Streetwise: Mafia Memoirs  is the ultimate memoir.  It is the intricate tale of the streets of Newark, New Jersey, in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.  Russ's grandfaqther was a Mafia boss. As a result Russ grew up in a family and culture few of us ever know.  It is definitely a book for those of us who seek a different life in a different world.

 Before he was forty, the author had risked his own life to save a friend from hit men.  His was a divided loyalty and silence to his family and friends who skirted the treacherous borders of gangsterism.  Serious at times, hilarious at others, he paints the underworld with glowing strokes of his early life.  A can't-put-it-down book.

Reviews

Russell Vassallo's Streetwise, an intimate account of the Mafia, is an eye-opening look into the world few of us know.  Instead of focusing solely on the sensational mob violence depicted by movies and television, Vassallo tells of strong "family" ties, loyalty and respect, and how it felt to grow up as part of this tightly knit family.  Though he fairly discusses the darker side of the Mafia as well, he uses these stories to expose the personalities and hurts of those involved in carrying out the bosses' orders causing his reader to look past the crime itself. 

        Penny Woods, Kentucky Living Magazine

A Poignant Story of Personal Pride: Growing up a Sicilian in Newark

"Streetwise" is the story of a bygone era, of a man, and of a city.  Russell Vassallo is the man of integrity, and compassion.  This comes through in his writing.  Russell relates stories about his childhood and growing up in Newark, of his Sicilian heritage, and of the influence of the Mafia family connections on the kids growing up in the neighborhood.

Vassallo's portrayal of his family, real friends, and mob connections create visions of colorful fictional characters and movie stars acting out stories of mob violence.  Honorable and loyal Russell tells of lessons learned from a drunken prostitute who "mothered" him, of an alcoholic writer who mentored him, and of a young hooker bent on self destruction.

He writes: "...each story, each life I met was like a guiding rod, shuffling and channeling me like a mouse negotiating a maze.  I speak of the city, the streets and the people because they are eternal and because they will survive me.  I write of them because they 'are' me and because they should not be forgotten."

Russ tells of the horror and fear of death and a lifetime of recurring nightmares that followed the death threat of an alcohol crazed policeman while waving a .38 "snubbie" as a result of tossing a few firecrackers in the air.  He tells how he witnessed the revenge murder of a mob leader, a personal benefactor.  He tells of a lifetime passion for helping others and the incongruity of fighting the personal demons in his own life.

Russell's writing draws the reader in with a poetic prose that make his stories linger in the heart long after they have been read.  His reminisces offer the reader a glimpse into a side of life and a time in history where naivety, innocence, and a unique standard of core values co-existed in a community of unlawful business endeavors.

Russell's writing is often humorous, sometimes intense, frequently provacative, but always sensitive.  His is a story that resounds with pathos, resonates with poignancy, and rings with a message of deep rooted pride in a heritage misunderstood, of a code of values based on the law of Omerta. 

Streetwise" is a book for young or old.

         Richard R. Blake