Tinseltown Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Hollywood was a great read by Jeffrey Sussman. The mob arrive in Hollywood, ready to tear away huge chunks of cash. They saw labor unions as a way to muscle into the movie industry and extort millions of dollars. This book is a true story of corruption and greed in Hollywood. I enjoyed reading this book and cant wait to read more by the author.

Felt a bit repetitive and like the background information in the intro gave away all the info that we would get in the story. Interesting stories I didn’t know about but felt longer than it needed to be.

This was a fun and engaging read for anyone who likes the seedier side of Hollywood. I thought the book took a sensible path, beginning with Bugsy Siegel and following chronologically looking at various gangsters and their influence in the movie sphere. Each chapter focuses on a different event or gangster, so there isn't a great deal of depth and I did find certain sections a little repetitive, but overall, I enjoyed my time with this one.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Good narrator. Enjoyed the information about how the mobs took over Hollywood and how politicians helped them. Didn’t know how involved and indebted to the mob was Ronald Reagan. Because each chapter was headlined by one person, stories were repeated multiple times. That was the only thing I wasn’t happy with.

It was a very interesting book about the topic. I recommend but definitely beware if you have younger ears around!

I was very interested in the premise of this book, but I realized very quickly that I am not a non-fiction reader. It was hard to keep up with all the different characters, and I ultimately ended up DNF-ing this one.

Tinseltown Gangsters tells the story of the mafia and their involvement in the movie making business. This book is thorough and covers from the early days of pictures up to more recent times. All of the major players are highlighted and examined from mafia members to actors to studio executives to directors. I thought the delivery of the information was very clear and concise. The stories told made the subject very interesting.

A couple of reasons I only gave it three stars was the first few chapters and some speculation without facts. The first couple chapters was basically an overview of the book as a whole. The problem was some of the stories told in the first few chapters were retold in the book. I found this repetitive. I also felt like the author tried to play up the mobs involvement in a number of events with speculation rather than facts. An example of this would be the assassination of President Kennedy. The author hinted at the mafia involvement, but never provided any facts to support the speculation.

Overall, this is a solid book about the mafia’s role in Hollywood. While I think they some improvements that could’ve been made, it was worth the listen. If you fan of history, Hollywood or the mafia, I would recommend picking up this book.

Actual Rating 1.5

This is a work of nonfiction about Hollywood in the twentieth century, a time where laborers were forming unions and movie companies were looking for ways to cut costs. Gangsters saw this as an opening to infiltrate the scene, creating opportunities for wealth and growth. As the mob moved into Hollywood, they took over positions everywhere, influencing decisions and blackmailing whoever necessary.

The introduction took up the first 12% of the book. In this section, there were too many dates lacking. It was hard to keep track of when things were happening. A year would be mentioned every once in a while, but there was really no time frame provided for the many, many events that were included. I think maybe it was supposed to be a thorough synopsis of the book, but it wasn’t clearly stated what the purpose of this was and it felt more like a laundry list of people and who they cheated and killed with little-to-no information about who these people were (other than a sentence or two sometimes). Then text from this introduction was repeated verbatim throughout the book. I really disliked this setup. The whole introduction was a whirlwind with information that I couldn’t retain and felt disjointed. Then, once we’re in the meat of the book and getting more details, there are sections of repetitive text that are repeated, sometimes more than once.

The repetition was one of the biggest detractors from this work. I should have kept track of how many times the horsehead from Godfathers was mentioned in an almost verbatim manner (just one example). This work would greatly benefit from a strict editing and would likely lose at least 50 pages of content. Going in the opposite direction, the book ended quite abruptly without even a summary paragraph to wrap up the contents of this book, no takeaways, no exploration of themes, no lasting legacies, etc. The random detailed sex scene was unnecessary and weird (the word penetration was even used). Women were described by the size of their breasts, shoes, and various other body parts.

It's evident that the author did his research, and I appreciated the quotes that were included from other authors who have written on this topic.

This was an overview that highlighted some moments when gangsters found themselves embroiled in the movie production business in Hollywood. I wanted so much more from this read, though. It ended up generally reading like a laundry list of names, who they slept with, if they went to jail, and their net worth with some blackmail and court time thrown in. It wasn't cohesive and felt like it skimmed most topics. This work read like a draft rather than a finished product.

