April 19: Author Talk with Chicago Mob Expert Gus Russo
Date:April 19, 2016
Time:7 p.m.
Cost:Free for Members or with Museum admission
Giancana. Spilotro. Rosenthal.
The Stardust. The Tropicana. The Desert Inn.
The Skim. The Greed. The Ruthlessness.
How the Mob brought about its own ruin in this city.
“Casino” only tells part of the story.
Author Talk with Gus Russo, foremost expert on the Chicago Mob, with book signing to follow.
The little-known story of the great Chicago crime family. The Outfit. The secretive organized crime cartel that began its reign in Prohibition-era Chicago. Their tentacles spreading to Hollywood, Washington, D.C., and finally, Las Vegas.
Author
Gus Russo
Gus Russo is a veteran investigative reporter, docentary producer, screenwriter and author.
His books have included “The Outfit: The Role of Chicago’s Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America,” “Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and his Criminal Associates Became America’s Hidden Power Brokers,” “Gangsters and Goodfellas,” “Boomer Days” and “Live by the Sword: The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK.” “Gangsters and Goodfellas,” co-written with the later mobster Henry Hill, was the sequel to Hill’s “Wiseguy,” the basis of the movie “Goodfellas.”
Accolades about Russo’s books include:
“Essential works on the subject of organized crime” – The Los Angeles Times
“Compelling picture of the exercise of power in the 20th century” – San Francisco Chronicle
“Russo does a masterful job. The amount of research in the book is staggering.” – Chicago Sun-Times
Russo also has co-written and produced several documentaries as well as served as a consultant to Hollywood screenwriters. In 2013, he produced a two-hour television special, hosted by Tom Brokaw for NBC News, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination. He has worked as an investigative reporter for PBS Frontline, ABC News Special Reports with Peter Jennings, Dan Rather’s CBS Reports and Jack Anderson Specials. He has served as a consultant for “Sixty Minutes” and “Eye to Eye with Connie Chung” and has worked with Robert De Niro, Seymour Hersh, Gerald Posner and Academy-Award winning director Nigel Nobel.
Russo also is a musician, having played with The Byrds, Poco and Phoebe Snow, as well as an actor.
