Oct 27, 2022 | #GallianoClub, #reviews
A tall frosty glass of Prohibition, ballplayers and mobsters? I drank up a dozen books while researching 1926 for the Galliano Club thriller series. Now that MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB has hit your favorite bookstore, I highly recommend the following:
SCARFACE AND THE UNTOCHABLE by Max Allen Collins and A. Brad Schwartz
Far and away the best accounting of the infamous rivalry. The book “draws upon decades of primary source research—including the personal papers of Ness and his associates, newly released federal files, and long-forgotten crime magazines containing interviews with the gangsters and G-men themselves. Collins and Schwartz have recaptured a bygone bullet-ridden era while uncovering the previously unrevealed truth behind Scarface’s downfall. Together they have crafted the definitive work on Capone, Ness, and the battle for Chicago.”
Find on Amazon https://geni.us/colsc
LUCKIEST MAN: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig
A beautifully written and fulsome account of baseball legend Lou Gehrig, from his German roots and domineering mother to his rocky friendship with Babe Ruth to his sad demise of a baffling and uncurable disease that now bears his name. Did you know that he auditioned in Hollywood to play Tarzan? Or that his last words were “All my pals”?
Find on Amazon https://geni.us/elou
ONE SUMMER: America 1927 by Bill Bryson
Written in Bryson’s wry style, the book recounts everything of note that happened in the summer following Charles Lindbergh’s historical flight across the Atlantic. From the adoring crowds that nearly crushed the shy aviator to pole sitters, murder trials, a baseball tour featuring Ruth and Gehrig, and floods along the Mississippi, a patchwork of events is given wonderful context.
Find on Amazon https://geni.us/1br
LAST CALL by Daniel Okrent
A brilliant, authoritative, and fascinating history of Prohibition during 1920 to 1933, when the U.S. Constitution was amended to restrict alcohol. From the legal challenges to rumrunners, each chapter is full of insights and observations as to how Prohibition impacted the national character.
Find on Amazon https://geni.us/last2022
THE BLACK HAND by Stephan Talty
One of the first books I read in preparation for the Galliano Club, it’s the fantastically well-researched and gripping account of the Italian murder and extortion ring that terrorized Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the determined New York City cop, Joseph Petrosino, who fought them. Petrosino is still a legend in both Italian and law enforcement circles.
Find on Amazon https://geni.us/hand2022
1926 in Fiction
The first book in the Galliano Club thriller series, MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB begins in August 1926. Hollywood hearthrob Rudolph Valentino died that month, only 31 years old but mourned by millions. New York governor Al Smith ran for re-election on a “wet” ticket opposing the enforcement of Prohibition in the state. Chicago bootleggers Al Capone and Hymie Weiss were locked in a battle for gang supremacy.
In MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB, Chicago bootlegger Benny Rotolo locks horns with bartender Luca Lombardo. They both want the club, where beer is king and trouble is always on tap.
Just ask the dead man in the alley behind the club. Find it on Amazon: https://geni.us/mur2022
Oct 23, 2022 | #booknews, #GallianoClub, #newsroom
New release
MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB is now available in Kindle and paperback editions. The first novel in the Galliano Club thriller series debuted in the Number 2 spot on Amazon’s Italian Literature category. Thank you to so many early readers!
Join bootlegger Benny Rotolo and bartender Luca Lombardo as they battle for control of the Galliano Club, a hangout for Italian men in upstate New York in 1926. Beer is king and trouble is always on tap.
Are you a fan of The Godfather, Road to Perdition, The Untouchables, or Boardwalk Empire? If you love historical fiction featuring Prohibition-era stories of Chicago gangsters, Italian mobsters, and bold bootleggers, you’ll love MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB, as well as ROAD TO THE GALLIANO CLUB, the prequel.
Why historical thrillers?
Many readers have asked why this pivot to historical thrillers after writing mysteries set in contemporary Mexico. The short answer is “pandemic.”
After writing so many books set in Mexico, including the award-winning Detective Emilia Cruz police series, the Galliano Club historical thriller series was a real switch for me. But in the midst of the pandemic, writing about cartels and corruption was emotionally tough.
Related post: From New York to Mexico and back again
Turning to family stories–my grandfather was a deputy sheriff during Prohibition–was both a challenge and a labor of love. My hometown of Rome, NY became Lido, NY. I incorporated many of my mother’s fading memories of growing up there. So much love went into this series, which you can read about here.
Seems I traded drug cartels and official corruption for bootleggers, blackmailers, and crooks. Go figure.
