 |
.American
Free Press |
| |
| ...Volume
VI..#44
October 30, 2006.americanfreepress.net |
| |
P. 15, AMERICAN
FREE PRESS * October 30, 2006 Behind the Scenes
with
Michael Collins Piper
Who Really Runs
U.S. Organized Crime?
By Michael Collins Piper
 |
.
. .Forget everything you think you know
about the Mafia as it’s been commemorated
in such Hollywood extravaganzas
as the famous Godfather trilogy.
That’s all Tinseltown legend — some
might even say “propaganda.” The truth about the organized
crime syndicate in America goes much higher and
deeper and in directions the mass media is not likely to ever
tell you about. And if you have any doubts about it, you
need to read the fascinating new book, Supermob, by veteran
investigative journalist Gus Russo, who may well have
put his career on the line by daring to write this stunning
overview of a seamy history you’re not supposed to know
about.
. . .Did you know that Ronald Reagan owed his early career
in the entertainment industry and later his political career
in California to a group of gangsters (many of them of
Russian Jewish — not Italian-American — origin) who started
out in Chicago and in other Midwestern cities such as
Cleveland and Detroit? Well, that’s a fact, and in Supermob,
Russo tells the story as it’s only been hinted at before.
. . .This group of gangsters and their associates, including
union officials, attorneys, real estate developers, construction
tycoons, hotel kings and military contractors — among
other wheeler-dealers — played a major role (open and not-so-open) in the development of the casino industry in Las
Vegas and in the rise of the motion picture industry as we
know it today. Russo tells the story. You’ll be amazed by the wide-ranging connections of this sordid group that’s been
called “The Kosher Nostra” (not to be confused with “Cosa
Nostra”).
. . .Did you know that during World War II — and in the
years that followed — this tightly-knit clique utilized its contacts
in the federal Office of Alien Property to grab control
of vast amounts of real estate and other assets that previously
belonged to Japanese-Americans who were taken into
custody by the Franklin Roosevelt administration and put
in concentration camps on American soil? At the end of the
war, one of the Supermob’s “inside” men — later a “respected”
federal judge — was responsible for steering this confiscated
property — now worth literally billions of dollars —
into this hands of this crime-connected network.
. . .Once you’ve read Russo’s account of what happened to
the Japanese-Americans, you’ll find it difficult to continue
listening to the complaints about the confiscated properties
of Jewish people in Europe (many of whom are living in
Israel today) without recalling Russo’s expose of how
Jewish-American gangsters and their associates (many of
whom emerged as key supporters of the Israeli lobby in the
United States) managed to amass billions of dollars in confiscated
Japanese-American property.
. . .Russo’s book, which is subtitled “How Sidney Korshak
and His Criminal Associates Became America’s Hidden
Power Brokers,” hinges on the life and crimes of Chicago
mob lawyer Sidney Korshak. However, it’s a story that’s
much bigger than one man. Korshak relocated to California
and became a top-of-the-line mover and shaker in the
motion picture world, socializing with the Hollywood elite
(including Ronald and Nancy Reagan) and acting as a
proverbial “fixer” whose powerful reach stretched deeply
into the organized crime milieu in which he operated,
branching out into the complex and inter-connected worlds
of finance and industry with organized crime always lurking
in the background.
. . .And as Russo points out, the deeds of Korshak and company
resulted in repercussions that “were felt by practically
every American of their era,” not the least of which was the
rise of Ronald Reagan to the presidency, setting the stage for much of the intrigue across the planet today.
. . .While in the realm of organized crime, Italian-American
names were plastered across newspaper headlines and in
filmland, the truth is, as Russo makes clear, this
Supermob — this small handful of Jewish figures of Russian
origin — “often pulled the strings of the visible power brokers”
and yet, ironically, “most Americans never heard of
any of them.”
. . .Now, Russo’s book sets the historical record straight in a
trailblazing work that will leave you reeling. Russo writes:
. . . “Through deniable, often arm’s-length associations with
the roughneck Italian and Irish mobsters imprinted in the
popular imagination, the Supermob and the hoods shared
a sense of entitlement regarding tax-free income.
. . . “This ‘Kosher Nostra’ stressed brains over brawn and
evolved into a real estate powerhouse, an organized-labor
autocracy and a media empire. If power does, indeed, corrupt,
then the Supermob corrupted absolutely.
. . . “Through methodically nurtured political ties, the
Supermob effectively insulated itself from prosecution.
They were above the law . . . They propelled the making of the movies we watched, the music we listened to, the politicians
we voted for, and the hotels and resorts we frequented.
. . .”
. . .Supermob (hardback, #1516, $38.95—just $34.95 for
members of the AMERICAN FREE PRESS READERSHIP COUNCIL)
by Gus Russo is must reading. It is available after Nov. 2nd
from First Amendment Books, 645 Pennsylvania Avenue SE,
Suite 100, Washington, D.C. 20003. Call 1-888-699- NEWS
(6397) toll free to charge to Visa or MasterCard.
(Issue #44, October 30, 2006, AMERICAN
FREE PRESS)
