ONE OF THE FAMILY The Englishman and the Mafia.

Softcover. 1st edition. Only 2 Englishmen have ever been closely involved with the American mafia. The first was Owney Madden, an emigrant from Liverpool who, in the roaring 30s, became a notorious associate of figures such as Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano and Frank Costello. The second was Wilf Pine, an "English hoodlum" who had already achieved eminence by the early 70s as the manager of Ozzy Osbourne's legendary rock band Black Sabbath. But thanks to a chance encounter with a leading figure in the Genovese crime family in New York, Wilf became accepted as one of his own family, a trusted friend and associate of the influential godfather, Joe Pagano. This meant that early in the 1970s Wilf Pine started to lead a double life. For sometime he carried on his successful career in the music business, while in New York he was becoming increasingly involved with many of the most powerful figures in organised crime in America, including the flamboyant John Gotti and the all-powerful Alfonse "Funzi" Tierie. Many of the friendships that he made then continue to the present day. This makes the life of Wilf Pine, as related by John Pearson, a true crime story in a class of its own. This story swings between love and violence, cruelty and extraordinary acts of kindness, as this most complex of characters, Wilf Pine, follows the strange path life had in store for him. Illus. + Index. 367pp. trade size softcover. V. lightly browned pp. o/w Nr. F. with no creasing to covers.