The Weasel: A Double Life in the Mob

About this book

In the world of organized crime the bosses grab the headlines as the names Capone Gotti Bonnano Cotroni and Rizzuto attest. But a crime family has many working parts and the young mobster known as The Weasel was the epitome of a crucial invisible cog-the soldier the muscle the driver the gopher. By a quirk of fate Marvin Elkind-later The Weasel-was placed in the foster home of a tough gangster family immersing him from the age of nine in a daring world of con men cheats bootleggers loan sharks bank robbers leg breakers and Mafia bosses. During a Golden Age of underworld life in New York Detroit and across Canada The Weasel found himself working with a surprising cast of colourful characters. He befriended powerful gangsters by smuggling bottles of Scotch to their tables as a waiter at New Yorks famed Copacabana; he was pushed to be Jimmy Hoffas chauffeur. But his disenchantment with the broken promises of mob life brought him into another fraternity one offering the same adrenaline rush danger and dark comedy he craved. After a startling confrontation he was embraced by law enforcement and a cop with a reputation for results. Now a career informant The Weasel learned he was a far better fink than he ever was a crook. With his impeccable gangland pedigree enormous girth cold stare and sausage-like fingers adorned with chunky rings no one questioned The Weasels loyalty. The backroom doors were flung open and The Weasel slipped in bringing undercover cops with him. For case after case over two decades he worked for the FBI U.S. Customs Scotland Yard RCMP Ontario Provincial Police and other law enforcement agencies on three continents trapping and betraying mobsters mercenaries spies drug traffickers pornographers union fat cats and corrupt politicians. With unflinching honesty The Weasel and many of the undercover officers he worked with revealed their successes and failures to award-winning crime reporter and best-selling author Adrian Humphreys. The Weasel is the riveting chronicle of a unique and engaging figure who lived a most dangerous and rare experience. It is a story that was never supposed to be told.