Scott Deitche
Blogcritics reviewer
Also author of
"The Silent Don"
St. Petersburg, FL
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“This is one of the more foundational organized crime books ever written... Thomas Hunt brings the story alive through his rich attention to details. You can practically smell the fetid air of the New Orleans waterfront... Anecdotal family stories bring a dimension to the Macheca saga that you rarely get from a general Mafia book. Not wanting to lavish too much praise on the authors, but it's always exciting to find a new way to approach a subject... Deep Water is a worthy addition to the organized crime canon and the greater body of books on Civil War-era America."
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Peter Dale Scott
Author,
"Deep Politics and the
Death of JFK"
Professor ret.
U. of CA, Berkeley
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“Deep Water is a memorable reading experience. It is both a vivid down-to-earth description of ante- and post-bellum New Orleans, and also significant history, with colorful documents and episodes from the lives of ordinary people. Once you start reading it, it is hard to put down. The denouement, the murder of Joseph Macheca in the midst of a mass lynching, has never before been told so closely from Macheca business records. This book will force a reassessment of a famous event in the history of American organized crime.”
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Rick Mattix
Co-Author,
"The Complete Public
Enemy Almanac"
Bussey, Iowa
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“An excellent, meticulously detailed ... account of the birth of the American Mafia and a wonderful study of New Orleans from the Civil War/Reconstruction periods up through the famous mass lynching. Macheca comes across as a fascinating rogue. Deep Water ... shows a marvelous objectivity and a close analytical reportage based on the best available evidence.”
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Julie Eshelman-Lee
Louisiana Historian
Fort Collins, CO
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“...Couldn’t put it down...Bravo! It is brilliant work. Working with a tightly woven fabric of injustice, you have objectively and meticulously unstitched the legend for truth, as honestly as possible. Congratulations to you both for this wonderful contribution to Louisiana and American history.”
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Kirkus Discoveries
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“...Through a combination of historical records and family lore, the authors trace Macheca's rise to successful merchant while concurrently describing the political and social changes in New Orleans in the last half of the 19th Century... [A] convincing analysis of the inextricability of organized crime and local politics”
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James Fentress
Author,
"Rebels and Mafiosi: Death
in a Sicilian Landscape"
Italy
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“ ... The book centers very much around the life of J. P. Macheca and his ... career in New Orleans. I found it all very interesting and informative. I was also happy to see my own prejudice confirmed: the Hennessy murder emerges out the turbid racial and political situation in the city ... I was impressed by how much information you got a hold of.”
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David Critchley
Crime Writer
United Kingdom
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“I ... like some of the new material on Esposito and the other mafiosi. And it's well written. But I think it goes into too much detail, most of all about political factors.”
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Doug Casey
Researcher
Metairie LA
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“Deep Water is excellent. You really did your homework. ...The Macheca history is terrific... I am impressed on how you got to the meat of the Battle of Liberty Place and the Burke affair. You took two complex subjects and explained them concisely... I really enjoyed it.”
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