Hello, 1926
Get ready for an exciting trip to 1926!
Prohibition was at its height, with beer cooked up in illegal breweries, speedboats hauling liquor from the Bahamas to the East Coast, and Prohibition Bureau agents playing both sides of the law. Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett claimed to fly over the North Pole but Charles Lindbergh wouldn’t cross the Atlantic until the next year. The Yankees lost the World Series when Babe Ruth was tagged out trying to steal a base. And that’s just for starters.
The Galliano Club thriller series has it all. Expect authentic details, unforgettable characters, layers of deception, and relationships with heat.
Oct 4, 2022 | #booknews, #GallianoClub
Release dates!
All three full-length novels in the Prohibition-era Galliano Club series are scheduled for release:
16 February 2023: BLACKMAIL AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
30 March 2023: REVENGE AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
The gift of historical fiction
When I started in the midst of the pandemic, I didn’t realize where the Galliano Club would lead. Now I’ve met some wonderful historical fiction authors, reignited my love of research, reconnected to my Italian roots, and learned about my hometown which served as the inspiration for Lido, New York.
Related: Behind the Galliano Club
All because my grandfather told stories from when he was a deputy sheriff during Prohibition . . . and yes, I’ve written him into the series.
The Galliano Club is my first foray into historical fiction but it won’t be the last.
This project has truly been a gift.
While you wait
The prequel, ROAD TO THE GALLIANO CLUB is out now! Read the backstories of the unforgettable characters of the Galliano Club thrillers: bartender Luca Lombardo, dancer Ruth Cross and bootlegger Benny Rotolo.
From the mean streets of 1920’s Chicago, to a coal town in Pennsylvania, all the way to the a village in southern Italy, three roads converge at the Galliano Club, where trouble is always on tap.
Grab it on Amazon here.
Sep 30, 2022 | #EmiliaCruz, #noticed
Mexico’s Truth Commission investigating the mass disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College may finally solve the 8 year old crime that inspired the Detective Emilia Cruz novel 43 MISSING.
As more details are uncovered, it appears that complicity in the students’ kidnapping and murders involves virtually all levels of Mexican military and civil authority, and was driven by drug money. Some are calling it a state-sponsored crime.
Ask me why I’m not surprised.
43 MISSING Giveaway
To bring awareness to the issue, I’m giving away 12 signed paperback copies of 43 MISSING on Goodreads. Find the giveaway here: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/353598-43-missing-an-emilia-cruz-novel NOTE: the giveaway ends 6 October 2022.
Got a Kindle? Get 43 MISSING on Amazon here: https://geni.us/read-43-missing
Murillo’s Arrest
So far, former attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam is the highest official thought to be involved in the crime. He was arrested at his home in Mexico City in mid-August in connection with the Sept 2014 mass disappearance in the state of Guerrero, not far from Acapulco. Murillo served as attorney general from 2012 to 2015, under then-President Enrique Peña Nieto.
Murillo was charged with torture, official misconduct and enabling forced disappearance. Along with him, charges were brought against 20 army soldiers and officers, five local officials, 33 local police officers and 11 state police, and 14 gang members. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/08/20/mexico-attorney-general-arrested-43-missing-students/7855468001/
As CNN reported, the arrest followed the Truth Commission’s report which labeled the students’ disappearance a “crime of the state.” The commission, which began in 2019 and is the latest in a string of investigations over the past 8 years, combed through “thousands of documents, text messages, phone records, testimonies and other forms of evidence.” https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/19/americas/jess-murillo-karam-mexico-missing-students-intl-latam/index.html
Revelations
Since Murillo’s arrest, more news has leaked out about the crime, much of which is being aired (at least in the English-language press) for the first time. The reason that facts were obscured and reporting muffled for so long appears to be a conspiracy that included local drug gangs in Guerrero, which may well have ties to larger organized crime organizations, as well as the highest levels of Mexico’s federal government during the Peña Nieto administration.
The commission report described a “deep coverup, involving multiple levels of local and federal government offices. Officials concealed facts and covered up links between the authorities and the gangs . . . At all times the federal, state and municipal authorities were aware of the students’ movements. Their actions, omissions and participation allowed for the disappearance and execution of the students.”
One shocking revelation from the commission is that six of the 43 students were kept alive for as long as four days after the initial kidnapping by police in the city of Iguala, at which point they were killed and their bodies hidden on the orders of the local army commander.
