It was a daring gamble to win the war on the Italian front. The American invasion of Sicily would depend on the out come of convincing "Lucky Luciano" help.
Suspense
I was disappointed with this book. The name caught my eye as I was looking down a members list, who I had gotten a book from. I remembered Luciano's supposed involvement in the Allied Invasion of Italy. during WWII. However, this was more of a shallow pulp novel rather than something of historical substance. It starts with a one paragraph account about the historical aspect of Luciano's involvement, but goes downhill from there. If what is written about Luciano's service to his government is true, this book is not the place to find it.
This is the story of the clash of two godfathers. The first was Don Antonio Luca, head of the Mafia in Sicily, whose brother went to the electric chair in Chicago in 1929, leaving Luca hating the Americans.
The second godfather was the legendary prince of gangsters, Lucky Luciano, who was sitting out World War II in the penitentiary.
In the summer of 1943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, picked Major Harry Carter, who'd met Luca and knew Sicily well, to put before Lucky Luciano a proposal he couldn't refuse. The rest is superb action in Higgins' manner, with the fateful meeting of the American and Sicilian Mafia bosses.