"A colorful biography of the Mick, a nattily attired, 5-foot-5-inch L.A. gangster who declared he never killed anyone who ``didn't deserve killing" and who feared nothing but germs (hence, his habit of taking 2- to 3-hour showers). "Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster" is a fascinating portrait of how a Boyle Heights newsboy grew up to cross paths with movie stars, religious leaders, jetsetters and newspaper folks when he wasn't dodging assassination attempts on Sunset Boulevard. Lewis' book shines a light on an often overlooked chapter of the history of crime, L.A.'s mid-20th century underworld (called the `Vicecapades'' by one columnist). Mickey struck me as a guy I would have loved to dine with as long as it wasn't on Sunset Boulevard." - Steve Harvey, "Only In LA", Los Angeles Times. "I found Celebrity Gangster intense, dramatic, a real page turner." - Irwin Winkler, Producer of Rocky, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Night and the City and The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. "Never in my years of reading for pleasure, has such an infamous mobster as the late Mickey Cohen been written about with such insight, truthfulness and good humor as Brad Lewis has accomplished in this page-turning bio. For anyone into Jewish or even gentile folklore, this is a must read." - Arthur Marx, author of Life With Groucho "This is Mickey Cohen! Inside and Out! The most comprehensive biography ever written about Hollywood's bantam gangster. Bradley Lewis gives us the complete story of the most famous West Coast mobster in history, complete with his ties to the underworld hierarchy across the United States. Lewis shows us multiple sides of Cohen and for the first time gives us a clear understanding of his far-reaching influence, separating fact from fiction along the way." - Allan R. May, AmericanMafia.com
Almost True Hollywood Stories is an offbeat, darkly funny fictional account of insider Bradley Lewis' experiences writing screenplays while living and socializing with the elite "Hollywoodland" crowd. Doctors, agents, celebrated talent, writers, producers, business moguls, wannabes, medical students, the fabled Hillcrest Country Club, and the Beverly Hills Tennis Club are all represented. Even deli owners and their families, as they intersect to form a meld of backstage show business and a macabre horror plot. This authentic view of the entertainment industry will appeal to any show business junkie, as well as anyone who enjoys a good laugh.
Mickey Cohen, who died in 1976, was a colorful, feared West Coast gangster-gambler who knew the biggest names in Hollywood including the Rat Pack, was a confidant of Bugsy Siegel, a friend of Las Vegas' late Liz Renay and on first names with the biggest guys in the Mafia, plus Frank Sinatra, Richard Nixon and Billy Graham. Brad Lewis' book about Cohen draws from thousands of resources -- a virtual treasure trove of Mafia-related books, articles and interviews. Written by a tough and knowledgeable insider, Lewis tells the whole Mickey Cohen story during the period when he was involved with the Rat Pack, Marilyn Monroe, Patty Hearst, Menachem Begin, Jack Ruby, Sam Giancana, and the Kennedys. All the whispered anecdotes, the news items and the underside of the crime rackets where Mickey operated are in this book, open to scrutiny. From Bugsy Siegel to Lucky Luciano and Albert Anastasia to Meyer Lansky and Carlos Marcello, Mickey knew them well and worked closely with them for many years. This is Mickey Cohen! Inside and Out! (This book is an abridged version of Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster.)
A lively critique and discussion of four classic 50s TV comedies and their stars; a coffee table book complete with photos, including reminders of the Cold War paranoia that begat The Beat Generation – the decade that changed television forever. Everyone from Imogene Coca to Carl Reiner, Joe E. Ross, Gale Gordon, and Richard Crenna; featuring Phil Silvers, Sid Casesar, Eve Arden and Danny Thomas; plus many more television and movie stars of the 50s in some of their most memorable roles, with insider history of how it all took place. This coffee table book of underrated gems and deeply beloved television landmarks is a fun romp for any fan.
Bradley Lewis delivers a high-stakes medical thriller with a plot that envelops consumer advocate Mark Einman in the often mysterious world of AIDS vaccine research. The nightmare begins when he receives his first anonymous threat the very day he visits Dr. Harry Ezralow, the world-renowned pediatric AIDS researcher. The hunt for information is on together with Mark's politically and socially famous wife Allie, placing the Einman's and their son Steven at mortal risk. The history of pediatric AIDS research is about to be rewritten, in a heart-stoppingly suspenseful story. Cul De Sac exposes the sometimes dark journey inside the complicated world of vaccine research, while digging deep into the myths across a political and business divide that at times is utterly alien to the people it purports to help. Cul De Sac is a work of magic that until now was missing from the literature of our generation, a medical thriller with an authentic Appendix that invites you inside a world that science has yet to conquer - a must for any reader of this genre.
This is the true story of Mickey Cohen's life while he was being tailed daily by the Gangster Squad, LA Patrolmen, and FBI Agents. From 1937-1950 the reader will be treated to the private and public life of the most famous mobster of his era. This is both a fascinating history of time gone by and a biography of a survivor and Lewis has written it with flash and substance. --- Howard Schwartz - Gambler's Book Club, Las Vegas
"I found Gangster intense, dramatic, a real page turner." ----Irwin Winkler, Producer of Rocky, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Night and the City and The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.