Enough, I’m Tired of This
Murillo is the one who famously said Ye me canse, meaning “Enough, I’m tired of this” in early November 2014. In a short press conference, he announced that two suspects led authorities to trash bags believed to contain the incinerated remains of the 43 missing students, then abruptly cut off reporters’ questions with the off-hand remark.
Ye me canse blew up across social media, and became a rallying call for those sick of Mexico’s narco violence and disappearances. “Enough, I’m tired of crime/narco-state/violence/government apathy.”
Meanwhile everyone else was asking Donde estan. “Where are they?”
This illustration from THE ARTIST/EL ARTISTA asks “Where are they?”
“Historic Truth”
Murillo left office having created a narrative called the “Historic Truth.” This was an attempt to end the outcry with a story that the local police arrested the students then turned them over to the Guererros Unidos gang, which killed them and burned the bodies, tossing the remains into a dump.
Yet in September 2015, a group of independent experts appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a 500-page report refuting the theory as scientifically impossible. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/09/ayotzinapa-disappearances-pena-nieto-s-ultimate-test/
Origins of the Crime
The impetus for this sad tale of crime/coverup/collusion/conspiracy is still murky. Why did the police seize the students in the first place?
The inciting incident was when the students commandeered buses in Iguala to go to a commemorative rally in Mexico City. This isn’t necessarily a big issue in Mexico where transportation is hard to come by. The Ayotzinapa students supposedly did it every year for this event.
But this time, the students may have unwittingly commandeered a busload of drugs being transported by the Guerreros Unidos gang. And who was the gang’s partner in drug transport and distribution? Could it be the Army? Local officials? The local police? All of them?
Military angle
Mexico News Daily reported on military indictments:
“Retired Gen. José Rodríguez Pérez, a then-colonel who commanded the 27th infantry batallion at the time of the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College students’ disappearance in Iguala on September 26, 2014, is accused of ordering the murders of six students several days after they went missing.
“On August 19 – the day former attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam was arrested in connection with the students’ disappearance – the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said that a federal judge had issued a total of 83 arrest warrants against 20 military commanders and soldiers belonging to two battalions in Iguala, five administrative and judicial officials in Guerrero, 33 municipal police officers from Huitzuco, Iguala and Cocula, 11 state police and 14 members of the criminal organization Guerreros Unidos.” https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/arrest-warrants-ayotzinapa-general/
Unexpected Twist
After more than three years digging into the current investigation, prosecutor Omar Gómez Trejo quit this week, “raising questions about the authorities’ willingness to take on politicians and the military,” according to the Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/27/mexico-ayotzinapa-missing-students-prosecutor/
Mexican Attorney General’s Office recently persuaded a judge to vacate 21 of Gómez Trejo’s 83 arrest warrants listed above. Sixteen of the 21 were for military officials.
Was the prosecutor sidelined? Is this a sign that Mexico won’t hold military officials accountable for atrocities?
Interestingly, this comes at a time when President López Obrador is relying on the military for a variety of tasks. He recently shifted put the civilian National Guard under military control. The military has taken on the civilian law enforcement role as well as chasing organized crime and running infrastructure projects.
Solving the crime in 43 MISSING
I wrote 43 MISSING, the 6th book in the Detective Emilia Cruz series, out of a huge sense of frustration with the “Historic Truth” narrative being spun at the time. There was some great counter reporting, however, notably Francisco Goldman’s content in The New Yorker. I read everything I could get my hands on and came to the conclusion that those buses were key to the mystery.
And so I wrote my version of the crime, putting Detective Emilia Cruz into an investigation not unlike the Truth Commission. In the fictional version, a new investigation brings together police officers from across Mexico to take a fresh look after previous investigation were either unequal to the task or actively prevented from investigating. Again, much like real life.
43 MISSING takes Emilia out of the familiar surroundings of Acapulco and into Mexico City. She and the team must cull through a massive amount of documentation, including video transcripts, and are given few resources for the overwhelming job.
Emilia finds those responsible for the mass disappearance . . . She finds the bodies of the dead, too.
The real Truth Commission has done the first part. Let’s hope they can do the second and without paying the price that Emilia pays in 43 MISSING.
Featured image courtesy Kindel Media via pexels
Don’t forget
Don’t forget to enter the Goodreads giveaway before 6 October for a signed copy of 43 MISSING: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/353598-43-missing-an-emilia-cruz-novel
Got a Kindle? Get 43 MISSING on Amazon here: https://geni.us/read-43-missing
Find 43 MISSING and all the Detective Emilia Cruz books on Amazon.
