Synopses & Reviews
Growing up in a household that seemed "as generic as midwestern Jews get," author
Eric Konigsbergnever imagined there was anything remotely mysterious about his family. When he was sent back East for boarding school, however, he learned from an ex-cop groundskeeper that indeed there was: his great-uncle Harold "Kayo" Konigsberg had been a legendary Mafia enforcer, suspected by the F.B.I. of upwards of twenty murders.
What Eric Konigsberg had uncovered was a shameful family secret. While his grandfather was a true-life Horatio Alger story -- a son of immigrants who'd become a respected merchant -- the family had long since written off his black-sheep younger brother as all but dead. In fact, "Uncle Heshy" was cooling his heels in prison. Over his family's protests, Konigsberg embarked on a series of visits that inspired the acclaimed New Yorkerpiece that laid the groundwork for this book.
In Blood Relation, Eric Konigsberg unspools the lurid rise and protracted flight from justice of the notorious criminal in his family, spoken of by prosecutors and associates in superlatives: "smartest hit man," "king of the loan sharks." Over six years, the author uncovered confidential records of J. Edgar Hoover's struggle to bring Kayo to justice and tracked down Kayo's collaborators and the descendants and loved ones of his victims.
In this intriguing and deeply affecting portrait, Konigsberg reveals Kayo as a fascinating, paradoxical character: both brutal and seductive, a cold-blooded killer and larger-than-life con artist who taught himself to read as an adult and served as his own lawyer in two major trials -- to riotous effect. Functioning by turns as his pursuer, jailhouse scribe, and sole link to the rest of the Konigsbergs, the author investigates Kayo's impact on his family and others who crossed his path, brilliantly interweaving the themes of Jewish identity, family dynamics, justice, and postwar American history.
Review
One of the 20 best books coming out this fall. GQ
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Skillful ... Readers get to enjoy the creepy thrills without actually having to meet [Konigsbergs gangster uncle] face-to-face. Kirkus Reviews
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A chronicle of criminal behavior ... but also a moving story of coming to terms with ones roots. Booklist
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A picture of the classic gangster, an excellent study not only of crime but of family and Jewish identity. Library Journal
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A deeply weird, terrific story ... scrupulously reported and wonderfully told, with wiseguys as vivid as any in Elmore Leonard. William Finnegan
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Terrifying, moral, and funny... affirms our faith in the power of the best nonfiction to move and delight us. Walter Kirn
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Written so well, with such care and emotional precision. Geoffrey Wolff
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“A portrait of evil that is never banal, Blood Relation plays out like Hitchcocks “Shadow of a Doubt” in reverse. Edward Conlon
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The most personal and affecting account of Mob violence youre going to get until The Sopranos returns (whenever that is). GQ
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“Absorbing and marvelously told [in] graceful, perfectly pitched prose . . . a mesmerizing expedition.” New York Times Book Review
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Konigsbergs inspired reporting cracks a window on the bedlam of post-war organized crime ... vivid, haunting, funny, magnificently original. Katherine Boo
Synopsis
Even the blandest Midwestern family can harbor a "really" black sheep, and asKonigsberg wrote in "The New Yorker," his family's is a Mafia hit man. 8-pagephoto insert.
Synopsis
A New Yorker writer investigates the life and career of his hit-man great-uncle and the impact on his family.
Growing up in a household as generic as Midwestern Jews get, author Eric Konigsberg always wished there was something different about his family, something exotic and mysterious, even shocking. When he was sent off to boarding school, he learned from an ex-cop security guard that there was: His great-uncle Harold, in prison in upstate New York, was a legendary Mafia enforcer, suspected by the FBI of upwards of twenty murders.
Konigsberg had uncovered a shameful, long-hidden family secret. His grandfather, a Jewish Horatio Alger story who had become a respected merchant through honesty and hard work, never spoke of his baby brother. When other relatives could be coaxed into talking about him, he wasn't "Kayo" Konigsberg, the "smartest hit man" and "toughest Jew" described by cops and associates; he was Uncle Heshy, the loudmouth nogoodnik and smalltime con, long since written off as dead. Intrigued, Konigsberg ignored his family's protests and arranged a meeting, which inspired the acclaimed New Yorker piece this book is based on.
In Blood Relation, Konigsberg portrays Harold as a fascinating, paradoxical character: both brutal and winning, a cold-blooded killer and a larger-than-life charmer who taught himself to read as an adult and served as his own lawyer in two major trials, to riotous effect. Functioning by turns as Kayo's pursuer, jailhouse scribe, pawn, and antagonist, Konigsberg traces his great-uncle's checkered and outlandish life and investigates his impact on his family and others who crossed his path, weaving together strands of family, Jewish identity, justice, and post-war American history.
About the Author
Eric Konigsberg grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and he lives in New York City with his wife and son. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Tin House.