The King of Con

Devoured this in two sittings. Fantastic tale that shows that truth is stranger than fiction. Giacomaro is The King of Con and anyone remotely interested in cons, crime, politics and the mafia(and how they intersect) will love this book!

How a Smooth-Talking Jersey Boy Made and Lost Billions, Baffled the FBI, Eluded the Mob, and Lived to Tell the Crooked Tale. That’s quite a sub-title and a mouthful all at once I’d say. This book was intriguing from the start and only got better. .It tells the crazy story of how Tom Giacomaro a smooth talking guy from Jersey, who started out in the mob-heavy trucking business and learned as he went. He took that wisdom with him as he moved on, soon making money like he never dreamed of as a salesmen getting accounts because he was so good at it. He could talk anyone into anything, and his lifestyle changed drastically along with his income.

Soon he had a new Cadillac, he was wearing a Rolex and wore expensive suits. It made him feel good after his father telling him all his life that he was nothing and never would be anything. But, as many guys like him do, they get too slick for their own good and Tom develops problems as he is also cheating on his wife, and he starts selling coke on the side too. Soon the money begins pouring in, so much he begins filling shoe boxes with it at home and stacking them up. But his performance at work begins to suffer and he’s rarely at home anymore.

He changed jobs and took one for even more money, serious money, an even better car and an unlimited expense account. He made his mom proud finally. But his dad said he was still nothing. Things keep escalating and just get more out of hand, a very wild ride indeed as he gets involved with the mob as a partner.

This true crime book is very readable and I enjoyed it a lot. I got pulled in and didn’t want to stop to sleep at spots where it got good. That’s always too much temptation for me. My thanks for the advance electronic copy that was provided by #netgalley, authors Thomas Giacomaro & Natasha Stoynoff, and the publisher for my fair review.

BenBella Books
Pub: Sept 25th, 2018

The King of Con starts with a brief history that birthed the up-and-coming (at that time) criminal mastermind Thomas Giacomaro. There’s the inevitable pushback and rebellion that ultimately freed him and his anger from the shackles of an abusive home. It led him to all the wrong choices later in life. The author lived for the high of climbing hard and fast on the career, money, and power ladder. His sense of success was defined in salary and cars with luxurious interiors when all the while he has a wife and daughter at home. Tom is a natural born salesman, nicknamed ‘Golden Tongue’ for his ability to talk people into anything. He had amazing business skills that he even had one running successfully in prison. Anyway, his success prior to jail attracted loose women so cheating couldn’t be avoided (according to society), even expected. He is then somehow roped into doing cocaine that became his point of unravelling.

This was such an easy read with the author’s voice and character shining through. You can actually hear the New Jersey talk and frequent references to well-known mob movies made it all the easier to hear. The author writes in a way that you’re either really inspired by or simply brush aside as the ramblings of a man reminiscing on his high point in the past. His feats are, of course, impressive for the time without globalisation and the internet and are probably the lessons that the authorities have learned from.

I think the aspect that I appreciated most is that this book doesn’t divulge too much about the random sex part. Whenever there was one though, it had a point to make. That made this book so much more tasteful, in my humble opinion.

Towards the end of the book, I can’t help but wonder. Am I somehow being conned by reading this?

Trigger warning(s): Adultery, descriptions of drug-use

Thanks to Benbella Books for providing me with a copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own and are based on the advanced digital review copy.