Sep 3, 2022 | #authorlife
There is a success story behind the Killer Nashville International Mystery Writer’s Conference.
The weekend among my fellow writers always inspires and recharges. This was my 4th time attending.
The schedule is geared to help attendees connect with other authors as well as learn from fellow panelists and guests of honor. Agents are available to review a few pages of a manuscript. The awards dinner is a highlight and a reason to get dressed up.
I also won a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion in 2019 and have been a finalist a couple of times, but that’s another story.
Related post: An Excellent Bunch of Murderers
Persistence
Persistence was the unofficial theme of the conference this year.
Both guests of honor put themselves in the shoes of aspiring writers as they spoke about persistence.
Charlie Donlea (SUMMIT LAKE, TWENTY YEARS LATER) talked about spending years writing multiple books before a publisher took a chance on him. Hank Phillippi Ryan (HER PERFECT LIFE, FIRST TO DIE) shared all the jobs she had before writing and that her first book was completely rewritten into a new genre before it was published.
Everyone is encouraged be be persistent. Overnight success is rare. Keep honing your craft, making connections and believing in yourself.
This attitude was reflected everywhere. My friend Bradley Harper (A KNIFE IN THE FOG, QUEEN’S GAMBIT) says he has “no time to be timid” and keeps pushing the envelope with new genres and branching into screenwriting. Mike Faricy (RUSSIAN ROULETTE, THE OFFICE) has more than 50 books to his name and struck gold with the Dev Haskell series. Dr. Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes is not only a Claymore Award finalist but a podcaster supporting other authors. After punishing careers in law enforcement and the California prison system, Bruce Robert Coffin (AMONG THE SHADOWS, BENEATH THE DEPTHS) and James L’Etoile (DEAD DROP, BLACK LABEL) persisted and built second careers as authors.
I could do on and on. Serious writers have persistence.
Related post: 10 Lessons from my first Killer Nashville
When Logistics Go Bad
The conference persisted despite:
- Hotel plumbing disaster
- Website hit by a Russian denial-of-service attack
- Schedule changes due to speaker illness/injury
- Misprinted awards dinner program
None of it mattered.
We made jokes about noisy fans and having to walk through the kitchen when the plumbing caused a hallway to be closed off.
Those who had attended before kept panels running smoothly in the absence of those with health issues. Last minute substitutions were useful and entertaining.
Volunteers at the front desk helped when website information wasn’t available.
The misprinted awards program was managed so deftly by Clay Stafford as the dinner’s MC that it became a running joke and quite good entertainment.
Nothing was going to get in the way of this community supporting its members.
We want you to succeed
This year I realized what made Killer Nashville special enough to keep coming year after year.
You get to define what success as a writer is for you. We all know it isn’t the same for everyone. There are too many versions and variables. But everyone at Killer Nashville wants you to succeed.
Sometimes the message is said out loud, but mostly it’s subliminal. It’s the thread that runs through a conversation with a fellow writer before the panel gets going. Lunch with a stranger as you both eye the cheesecake. Those late connections in the bar when you trade war stories and marketing ideas.
We all come to Killer Nashville because we want to succeed as a writer. Just as importantly, we want you to succeed, too.
Now that’s a heck of a success story.
The importance of a good hair day
Selfies with friends during the Killer Nashville conference, August 2022.
With Bruce Robert Coffin
With Bruce Robert Coffin, author of the Detective Byron series
With Mike Faricy
The annual snapshot with Mike Faricy, author of the Dev Haskell series
With Bradley Harper
Bradley Harper comes closest to being a Renaissance Man of anyone I know
With Emily Whitson
I had the honor of blurbing Emily Whitson’s book, UNDER THE MARIGOLDS which was a Silver Falchion finalist
With Maggie Toussaint
With Maggie Toussaint, winner of the Magnolia Award from SEMWA
With Baron Birtcher
With author Baron Birtcher, author of A FISTFUL OF RAIN
With Luis Rosas
With Luis Rosas, author of military thriller A SAVAGE JOY
With Dr. Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes
With writer and podcaster Dr. Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes
Aug 27, 2022 | #reviews
THE GUILTY DIE TWICE offers a memorable cast of characters, two pivotal crimes, lots of deliciously grubby political machinations, and both sides of the death penalty argument. The writing is both fluid and precise, without (thankfully) lots of legal jargon. The smooth pacing and flow make it exceptionally readable and hard to put down.
Travis Lynch is an attorney in Austin, Texas, who is barely able to make ends meet. His wife is pregnant, he works out of his living room, and he’s estranged from the rest of the Lynch family, scions of the Texas legal establishment. The reason for Travis’s difficult situation is tied to murderer Riley Sutton, whose execution takes place early in the proceedings.
