"A meticulously accurate and superbly written history of the Cuban underworld in terms of the interactions between the American Mafia, US businesses and governmental intelligence agencies. . . . The Mafia in Havana is a seminal and strongly recommended addition to the personal and academic American Organized Crime historical studies and supplemental reading lists."—Midwest Book Review
"We invented Havana, and we can goddamn well move it someplace else if [Batista] can't control it."—Meyer Lansky, in Sydney Pollack's movie Havana
Here is a vibrant picture of the Mafia's Caribbean empire, when Havana was the playground of the rich and infamous. With a novelistic eye for detail and drama, prize-winning author Enrique Cirules presents a shockingly glamorous and fantastically seedy picture of the world of Frank Sinatra and showgirls, mambo and marijuana, corrupt cops and politicians, run by shady characters like "Lucky" Luciano and Meyer Lansky.
In this extensive investigation into the Cuban underworld, the author exposes the close ties between the Mafia, US business interests, and intelligence agencies—and their often brutally enforced reign over pre-revolutionary Cuba.
The Mafia in Havana won the Casa de las Américas Prize for Latin American Literature and the Critics' Prize in 1994. It features stunning photographs of the famous personalities who hung out in Havana in the era before the 1959 revolution.
Enrique Cirules was born in Camaguey, Cuba, in 1938. He is a great storyteller and the author of several novels and short stories, including Conversation with the Last American.
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