If you're looking for a general introduction into some gangsters' influence in Hollywood, then this could be worth checking out. NOTE - if you're going to read this, skip the entire introduction (the first two sections of the audiobook provided) and go straight to chapter one. Reading that first 12% greatly decreased my enjoyment of this work. My thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I like the information that this book has provided, however for me, I think this would be a book I need to read instead of listened to. I think the information is something I would enjoy more by reading in place of listening.

That may be due to a couple of things. The narration for this book is difficult for me. I find it to be relatively monotone and sometimes dull. I also find it difficult to follow at times. But I think that is due to the subject matter and how much volume there is to this book. So, I blame the issues I have with this audiobook on myself, not so much on the book itself.

For the audiobook I give this book 2.5 stars, but for the book overall, I give it 3.5, rounded out to 3 all in all.

This audiobook is full of information about mobsters and all of the corruption that took place in Hollywood, dating back to the days of Frank Sinatra era. It is full of facts about who did what to who. I didn't love the book, as I felt it read like a list of facts, rather than a story. A history buff would most likely love it. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to review this advanced copy.

I think I've finally had my fill of gangster/mafia books. I thought that being set in Hollywood, this book would have a new fresh look at how mobsters handled their affairs. It did include some famous stars of film and TV. However, the mafia did the same thing by extorting money from people by threatening their livelihoods or even their lives. This also didn't seem to read like a story, just a bunch of snippets thrown together.

Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This audiobook was like listening to one of the many docos on subjects. It may yes cover the movie side but felt to doco like and no infliction. Not at all the era or structure that it appeared to be.

Tinseltown Gangsters, written by Jeffrey Sussman and narrated by Adam Barr is fascinating and very well researched

We hear a lot about the gangsters that rose to higher public consciousness throughout prohibition due to their focus turning from petty crime, to running speakeasy's and distributing illicit alcohol and narcotics. However, when we read about them and see films, they are usually in New York or Chicago for example, so when I saw this audiobook about a different location, I was intrigued

The first thing I noticed when listening, is that Adam Barr was the perfect choice to narrate this book as Barr's narration was reflective of the cadence of announcers in the 1930s and really set the scene for the content of the audiobook. The narration was engaging and dynamic and kept my attention

There are many famous names throughout the audiobook that will perhaps change established perceptions about them. Sussman pulls no punches in their concise yet engaging style, laying out the facts in a logical and immersive flow

I really enjoyed this very insightful audiobook and will be looking out for more from Sussman

Thank you to Netgalley, Tantor Audio, the author Jeffrey Sussman and narrator Adam Barr for this highly entertaining and very interesting ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

Well researched and captivating.

I am not a “gangster” fan. I haven’t seen the godfather, for example, or good fellas, and I generally loathe any movies with violence.

Having lived in La La Land for more than a decade (with many good friends in the film industry) I took a chance on this book and am glad I did.

I found the history fascinating and also disheartening. I also will never look at the Kennedy family the same again, for example.

Overall if you have an interest in the film industry or gangsters, you will probably like this book. It’s easy to read and quick.

My only complaint was the introduction was a cliff notes for the entire book and it acted like a spoiler for me.

This is the first time I have read a book by Mr. Sussman and I did enjoy this book. I found the history of the mob in Hollywood told in this book to be highly informative and well written. The information kept me interested in all of this book and I liked how everything was told chronologically. The only thing that I did not like was that there were parts of the book that repeated itself word for word. I thought that if the information was going to be represented then it could have been worded differently as opposed to how it was.

Overall, this was a good read that I would recommend to others.

Very interesting book. I guess I never realized how much the mob had control of the Hollywood movies. I also never realized about Kennedy being involved in the mob or movies. Overall very interesting.

I was already fairly familiar with the rise of organized crime in Hollywood, and literally just finished a book that covered it in the context of the Lana Turner / Johnny Stompanato murder, so I am perhaps better informed on the topic than many. When the author referred to Stompanato as "Joey", he lost me as the inability to keep the names of the players straight left me wondering what else might be inaccurate or glossed over... I also found the narrative choppier than I expected. It felt more like blurbs about the rise of individuals - and if one wasn't already familiar with the larger context or who these people were, I can see where that might make this a less fully fleshed out read than would be desirable.