Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Leave The Book, Take The Cannoli

In 1988, Dominic Senese was coming home to his lovely Oak Brook, Illinois, residence when someone took a shot at him. The fact that he was able to live in an expensive enclave like Oak Brook can be chalked up to his hard work with the Teamsters Union. The attempted murder was chalked up to a power struggle at the top of the Union local.

The village of Oak Brook, then, is no stranger to Mafia violence.

In which case, it should come as no surprise that a book signing had to be cancelled in the quiet suburb.

Frank Calabrese, Jr., is pushing his account of his exploits with the FBI, aimed at bringing several of his relatives and close associates to justice.

Operation Family Secrets
has the potential to be a big seller, and the Borders bookstore chain could use the foot traffic. What they don't need, of course, is a mob hit while buyers wait in line for Mr. Calabrese to autograph their copies of his book.

Taking his book to Oak Brook, where mobsters find spacious estates and relative safety from vendetta, could be seen as yet another slap in the face to those whose livelihood has been damaged by Mr. Calabrese's efforts.

You could almost say that he must be asking for it.

The store decided not to take risks and cancelled the signing. Oak Brook's police department is investigating, but it probably won't go far.

No one was ever arrested for trying to assassinate Dominic Senese, and there's still no one serving time for trying to kill his son Lucien with a car bomb.

With the publicity, however, it's likely that Mr. Calabrese will see his Amazon numbers climb as readers play it safe and order online.

More bad news for Borders, isn't it?

No comments: