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Mr. Untouchable: My Crimes and Punishments |
Customer Rating: 
Sales Rank: 176378
Available from Amazon |
$24.95 |
From inside the Federal Witness Protection Program, the "Black Godfather" chronicles the 1970s New York City underworld and the most devastating urban crime wave in history. <P>1962 LEROY "NICKY" BARNES walks out of Green Haven State Prison. There are an estimated 153,000 heroin abusers in the United States. <P>1977 Two million junkies score $100 million worth of Barnes's smack a year. Sporting flashy suits, riding in a Citroën with a Maserati engine and satisfying a wife while pleasuring a harem of mistresses, Barnes presides over a staggering multinational dealership that pushes dope and launders money with the efficiency of a Fortune 500 company. Despite President Nixon's creation of the Drug Enforcement Administration and New York State's adoption of the no tolerance Rockefeller drug laws, Barnes's operation seems impregnable. <P>How does a small-time hustler and heroin addict end up on the cover of the New York Times Magazine as MR. UNTOUCHABLE, the one gangster the Feds can't touch? And how is the future Mayor of New York City Rudolf Giuliani involved? With Machiavellian pragmatism matched with biblical fury, Barnes lays bare his life's remarkable trajectory--a rise, fall and resurrection defined by brutality, brotherhood and betrayal.
I picked up this book the last week of May and I finished it in 3 days!! This book was well written and a definite page turner. Not often found in most memoirs or biographies.
I'm not one to read many biographies or memoirs, or at least until recently. I was surprised at how intriguing and interesting this book was. The narrative voice drew me in.
If you don't know much about Nicky Barnes, the basics will do: He's a notorious drug-addict turned drug-kingpin from one of New York's most fam...more I picked up this book the last week of May and I finished it in 3 days!! This book was well written and a definite page turner. Not often found in most memoirs or biographies.
I'm not one to read many biographies or memoirs, or at least until recently. I was surprised at how intriguing and interesting this book was. The narrative voice drew me in.
If you don't know much about Nicky Barnes, the basics will do: He's a notorious drug-addict turned drug-kingpin from one of New York's most famous neighborhoods, Harlem. After 10 years in the life of narcotics, Barnes, deemed "Mr. Untouchable" by the cops because of the legal system's inability to convict him. It all came to an end after Barnes posed for the famous cover of the NYT Magazine. President Carter sent the Feds after him and Barnes was incarcerated for life without parole.
Barnes' story didn't end there, however. He went on to set up and entrap hundreds of fellow colleagues including members of his version of the Black Mafia, called "The Council," and two of his main women.
Barnes takes readers on a wild ride journey. One that he begins at the height of his career before the big fall. He segues from prison into the earliest days of his life in Harlem, his years as a junkie, several prison terms and finally his beginnings as a drug kingpin. The final act of the book (one of three acts), focuses on his last years in prison and the downfall of his organization, and his decision to snitch and how he went about it.
The details of the novel were quite enjoyable. Barnes doesn't hold back when it comes to the material goods he enjoyed during his days at the top. His Maserati-Citroen, the various penthouse apartments across the city and tri-state area, the fine liquor and drugs he inhaled and the designer duds he and his women wore.
What was most charming about Barnes' story was the incredibly charming narration. Barnes was witty and funny, qualities one would not expect from one of the top heroin sellers of his day. For those of us not born during his generation, it's hard to imagine that this is the same man that had helped destroy a whole community of families. But one in which we must not forget.
Lastly, one of my complaints about the memoir was that I felt that Barnes conveniently gives the reader anecdotes and history about his fellow Council members that portray them as inadequate and often goofy compared to himself. It helps to create this pile of infractions that would inevitably lead Barnes to set up and take out his "brothers" in the Council. Barnes portrays himself as really not having a choice in his final decisions. To be honest, I'm just not that convinced.
Overall, I give this book 4 of 5 stars. There was a lot unsaid in this memoir, but it was a good read and I recommend it.
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