"Never in my years of reading for pleasure, has such an infamous mobster as the late Mickey Cohen been written about with such insight, truthfulness and good humor as Brad Lewis has accomplished in this page-turning bio. For anyone into Jewish or even gentile folklore, this is a must read." ----Arthur Marx, author of Life With Groucho, The Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, Goldwyn: A Biography of the Man Behind the Myth, Red Skelton, and The Secret Life of Bob Hope
A lively critique and discussion of four classic 50s comedies (Featuring Some Like it Hot, Guys and Dolls, How to Marry a Millionaire, & Mister Roberts); a coffee table book complete with photos, including reminders of the Cold War paranoia that begat hula hoops and transistor radios – the decade that changed the movies. Everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable; Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon to Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando in classic films that inspired generations to come. Vivian Blaine, Henry Fonda, Joe E. Brown, George Raft, Pat O'Brien, James Cagney, Rory Calhoun, Ward Bond, Jean Simmons, Stubby Kaye, and many more stars of the 50s in some of their most memorable roles with insider history of how it all took place. This coffee table book of underrated gems and deeply beloved cinema landmarks is a fun romp for any movie fan.
Bradley Lewis knew at a very early age that he didn’t quite fit in, or more likely that he wasn’t quite welcome. His look back illuminates a disturbing and peculiar seesaw Long Island childhood. His father was an emotionally remote man who spent a lot of his time away from his son. Lewis’ high-functioning mother was a businesswoman whose bohemian personality could bring a busy store to a standstill. Home life in the Lewis household was an off-beat combination of overachievement riddled with constant criticism. Early on, Lewis realized that his family wasn't very much like the others in town. Eventually he escaped to Manhattan, but not without carrying the family abuse with him. Lewis moves the reader swiftly through time; from his earliest memories until he finally breaks free. Mazie Was Crazy is a compassionate, sensitive analysis that recalls firsthand experience; a cultural criticism about growing up on insular Long Island; a deeply moving memoir with vividly colorful characters. Lewis shows the reader why it’s so hard for someone who grew up the way he did to have achieved almost anything. The reader will experience the flaws of the somewhat privileged, but also its family strengths wrapped within a traumatic portrait - what can wrong inside American families and the dysfunction that afflicted so many children born in the fifties and sixties. Lewis describes the alcoholism, sexual abuse, and an unrelenting system of control. A powerfully written memoir about the author’s journey from a troubled childhood to the beginning of life alone at NYU in Manhattan. Heartbreaking, heartwarming and dotted with ribald humor, it opens a small window of suburban America, one usually hidden from view, while offering genuine hope in the form of hard-hitting honesty. This quick and engaging insightful read is well suited to anyone interested in baby-boomer Jewish-American families.
Long Island Purgatory is a touching, funny, memoir with fictional elements that captures the voice of a soon-to-be thirteen-year-old, skeptical of approaching adulthood. Bennie-The-Brain, as some of his classmates and townspeople refer to him, is caught up in the aftermath of the shock waves from the JFK assassination. Perhaps intelligent beyond his years, Bennie is about to face something even more powerful than the death of his hero, something that he cannot fathom. This unusual but real treatment of racial upheaval and urban transformation in Laurelton, investigates the impact of blockbusting on the lives of Bennie, his family, and the rest of the mostly Jewish town. Blockbusting refers to a practice in which real estate agents sold a house on an all-white block to an African-American family. The panic among the remaining residents has often been referred to as “white flight”. Lewis describes a widely forgotten phenomenon of recent social history, including his own real-life horrors and painful memories. Inside this strikingly candid, vividly written account of his experience, he takes us behind the scenes in 1963. We journey with him through both frank and poignant vignettes that convey the human cost of racism. Long Island Purgatory tells a powerful and deeply personal story that allows us an unprecedented look back at a sad piece of our history.
Mickey Cohen, who died in 1976, was a colorful, feared West Coast gangster-gambler who knew the biggest names in Hollywood, was a confidant of Bugsy Siegel, and on first names with the biggest guys in the Mafia, plus everyone from Frank Sinatra to Marilyn Monroe. Bradley Lewis' novel about Cohen draws from thousands of resources - a virtual treasure trove of Mafia-related books, articles and interviews. Lewis tells the early Mickey Cohen story during the period when he was growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, until the beginning of his foray with Bugsy Siegel into Las Vegas. From Bugsy Siegel to Lucky Luciano and Jack Dragna to Meyer Lansky. Mickey knew them well and worked closely with them for many years. This lively, somewhat fictional take is based on the first modern biography of Cohen, "Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster, The Incredible Life and Times of Mickey Cohen".
