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The Enforcer: Spilotro-The Chicago Mob's Man over Las Vegas

The Enforcer: Spilotro-The Chicago Mob's Man over Las Vegas

List Price: $6.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Roemer Love Fest
Review: Aside from this book and Pileggi's Casino, there isn't much that deals directly with the Chicago mob's foothold in Vegas and the man who kept people in line, Tony 'The Ant' Spilotro. (In Casino, Joe Pesci played a character closely based on Spilotro.)

The problem with this book is that it's misleading from the start. This book is not really about Spilotro all that much. Bill Roemer penned Man Against the Mob and then his ego must have really swelled. Roemer spends a good portion of this book talking about himself. When he's not reminding the reader that he's brave, courageous, strong, a lawyer, a former boxer at Notre Dame, and an all around good person, he name drops about a thousand other law enforcement people involved in taking down mobsters. It makes you wonder about the ridiculous amount of money and resources dedicated to busting the Mafia; meanwhile, a guy like Spilotro managed to stay out of jail for a good portion of the time he was muscling Vegas.

Roemer didn't know Spilotro all that much. He admits this, and yet his book just goes on and on. He only met Spilotro a couple of times, and Roemer reminds us that he's so brave that he wasn't afraid of 'The Ant', a nickname that Roemer is proud he helped coin.

If you're interested in the story behind Casino, book and film, then this will be of interest. It has a few insights into some of the other characters, but there isn't enough about Spilotro, who must have been a bit more complex than Roemer thinks if the guy had the kind of street power he did in Las Vegas.

While Pileggi's Casino is a bit too Lefty Rosenthal-centric, The Enforcer is a bit too much Roemer to handle at times.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Roemer Love Fest
Review: Aside from this book and Pileggi's Casino, there isn't much that deals directly with the Chicago mob's foothold in Vegas and the man who kept people in line, Tony 'The Ant' Spilotro. (In Casino, Joe Pesci played a character closely based on Spilotro.)

The problem with this book is that it's misleading from the start. This book is not really about Spilotro all that much. Bill Roemer penned Man Against the Mob and then his ego must have really swelled. Roemer spends a good portion of this book talking about himself. When he's not reminding the reader that he's brave, courageous, strong, a lawyer, a former boxer at Notre Dame, and an all around good person, he name drops about a thousand other law enforcement people involved in taking down mobsters. It makes you wonder about the ridiculous amount of money and resources dedicated to busting the Mafia; meanwhile, a guy like Spilotro managed to stay out of jail for a good portion of the time he was muscling Vegas.

Roemer didn't know Spilotro all that much. He admits this, and yet his book just goes on and on. He only met Spilotro a couple of times, and Roemer reminds us that he's so brave that he wasn't afraid of 'The Ant', a nickname that Roemer is proud he helped coin.

If you're interested in the story behind Casino, book and film, then this will be of interest. It has a few insights into some of the other characters, but there isn't enough about Spilotro, who must have been a bit more complex than Roemer thinks if the guy had the kind of street power he did in Las Vegas.