Related: Book Review: THIEF OF SOULS by Brian Klingborg
Jake Lynch, Travis’s older brother, is the District Attorney (DA). Jake is a man on the rise. Powerful kingmakers are circling around. He’s the heir-apparent to the Lynch family’s legal legacy. Jake and Travis have not spoken in 10 years, when they prosecuted the Sutton case ten years ago as both friends and up-and-coming attorneys working in the DA’s office.
When a drug deal goes wrong, two high school boys are killed and another left paralyzed. A kingmaker’s son is one of the victims and the media is all over the story. Of course, no one wants the fact to come out that the victims were in a construction zone at 3:00 am to buy drugs.
Two arrests are made. The parents of the suspected shooter turn to Travis. He reluctantly takes the case, knowing he won’t be paid, but hoping to save the kid from a death sentence.
Meanwhile, Jake is pressured into charging the suspected shooter with a capital crime, triggering the death penalty. This pits Travis and Jake against each other in circumstances that hearken back to the Sutton case. Of course the backstory merges with the current timeline here and you finally find out what started the feud so long ago. What I liked so much is that neither brother is a white knight, but each is trying to follow their conscience in a very, very bad situation.
Related: Book Review: COMMAND AND CONTROL by David Bruns & J.R. Olson
Both stories wrap the reader in double suspense. What happened during the Sutton case to create this feud between the two brothers? What will happen to the current murder investigation given all the political strings being pulled? Can this family ever be mended?
It’s a legal thriller but even more, this is a story about a family pulled apart by competing moral values.
Highly recommended. Find THE GUILTY DIE TWICE on Amazon.
The author Don Hartshorn has an interesting website with short stories and writing tips. You can find it here: https://donhartshorn.com/
THE GUILTY DIE TWICE was published by TCKPublishing, a small press with a unique tagline: “Wealth is in the mind, not the pocket.” How true! You can find TCK here: https://www.tckpublishing.com/
Jul 30, 2022 | #GallianoClub, #newsroom
Are you a food blogger? Love to cook Italian? Are you looking for a fresh, fun collaboration opportunity?
The Galliano Club series of historical thriller books will be released this coming Fall 2022.
The hunt is on for Italian-loving food bloggers and Instagram accounts to help promote the book series and grow their own audience at the same time.
About the Galliano Club books
The Galliano Club thriller series consists of a prequel and three full-length novels that tell a Prohibition-era saga of murder, blackmail and revenge. The year is 1926. The place is Lido, New York, a blue-collar kind of place inspired by my upstate hometown of Rome, New York.
The Galliano Club is a social hub for Italian mill workers in Lido. Club members drop in for bootleg beer or one of bartender Luca Lombardo’s famous sandwiches.
But trouble is always on tap at the Galliano Club . . .
The prequel, ROAD TO THE GALLIANO CLUB is out now.
More about the series here: Inside the Galliano Club thrillers
Collaboration opportunity
As part of the launch activities for the books during October-December 2022, author Carmen Amato (me) will be collaborating with food bloggers to create tie-ins that highlight the books’ Italian roots.
Collaborations are planned around Italian food, kitchen merch, and Prohibition cocktails.
Collaborations will be highlighted in press releases, interviews, etc.
What’s planned
1. Instagram contests to grow both our account followers. (“follow these accounts and tag a friend, etc) Prize bundles to include Galliano Club books, Italian cookbooks, kitchen merch from your store if available, Williams Sonoma cocktail kits, etc.
2. The free companion Galliano Club Signature Sandwich Cookbook featuring favorite recipes for Italian-style sandwiches from popular food bloggers and authors. There are 4 slots left. If selected, your recipe will be included with attribution and links to your blog/website. You get press release language/blog post draft and PDF copy to showcase on your website. Perfect as a lead magnet to grow your email list.
3. Signed copies of the Galliano Club books to sell in your online shops (US only).
How to participate
Want to take advantage of this collaboration opportunity? Email carmen(at)carmenamato.net with the subject line “Collaboration with Italian food blogger.”
Here’s what to include:
Your name, website, Instagram, and email
Tell me a little about yourself and why you love Italian food.
Plus, answer these questions:
1. Do you have a mouth-watering recipe for an Italian sandwich to be included in the Galliano Club Signature Sandwich Cookbook?