Bestselling author Bradley Lewis’ sequel to The Bloomingdale Code is a powerful reality-based roller-coaster ride that won’t let you off until the very end of the ride. When internationally known assassin Marco Wexler is summoned to a Las Vegas police station as a witness for the DNA tests of a suspected terrorist, he soon realizes that this is no ordinary stop. He will ultimately discover the unimaginable – a link to the past that has international think tank Ceptien calling for all its members to placate the Catholic Church. News of the mysterious DNA genotype has the world wondering if history is going to be changed forever. Or, will Ceptien be able to carry out its macabre instructions through Marco and private Clearstream forces? From the FBI lab in Quantico to Haiti to Washington to New York and places totally unexpected, the world awaits whether history will be rewritten. Reenter the world of The Good Doctor, Marco’s mysterious boss who operates anonymously, on call for the highest bidder. A labyrinth of international intrigue—an ever-changing world filled with FBI and CIA agendas, agents who rethink their own morality, with shifting allegiances—while hoping to find out if there is any the truth behind this incredulous discovery. The reader will be treated to a thriller filled with information on genetic testing, religious ancestry, and DNA profiling, all the while wondering if humankind will be altered forever.
In three different loosely-related vignettes, Bradley Lewis uses a fictional narrative to present a glaring view of lives gone sour. Dissolution takes you to the darkest place in the lives of three different couples; two are married, and one young couple struggling with the idea of permanency. This tour de force will grab you from the first page and lead you down a path of circumstances that have gone horribly wrong. These addicting stories will send chills down the spine of anyone who has ever been married or in a relationship. What happens when your spouse becomes controlling and dangerous? Is abduction a reasonable out? What do you do when you suspect that your friend is sleeping with your wife? Does violence solve anything? What if your girlfriend has lied to you, not just about her motivations, but about everything? But hasn’t deception always been part of the game? Wealthy Lauren and Louie live in Beverly Hills, where life on the rocks is a familiar, sad story, but never quite like this. Karen and Nicky end up prospering in SoHo with their popular coffee shop, only to find that the Rockwellian existence they dreamed of could be destroyed by an interloper from Hollywood. Young Sherry and Ben struggle in the world of modern love, where logic and lessons from history are easily misplaced and replaced. Dissolution is an insider’s fictional presentation, based on years of real oral history; the stark realism will leave you breathless. Despite its dark view of relationships, the crisp dialogue and offbeat characters guarantee that you will enjoy the ride.
An unlikely wealthy couple in the midst of constant emotional chaos finds themselves investigating the world of embryo and organ theft, a mystery that takes them to unexpected locales with the most unusual set of characters. With a nod to the The Thin Man, Bradley Lewis takes us out of Manhattan and into the rich, dysfunctional, world of Beverly Hills. With Sheila Benniger’s pet schnoodle killed by a Sub-Zero refrigerator accident in a prequel, she is left with only her husband Dr. Brantley Benninger, the local root canal specialist, to schlep around to help investigate her amateur sleuthing hunches. Like Nick and Nora Charles, the Benningers enjoy all the perks of wealth, such as country clubs and eating in the finest Hollywood and Beverly Hills chichi locations, but unfortunately too often with Sheila’s Borgia-like parents, the Stirlings. With the help of Irv-The-Shrink, the Bennigers manage to keep their marriage alive – and want to – especially since Sheila is pregnant. The perfect-imperfect couple, Sheila and Brantley are still in love, and their elegant condo provides refuge from the strange world that the Stirlings constantly try to invade. They enter the realm of international crime, macabre murders, and police cover-ups. With lively dialogue and uniquely authentic settings, the author, a Beverly Hills resident for twenty-six years, demonstrates that he knows his subject from every angle, and exposes the extraordinary perverse insider details of wealthy families. The Benningers rub elbows with the rich and famous, while trying to solve what proves to be an off-beat, often funny, tale of mystery and socially-impaired Beverly Hills life.
At the age of - well, Dr. Louise Bradley wouldn’t say - she woke up in the back of a hideous Hummer limo, the kind used for pornos, proms, weddings, and bar mitzvahs. She had lost her temporary veneers and drooled on her Dolce and Gabbana turquoise silk blouse. She had no idea where the limo was taking her. Was that her mother in the front seat? Dr. Bradley could not remember how she got there. Yes, she drank, took drugs, had sex with many men, and shopped incessantly, but she knew that she wasn’t an addict. This is her account of her almost a week - maybe less - in a private rehab facility for the rich in Manhattan. Dr. Bradley’s book combines her intimate memoir with adequate psychology, since she prefers the medication prescribed by her psychiatrist as opposed to any long-term therapy. Dr. Bradley tries to understand the difference between falling in love and just becoming addicted to sex. She speaks freely about her obsession and how her Mommy betrayed her. Rather than explore the causes of multiple addictions, Dr. Bradley shows us how to avoid overtreatment and instead moving on with our lives, while exposing the mental health scams along the way. She hits on the importance of knowing when things are transient, and tells a powerful story in the process. Dr. Bradley remembers - as much as she can with sharp dialogue - of the stories she has to endure. While fact-checking proved to be an inconvenience, she strives to get to the truth, at least allowing herself a chance to remember. One Big Chunk is a fast-moving, wild, sexy, and fiercely powerful parody of what passes for a memoir - a hilarious satire that will simultaneously shock while offering a poignant exposé of our mental healthcare system, with a running commentary on the world of fashion.