante served in New York state and federal prisons. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics 2,292,133 adults were incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails at year-end 2009 -- about 1% of adults in the U.S. resident population. Ferrante drags the reader through the bowels of penal system, finally excreting them at the other end, nine years later, outside the prison gates.

If what Ferrante says is true, then the US judicial system is a disgrace. He claims that he squandered all of his ill-gotten cash on a succession of nine different lawyers who allegedly lie, cheat and steal from him. Ferrante asserts that the poor are even worse off: being reduced to using public defenders (sometimes with huge case-loads of 1,600 clients), who readily accept the prosecution's plea-bargain, regardless of guilt or innocence, in order to save time.

During the extended trial period, Ferrante is locked up in a cage every night with one-hundred-and-fifty homicidal drug-dealers, pimps, rapists and gang-bangers. The law of the jungle seems to prevail in the county jail: the weak are preyed upon mercilessly by predators at all times for everything.

If a society is judged by the way it treats its outcasts, then the second half of Louis Ferrante's 'Tough Guys' is a savage indictment of American society. The convicted felons depicted in Ferrante's book seem to be treated little better than caged animals: no one is safe; casual and inter-racial violence is common-place; and there seems to be little or no attempt at any rehabilitation whatsoever. Ferrante seems to emerge from it all, a brutalised and broken old man. I felt quite depressed and angry when I finished reading 'Tough Guy'. There must be a more humane way of dealing with prisoners.

Although I loved this book, I do have some minor issues with it. I reckon that Ferrante is far too keen to paint himself as being a 'loveable rogue' in the first half of the book. At the height of his criminality, he was terrorising at gun-point ordinary working people who were just trying to scrape an honest living. His job of work for the Mob was foul and I don't feel that Ferrante fully owns that.

I would also liked to have seen him say more about his reasons for embracing Judaism. It suddenly just appears on the page out of the blue without warning. You are left thinking: 'where the hell did that come from?'

For all that, a cracking good read.