2. Do you have items from your shop that you are willing to provide for an Instagram contest? Think about easily shipped items like apron, potholder, napkin set, salt and pepper shakers, etc.(You’ll ship to me. I’ll add to prize bundle shipped to winners. All bundle contributors listed.)
3. Are you interested in up to 5 free signed copies of Galliano Club books to sell in your store? (US addresses only)
4. Who else would be interested in this opportunity? Please provide their email or Instagram.
That’s it! Fire off that email! Let’s collaborate!
About me
In case you were wondering, yes, I’m Italian.
I’m also the author of the Detective Emilia Cruz police series set in Acapulco, the Galliano Club historical thrillers, and standalone novels of suspense.
A 30-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, personal experiences are occasionally disguised as fiction.
With complex plots, fast action, and an exotic location, the Detective Emilia Cruz series includes CLIFF DIVER, HAT DANCE, DIABLO NIGHTS, KING PESO, PACIFIC REAPER, RUSSIAN MOJITO, NARCO NOIR and numerous short reads. All the novels contain Mexican food recipes, too.
The series is a 2-time recipient of the Outstanding Series Award from CrimeMasters of America, and won the Silver Falchion from Killer Nashville in 2019. It has been optioned for television.
A recipient of both the National Intelligence Award and the Career Intelligence Medal, I’ve been a judge for the BookLife Prize and Killer Nashville’s Claymore Award. Nonfiction has appeared in Publishers Weekly, Criminal Element, The Rap Sheet, Mamiverse, and other national-level publications.
My previous collaborations led to two chart-topping books: THE INSIDER’S GUIDE TO THE BEST OF MEXICO and THE INSIDER’S GUIDE TO THE BEST OF MEXICAN HOLIDAYS.
I guide readers through must-read mystery and deception every other Sunday in the Mystery Ahead newsletter. Get it here: https://carmenamato.net/mystery-ahead/
Don’t forget! Email carmen(at)carmenamato.net with the subject line “Collaboration with Italian food blogger.”
Jul 16, 2022 | #GallianoClub
Researching the 1920’s for the Galliano Club books naturally means I have to research beer.
Yes, beer.
Notably beer in upstate New York, the setting for the Galliano Club series.
Beer is a hot commodity in 1926. Prohibition forbids it. The Galliano Club wants it. Bootleggers make it.
Murder and blackmail get mixed into the brew. Free refills, too.
West End Brewery
My research led to a tour of the West End brewery in Utica, New York, more recently known as the Saranac Brewery. The brewery is home to the Saranac family of brews, of which Saranac Pale Ale is probably the best known, as well as Utica Club which was the first beer sold after Prohibition. Signs on the buildings still say F.X. Matt Brewing, after the company’s founder Francis Xavier Matt, a German immigrant.
Home of Utica Club
As I drove up, I was hit by unexpected memories. When I was a child, my grandfather took family and out-of-town visitors to tour the brewery. This was before Saranac. Utica Club was very popular across the US and big billboards advertised the tour.
Back then, the brewery wasn’t as big as it is today but the tour was a major regional attraction. I recall it being very crowded. The trolley ride was unique and exciting, not to mention the free root beer for kids and two beers per adult.
Alas, the trolley is no more, but the tour still ends with a complimentary adult beverage in the downstairs bar which I sipped while furiously scribbling notes.
Prohibition beverages
I was mostly looking for information about what the brewery produced during Prohibition and was not disappointed. Tour guide Tom Wynne told me that the brewery managed to hang on during the “dry” years, although just barely, by making a variety of non-alcoholic beverages. He opened a display case and took out half a dozen antique bottles for me to examine.
The carbonated lemon-lime “rickey” looked fairly appealing. Today we’d call it soda.
Malt tonic was probably intended for home beer makers. Perhaps to disguise that fact, the company put out a pamphlet-sized cookbook listing all the yummy things you could make with the syrup.
Then there was a fizzy wine substitute called “Champannetto Mum.” It was the kind of faux high society beverage that hapless accountant and erstwhile bootlegger Owen Fisher would drink as he plots to stay afloat on the wreckage of his life.
Here’s the tour in a 16-image nutshell:
The Home of Utica Club Beer
The vintage arch at the brewery announces that you’ve arrived at the Home of Utica Club.
The original building on the West End brewery property
The original building proclaims WEST END BREWING COMPANY across the upper floor.
Stained glass at brewery
The building is peppered with historic details, including several awesome stained glass windows like this one over the store entrance.
Speakeasy drinks menu
New cocktails were developed during Prohibition to soften the taste of rotgut liquor. My grandfather called every mixed drink a “High Ball.”