While Pileggi's Casino is a bit too Lefty Rosenthal-centric, The Enforcer is a bit too much Roemer to handle at times.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: How do you get something like this published?
Review: For this book to average three stars, Roemer must have written at least half of the reviews, himself. It is that bad.
The Enforcer is a written in a befuddled and awkward style that is makes following what story that there is here uninteresting and sometimes downright difficult to muddle through. And the subject of this book is hardly Anthony Spilotro! No, that may have actually been interesting. This book is really the self- aggrandizing autobiographical ramblings of William F. Roemer, who obviously considers himself to have been quite a interesting character in his day.
What is evident from the beginning of this poorly structured train wreck is that Roemer loves to talk about himself. He feels obligated to give the reader in depth accounts of his personal life and career accomplishments -even those that have nothing at all to do with the story. He's also fond of dropping as many famous names as he can along the way. I can only assume this is an attempt on his part to make himself appear to have been a real "player" in Vegas. But he comes across as being more pompous than significant.
If there is a good book out there about Spilotro, I would enjoy reading it. But the reader will get little information about this mob-connected psychopath reading Roemer's book. About half way through, I actually put my copy beside my bed on my nightstand and when I had trouble sleeping, I'd read a couple of pages. In fact, for insomniacs it's probably a good buy. I know I personally was never be able to read more than four or five pages before nodding off.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: How do you get something like this published?
Review: For this book to average three stars, Roemer must have written at least half of the reviews, himself. It is that bad.
The Enforcer is a written in a befuddled and awkward style that is makes following what story that there is here uninteresting and sometimes downright difficult to muddle through. And the subject of this book is hardly Anthony Spilotro! No, that may have actually been interesting. This book is really the self- aggrandizing autobiographical ramblings of William F. Roemer, who obviously considers himself to have been quite a interesting character in his day.
What is evident from the beginning of this poorly structured train wreck is that Roemer loves to talk about himself. He feels obligated to give the reader in depth accounts of his personal life and career accomplishments -even those that have nothing at all to do with the story. He's also fond of dropping as many famous names as he can along the way. I can only assume this is an attempt on his part to make himself appear to have been a real "player" in Vegas. But he comes across as being more pompous than significant.
If there is a good book out there about Spilotro, I would enjoy reading it. But the reader will get little information about this mob-connected psychopath reading Roemer's book. About half way through, I actually put my copy beside my bed on my nightstand and when I had trouble sleeping, I'd read a couple of pages. In fact, for insomniacs it's probably a good buy. I know I personally was never be able to read more than four or five pages before nodding off.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Where is Tony
Review: I am a bit disappointed after reading this. William Roemer didn't convey much about Tony. I bought the book eager to read about 'the Ant' after watching /reading 'Casino' by N. Pileggi. However, there is very limted info about Tony and I feel William is deceiving the buyer by calling the book 'The Enforcer et. al.' He should have titled it something like, 'The Mob: Chicago and Las Vegas', as this is what he details. It is not a story about Tony Spilotro in comparison to other books like 'Underboss' or 'Wiseguy'. An example of how thin Roemer is on Tony, not even half way through the book he states 'this will be the last time I would deal with Tony'.
William also needs to look at the wrighting style of authors like Pileggi and Maas, who can back track through history from the current event without confusing the reader and making the story jump all over the place. For a better read of Tony Spilotro read 'Casino' by Nicholas Pileggi.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good book, not great
Review: I can remeber that day when the bodies of Tony Spilotro and his brother were found in the fields of NW Indiana since I grew up in that area. Roemer has in this book given us the story of how "The Ant" rose from street thug to becoming the Outfits top man in Vegas. He might have succeded earlier, but the same qualites that helped him rise to the top, were the same one that caused his death at the hands of his associates. He was to protect the profits from the casinos so that the bosses got they kickbacks but as he become crazy from his power, his behavior caused to much attention and brought him down. We are able to see how Spilotro bought about his own demise from reading this book. Roemer was a top FBI man in Chicago and he was responsible for keeping tabs on these guys and his experience and knowledge make this a good informative book for anyone interested in crime novels. On last note, it was the life of Spilotro during his Vegas years that are the basis for the movie Casino

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: FLAWED BUT NOT A BAD EFFORT
Review: I couldn`t wait to start reading the true account of the classic movie CASINO and all the major events from the film are here, but after reading a hundred pages i realised that i kew little about the main character of the book.Now Roemer makes no effort about telling you what tony spilotro was really like allthough he tells us about all the run ins he had with him. Roemer makes no mistake in telling you just how much he despised tony and because of this he struggles to give us an objective veiw of him.Apart from this, the book is quite a good read but it isn`t a long book which supprised me and toward the end of the book he seems to off track to stretch it out a little longer.Roemer does give us a good veiw on FBI side of things and as Roemer was part of the chicago feild office i don`t think you will find a more accurate account of all the major events.This isn`t my fravourite mob book but he has included all the happenings in vegas and a good fine breif history and allthough i didn`t think that this book was worth 5 stars it hasn`t put me off buying Roemers book about Tony Accardo as i have just purchased it. overall not a bad effort but i thought it would be much better.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: fake author.
Review: I read the enforcer,and the accardo godfather. I found that the author tended to be boring,and have a lack of information on the subjects he was writing about. If you want a good book on the spiltro story get the one by nick pileggi(wise guy) If your not from chicago, then that's another problem, unlike other author on mob books sticking to the facts,and the history. The author makes references to his other books numerous times,and puts pictures of himself that are not related to mob activities. for instance the picture of him as a boxer when he was young. He puts this photo in the enforcer,and the geniue godfather. The book has some interest parts, but it tends to drag on.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "Great detail and account of first-hand information"
Review: I thought that this book is great for anyone who wishes to gain a better understanding of the Chicago Mafia, organized crime, and law enforcement in general. When people think of the Mafia, they tend to lean towards New York as "the model". Little do they know that Chicago, commonly referred to as the "Second City", has a serious history, and are forces to be reckoned with. Bill Roemer Jr. tells all in this book, from an FBI agent's point view of course. He weaves a web of important players in the Chicago Outfit, with chilling accounts from characters such as Tony Accardo aka "Joe Batters", the outfit's most respected and feared leader/counselor. The inside scoop on Sam Giancana, Joey Aiuppa, and Joe Ferriola a few of the many Mob Bosses depicted. A must read chilling chapter on "Mad" Sam DeStefano will leave the insides of your stomach churning! You will see how Tony Spilotro(the cover boy)fits into the scheme of things, and after reading this book and watching CASINO, you will see how the two resemble each other almost identically, scary!! Pick this book up.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Knew Tony personally for over 25 years
Review: Roemer attempts to talk about the himself a lot. He does talk about Spilotro, and that's where his focus on the books he should have done, instead of raving about his boxing at Norte Dame. Blah! Anyways I would been intrested to read about the information of the mob contacts he made in Arizona, Roemer that is. This book just talks about the crimes in vegas of tony Spilotro!


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