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To underworld kingpins Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Cuba was the greatest hope for the future of American organized crime in the post-Prohibition years. In the 1950s, the Mob—with the corrupt, repressive government of brutal Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in it is pocket—owned Havana's biggest lavishness hotels and casinos, launching an unexampled tourism boom finish with the most lavish entertainment, top-drawer celebrities, gorgeous women, and gambling galore. But Mob dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others who would lead an uprising of the country's disenfranchised versus Batista's hated government and it is alien partners—an epic cultural battle that bestselling author T. J. English captures here in all it is sexy, decadent, ugly glory.

From BooklistThe penetration of American coordinated crime into the gambling and amusement industries in Cuba has been well documented. The actual procedure of this takeover is rather interesting, involving political corruption, mob culture, and the fundamental interaction of Cuban ruling elites and revolutionary figures. English, who teaches a course on organized crime at the New College of California, places Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano at the center of his narrative. As portrayed by English, these boyhood friends combine brutality, cynicism, and an expansive imaginativeness of creating a criminal empire with a protected base in Cuba. English writes eloquently regarding prerevolutionary Havana, where the glitter of nightlife and an “anything goes” facade covered up the widespread poverty and decadent political culture underneath Batista. As long as English sticks to coordinated crime he remains on solid ground. Unfortunately, when he ventures into the political realm, he oversimplifies, displaying an appalling ignorance of the complexities of the respective groups opposed to Batista. Still, this is a priceless examination of organized-crime figures and their attempts to thrive in a seemingly receptive environment. --Jay Freeman

Review“A whiz-bang account of the Mafia’s short-lived romp through 1950s Cuba.” (New York Times Book Review )

“While Havana Nocturne makes you glad that Batista and his gangster pals at long last got what they deserved, it likewise makes you regret never having gotten the prospect to soak up a few mojitos while catching the floor show at the old Tropicana.” (Village Voice )

“A tight storyteller, English provides a juicy mix of true crime and political intrigue, all set versus the sexy sizzle of Havana nightlife.” (San Francisco Chronicle )

“[An] splendid new book.… [English] provides a elaborated account of the personalities and parts that made up Cuban life. His well-researched descriptions of how business, gambling, politics, revolution, music and religion all played off each other give Havana Nocturne a wide context and a welleducated edge.” (Washington Post )

“Engaging….English’s brand of narrative is history, and he aims to set the record straight.” (Miami Herald )

“It’s a roaring story, equivalent constituents fact and myth, and for the firstborn time, it gets told in it is violent entirety by no less a crime scribe than T.J. English…compellingly telling.” (Miami Sun Post )

“Spellbinding prose…Havana Nocturne is a powerful reminder of how the mob almost achieved it is biggest payday and how Castro beat the house, for a limitless time altering the course of history.” (San Antonio Express-News )

“[An] agreeably diverting new book…by veteran crime writer T.J. English” (New York Post )

“Crime writer English (Paddy Whacked) unfolds a story whose main outline will be intimate to any fan of The Godfather: Part II, but whose twists and turns no screenplay could keep up with.” (Kirkus Reviews )

“True-crime writer English (Paddy Whacked) presents an empire-building saga in which the “Havana Mob” of American gangsters, led by visionary financier Meyer Lansky, controlled Cuba.” (Publishers Weekly )

“English’s engaging narrative reads with the gripping quality of fiction: the dark underworld of Havana comes to life....Highly recommended.” (Library Journal )

“Finally, the definitive book has been written on the Mob’s heyday in Cuba. Havana Nocturne is at once compelling and incisive—an agreeably diverting page-tuner that will both shock and inform.” (Sam Giancana, author of Double Cross )

“Sex and drugs and rockin’ mambo! Havana Nocturne is a dazzling parade through the Mob’s interests in Cuba. A ought to for Mob fans everywhere.” (Legs McNeil, author of The Other Hollywood and Please Kill Me )

“All the razzle-dazzle is here—Sinatra, the black sedans, the showgirls—but English goes further, to show how gangsterismo permeated the politics of Cuba and influenced it is destiny.” (The Scotsman )

Most helpful client reviews

120 of 124 humans found the following review helpful.
A sure bet...
By Quixote010
Crime novels abound. There's no question that we take pleasure in reading fiction and non-fiction with regards to the gangster element. This is one historical formally presenting something that is sure to please readers.