Prohibition bottles
Vintage bottles showcase the tasty beverages made during Prohibition.
Sparkling water bottle
A stunning vintage label. The collar reads “A smile in Every Bottle.”
Champannetto Mum
Champannetto Mum is such an awkward product name but probably chosen to remind drinker’s of the more famous Mumm’s champagne.
Malt syrup recipes. Yum.
Ever wonder why no one cooks with malt syrup any more?
Is it a raid? Traditional speakeasy door
In a nod to the 1920’s the brewery’s “speakeasy” has a peephole door to keep out the riffraff and bar-busting cops.
utica Club cases
Utica Club is the first beer sold after Prohibition and wear its history with pride.
Original copper kettles
The brewery’s original copper kettles are a marvel.
FX Matt Brewing
The modern side of the West End brewery. The tall boxy section in the background says BREW HOUSE just below the roofline.
Giant beer tanks
This room was HUGE and full of beer aging to perfection.
Massive new beer tanks
The tour was a walk through an industrial timeline. Also these tanks are HUGE.
Old meets new
Old meets new. In the middle of modern tanks, pipes, and storage rooms, vintage barrels are still being used for specialty brews.
Utica Club wears its heritage proudly
My souvenir Utica Club beer tray featuring Schultz and Dooley, both looking a little perplexed.
Meet Schultz and Dooley
Just for fun, let’s fast forward a few years.
The Utica Club commercials featuring two talking beer steins named Schultz and Dooley were the height of early 1960’s advertising. Schultz was a Bavarian tankard with eyes, nose and a Prussian helmet. Dooley was a short, lidded earthenware mug with a green shamrock on front.
Comedian Jonathan Winters voiced both Schultz and Dooley. A puppet troupe made the steins move for the camera. Before he composed Broadway classic Man of La Mancha, Mitch Lee provided the music.
The commercials won a slew of awards, including first and second place in the 1960 Venice International Film Festival and a Clio Award for Best Television Commercial. The one below is why.
Thank you
On a personal note, a big thank-you to tour guide Tom Wynne and to Steve Hamilton, the company’s Visitor Experience Supervisor. Not only is the brewery a fascinating place, but it’s also an event venue helping to revitalize the city of Utica.
I definitely caught the excitement!
Jul 7, 2022 | #reviews
Past and present collide in this clever thriller that moves between present-day Naples, Italy, and Berkeley, California in 1969. A NEAPOLITAN INTRIGUE deals with serious topics with a smooth prose and a dab of humor at the right moments. I read it in one day, and learned some history, too.
Find A NEAPOLITAN INTRIGUE on AMAZON
Letty White is a recently retired security consultant living in Naples. Her background includes stints as a linguist for the Central Intelligence Agency and Interpol. Just as she is wondering if la dolce vita in Naples is what she truly wants, local ex-Interpol friends who own a security company find a photo of Letty as a teenager in the pocket of a dead man.
In the photo, Letty and a girlfriend are with two National Guardsmen in a Jeep, souvenir of May 1969 when Berkeley was occupied by more than 2000 Army National Guard troops. The situation began when an impromptu People’s Park was created without authorization. Attempts to dismantle the park engulfed the area in large-scale protests. Law enforcement tried to quell the protests and fatal shootings occurred. Tensions skyrocketed and the National Guard was called out.
During the second half of May 1969, Berkeley was a city in turmoil, with nearly non-stop demonstrations. Protesters were teargassed, trapped and arrested. The local prison became notorious for abuse. Events culminated with a gigantic march, with many of those present carrying daisies and singing.
Letty was 16 years old at the time, on the fringes of the protest movement with her friends and attending a high school directly adjacent to the hot zone.
As present-day Letty attempts to find out the identity of the dead man in Naples, flashbacks to Berkeley offer clues. Both Naples and Berkeley are painted with compelling visual descriptions.
Related post: Book Review: AUNTIE POLDI AND THE SICILIAN LIONS
Letty is a real 3-D character, with dangerous curiosity. She takes thoughtless risks at first but grows more wary as things in Naples go awry. I loved the way that, fueled by gallons of espresso, she gets away from the bad guys, argues with the good guys, crashes a wedding and a bespoke tailor, spurns her Italian lover, and gets away from the bad guys yet again, until at the end, she turns the tables on everybody.
