Bears defense unable to hold off Seahawks.
Bears defense unable to hold off Seahawks: The Chicago Tribune/ Video From ESPN
Filed under BTR Sports
Video: Largest Pee Wee Football Kid Ever Levels Opposing Player « CBS Chicago
Posted by the McNeil and Spiegel Show, weekdays on 670 AM The Score
Video: Largest Pee Wee Football Kid Ever Levels Opposing Player « CBS Chicago.
Filed under BTR Local News, BTR Sports
Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist Says Fox News ‘is operating as the wing of the Republican Party’
Finally, someone calling a spade a spade.
Filed under BTR National, BTR Opinion
BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Family Corleone’ by Ed Falco
As a big fan of “The Godfather” trilogy of movies, as well as the Mario Puzo original novel, I was hopeful that “Family Corleone” by Ed Falco was going to bring something interesting and fresh to the story. After being disappointed with other post-Puzo attempts at the story of the Corleone’s, I have to say that Falco’s novel did the characters and the saga proud.
“The Family Corleone” is set in the early 1930’s, as the Corleone Family jockeys for position and power in New York City’s underworld. We see Vito Corleone in his prime as his looks to expand his criminal empire. Facing danger from a powerful rival and his allies, the Don bides his time as he plans his next moves, which will either bring him ultimate power or death.
In Falco’s novel, we get to see the advent of the “Five Families”, and old familiar characters, such as Tessio, Clemenza, and Tom Hagen. But there are two particular story features that really put some meat on the bone of Falco’s effort.
The first is the initiation into the “family business” of Santino “Sonny” Corleone, who in “The Family Corleone” is in his late teens. Against his father’s wishes, the hot-tempered Sonny begins his career in crime with fellow Italian and Irish teens, unbeknownst to the Don. Soon Sonny’s gang runs afoul of other mob elements, which in turn draw in the Corleone Family and set them on a collision course with the powerful boss, Joe Mariposa.
The other interesting character study is that of the feared Corleone enforcer, Luca Brasi. As Falco begins his story, Brasi is an independent low-level leader of his own gang, who find themselves the frequent victims of Sonny Corleone’s gang of thieves. “The Family Corleone” begins to then trace Brasi’s dark and horrific descent into the most feared man in the underworld, and eventually, Vito Corleone’s private messenger of death.
While Mario Puzo set the bar so high that no one else’s treatment of the Corleone family’s saga can compete, Ed Falco’s novel is a very enjoyable read and, in my opinion, breaks new ground with these fascinating literary characters.
Filed under Book Reviews, BTR Books & Art
‘Fiscal cliff’ talks stalled but progress possible: The Chicago Tribune
Filed under BTR Business, BTR National
Beyond The Region 