Unlike other books that oftentimes rehash well-known facts with regards to crooks and their actions, Havana Nocturne is an agreeably diverting review of the historical activenesses of the Mob in Cuba from the mid-1940s until the Castro revolution takeover in 1959. History has oftentimes averted or ignored the Mafia's involvement in Cuba, forgetting that a lot of of the activenesses there superceded or coincided with the development of Las Vegas.

Rather than a activity of formally presenting something of repetitious facts, however, this book does an magnificent occupation of condensing the political events of the time while also explaining the decades-old Mob interest in Cuba.

Readers will find the story reading like a fantasy as they discover interesting facts surrounding the actions of Frank Sinatra, John F. Kennedy and the bawdy nightlife of the Caribbean.

For those mesmerized in understanding why the US has averted involvement in Cuba for 50 years, how Batista ruled Cuba and Castro took control, and how the Mafia closely rose to power internationally, I strongly commend this book.

80 of 87 humans found the following review helpful.
Livin' la vida loca not all that healthy.
By Schuyler T. Wallace
I loved this book for a lot of reasons but it didn't make me want to take my clothes off and go dancin' in the rain. In fact, after reading this account of Havana I wonder when it was that Ricky Martin thought such frivolity would be a good idea. The history of the city and the lifestyle surrounding it's golden years seemed stimulating but a little dangerous.

Author T.J. English did a wondrous occupation of researching the happenings in Cuba in his non-fiction winner, "Havana Nocturne." I relish well- researched histories and with regarding 330 end notes, a heap of 25 insider interviews, and 11 pages listing the books, articles, essays, transcripts, reports, documentaries, television programs, institutions, and FBI files that English relied on for his information, this book surely qualifies.

Usually that much exploration material develops a book with the trudging characteristics of a Russian epic that takes various years to read, but not Havana Nocturne. English has deftly woven the info into a tight record of a couple of decades of activity, and formulated an agreeably diverting account of what the Mob and the Cuban government was involved in, all the while naming those who participated in numerous highly nefarious schemes. All the intimate big-city Mafiosi characters are here, along with the hangers-on from Hollywood, Tampa, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago and Las Vegas-- those who loved the glamour and excitement of a glittering Havana particularly prepared to lure them in.

Famous Americans such as John F. Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Steve Allen, Lucille Ball, Marlon Brando, George Raft, Graham Greene, Errol Flynn, Dorothy Dandridge, Ava Gardner, Eartha Kitt, Ginger Rogers, Tony Martin, Johnny Mathis, Donald O'Conner, and Tyrone Power, amid some others, became real aficionados of the wild Cuban modus vivendi and expended a good deal of time sampling it. Give English credit. He's not a muckraker and lurid details of their visits are sparse, but their presence is acknowledged.

Fulgencio Batista's turbulent career as dictator and his repressive regime through the 1950s is brilliantly chronicled as is his open-pocket acceptance of the Mob's motion into the biggest luxuriousness hotels and gambling casinos in Havana. English parallels the lush life and Batista's corrupt governmental activenesses with the story of a young revolutionary named Fidel Castro who lives in the Cuban mountains, plotting to overthrow Batista and utilise his own ideas for the Mob. The author tells of the Revolution, the ouster of Batista, and the double-cross Castro executes versus the American mobsters, a move that nearly sent Cuba into an economic downward spiral from which it has never recovered.

This book was a pleasure to read. The writing is taut: the action is crisply presented. There are a great deal of characters involved but the author never loses the reader to the playbill. I haven't enjoyed a book this much for a lot of time. I highly commend it.

51 of 57 persons found the following review helpful.
The real Hyman Roth
By Rosemarie McMichael
The story of Meyer Lansky and his plans to make Cuba into a mobsters' dream: "90 miles from the United States with a friendly (i.e., corrupt and venal) government". Sound familiar? Then you've seen "Godfather II" as I have and believe you're intimate with this story. But there is so much more to it, and T. J. English writes with gusto, amusement and at times wonderment at how the American mobsters, led by The Little Man, Jewish Meyer Lansky, dared to dream they could rule Havana aided and abetted by the amoral and corrupt dictator Fulgencio Batista. They weren't counting on the Castro brothers and their compatriot, Che Guevera, who had a dissimilar imagination for Cuba. They became progressively disgusted at the exploitation of the Cuban people, in particular as sex workers, for the amusement of the gringo tourists. No one gets off easy here, not JFK, not Sinatra, not the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, all of whom were beneficiaries and abettors of the corruption of the Mob. A terrific read and a history lesson which goes down smoothly.

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