May 27, 2008
Louis Ferrante: from mobster to mensch
Louis Ferrante made a lot of bad decisions in his life. But he made one very smart choice after being released from prison in December of 2006.
A life-long wiseguy who served time for racketeering, armed robbery and credit card fraud, Ferrante wrote a 1,200-page novel set in the antebellum South while he was locked up in federal custody.
When he got out of prison, Ferrante wanted to find a publisher for his novel but no one seemed interested. Instead, friends urged him to write a memoir of his mob days. Ferrante initially didn't want to revisit the past but he wrote a few sample chapters anyway. It turned out to be a very wise decision.
According to this story in the L.A. Times, Ferrante sent the chapters to literary agent Lisa Queen who subsequently signed him to a deal and sold the book two weeks later. HarperCollins published “Unlocked: A Journey From Prison to Proust,” in March and “Sopranos” star Lorraine Bracco has purchased the film rights.
Needless-to-say, his real-life story is certainly more compelling than any novel about the antebellum South. (I'm a resident of Atlanta so I'm allowed to say these things.)
Ferrante, a 39-year-old man who now lives as an Orthodox Jew, grew up in Queens and earned his reputation as a wiseguy by hijacking delivery trucks and reselling the merchandise. He also became involved in processing fraudulent credit card transactions with stolen credit cards. Acting on a tip from one of the guys involved in the credit card scheme, Ferrante robbed an electronics store in the belief that he would find lots of money there. When the heist turned up very little cash, Ferrante retaliated by taking a Corvette belonging to a friend of the tipster. Ferrante subsequently told the owner of the Corvette that he could have the car back. But when this unlucky guy showed up to retrieve his automobile, Ferrante and several others ambushed him. They beat the poor fellow and shot him in the leg.
At some point along his way to prison, Ferrante apparently created a rap music video in which he defended Gambino crime boss John Gotti. This apparently turned into a liability as Ferrante complained in an appeal of his conviction on the credit card scheme that prosecutors unfairly prejudiced him at trial by telling the jury about his connection with Gotti.
According to the bio on his Web site, Ferrante spent 8 1/2 years behind bars. It was while he was locked up that he read his first book. He began studying seriously while in prison, concentrating on literature and history.
At some point back in the early days of his incarceration, Ferrante also developed an interest in Judaism. He grew up in an Italian Catholic family in Queens but started exploring religion while in prison. In interviews, Ferrante has said he 'felt powerfully drawn' to the Jewish faith.
Here's more on his move to Judaism from an interview published last March in The Forward:
Getting to the Torah was a long process. At first, I read the Gospels. I wanted to explore my own religion first, obviously, so I read the Gospels and I picked up the Quran, and I picked up the Baghadvita and I studied Buddhism…. Now I’m saying to myself, “Wait a second” — ’cause I have a good sense of history now — “the Jews came first. Everybody said, ‘I’m going to change your book, change it a little, rewrite it,’ and then we’re gonna say the Jews are wrong. I mean, c’mon, what’s going on over here?”
Rabbi Arthur Rulnick formally converted Ferrante after his release from custody. In an article in the New York Jewish Week, the rabbi said he never took jailhouse conversions seriously before encountering Ferrante:
“He [Ferrante] has a rough exterior, but you can sit down and talk about philosophy, literature, poetry, and anything in Judaism,” says Rabbi Arthur Rulnick, who formally converted Ferrante to Judaism after he was released from prison. The two men have remained in close contact. In a telephone conversation from his home in Baltimore, Rabbi Rulnick, who retired from the Woodbury Jewish Center on Long Island, explains that he’d heard of jailhouse conversions and never took them seriously. But that changed when he encountered Ferrante. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a layperson who knows as much about Jewish history and the Bible as he does.”
So, he's a smart guy. But is it a good book? Here's what the L.A. Times said:
Unlike most mob memoirs, “Unlocked” doesn’t dwell unduly on criminal exploits, nor does it name many names. Although the author spent time with both John and Peter Gotti, they are rarely mentioned. Instead, he tries to provide some insight into his own behavior, something rarely found in Mafia tell-alls, according to [Nick Pileggi, the author of “Wiseguy” and “Casino.”], who wrote a blurb for the book.
And, here's the verdict from Publisher's Weekly:
Sometimes his mob account reads like a Puzo novel on steroids, but the author takes his licks when he is busted on a federal credit card rap and sentenced to a maximum security prison even though famed attorney William Kunstler represents him. In the federal pen with all its mayhem, Ferrante confronts his personal demons, elevates himself through reading books and embraces a new faith as an Orthodox Jew. Ferrante produces a raw, brutal memoir with glimmers of hope and redemption, and in so doing, this true crime account does not resemble any of the cardboard wise guys of the tube or the silver screen. It definitely grabs the reader's attention.
“Unlocked: A Journey From Prison to Proust” is published by HarperCollins (320 pages).
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I have got to read this book. I love mob/mafia books, like Puzo’s stuff. Or real life books on Gotti and others. This wiseguy sounds interesting. I hope Lorraine Bracco is able to get the movie made…I hear of so many scripts that get bought and aren’t ever made into movie. Maybe she can get an HBO movie done? That’d be cool.