The book is a thriller but has elements of a light-hearted caper, too. It will keep you turning the pages! Find A NEAPOLITAN INTRIGUE on AMAZON
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Jun 14, 2022 | #EmiliaCruz, #noticed
A month ago, the catalytic converter was hacked out of my daughter’s car as it was parked on a street in Chicago. Apparently, thieves troll at night for older cars with catalytic converters because the precious metals inside–palladium, rhodium, and platinum—now fetch unheard-of prices.
If you are in the US, you know that gas has also soared to unheard-of prices. Visiting family in New York last week, the gas station across from my hotel raised prices by 20 cents in 4 days.
As gas prices rise, articles about gas thieves in the US are hitting my inbox. Fuel theft is a phenomenon I mostly associate with Mexico, so I decided to do some digging.
Fuel thieves in the US
A quick search turned up report after report connecting gas prices with fuel theft.
In New York, thieves are drilling directly into a car’s gas tank, according to a Long Island report. https://longisland.news12.com/officials-gas-thieves-take-on-new-potentially-dangerous-way-to-steal-fuel. Newer vehicles have a rollover valve in the gas tank, which prevents the old-fashion method of siphoning gas out of a car’s gas tank. Thieves risk contact between the flammable fuel and a hot drill bit.
Other thieves park over the underground tank supplying a gas station, open a trap door in the floor of their vehicle and drill into the underground tank. https://abc7news.com/california-gas-prices-thieves-targeting-cars-and-stations-high-gasoline/11653156/
Still others hack gas pumps to change the price or spit out more gas. https://fox4kc.com/news/gas-thieves-in-florida-accused-of-hacking-pumps-to-get-basically-free-fuel/
In Nevada, thieves manipulate gas pumps, and fill specially modified trucks and trailers with stolen gas. They haul it to California, which has significantly higher prices for gas, and sell on the black market. https://abc7.com/gas-theft-las-vegas-trucks-stealing-gasoline-cost-of/11939871/ Gas station owners may not realize that the same truck has been fueling up for hours or that a pump has been tampered with until the station’s underground tank goes dry.
And so on.
Fuel thieves in Mexico
In Mexico, gas prices are less of a factor than poverty and corruption.
Fuel thieves are called huachicoleros and they target pipelines owned by Pemex, the national oil and gas utility. Pipelines are well marked and often run through miles and miles of uninhabited rural landscape. The fuel thieves siphon out the fuel, then sell it to gas stations and buyers in the open-air markets that sustain Mexico’s informal economy.
According to Reuters, “While organized crime is a big player, [President Manuel Lopez Obrador] has reserved particular disdain for Pemex, blaming crooked company insiders for much of the illicit trade.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-fuel-theft-idUSKCN1PO0ET
But many of the fuel thieves are locals who fill buckets and bottles with stolen fuel. For them it’s a way out of poverty, albeit an extraordinarily dangerous path.
For example, in January 2019, 117 people died in the state of Hidalgo pilfering fuel from a pipeline when a fire erupted. Most of the victims were from a nearby village. When word spread that a tap was gushing, people grabbed whatever receptacle they had at hand and joined the crowd. It was almost like a party until a single, fatal spark.
Days after the blast, the thefts resumed.
Fireball
The tragedy in Hidalgo and dozens of other stories like it inspired me to write RUSSIAN MOJITO, Silver Falchion award finalist and the 7th book in the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series set in Acapulco.
Emilia tangles with a Russian assassin and crooked Pemex officials as she investigates a murder in the luxury hotel where she lives with general manager Kurt Rucker. On stakeout with the ever-grumpy Lieutenant Franco Silvio, huachicoleros cause a fireball that nearly engulfs the two cops.
I’m humbled by a review of RUSSIAN MOJITO from Jim Nesbitt, author of the sensational Ed Earl Burch mystery series:
“As always, Amato spins a taut tale, keeping the reader off balance and guessing just as much as Cruz does. The pace is swift and the action is realistically and unflinchingly portrayed. Cruz is a tough but tortured cookie, driven by guilt and obsession. And that’s what makes her so damn interesting.”
If you’d like to leave your own review, here’s the link. Many thanks!
Carmen Amato is the author of the Detective Emilia Cruz police series set in Acapulco and the upcoming Galliano Club historical thrillers. A 30-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, her personal experiences occasionally make their way into her fiction.
Want to know more? Follow on Facebook or get Mystery Ahead updates in your email inbox every other Sunday.
Jun 7, 2022 | #noticed, #truestory
Elon Musk hardly needs an introduction these days, but here goes. He’s the richest man in the world, has a droll sense of humor, is a naturalized US citizen (born in South Africa) and has 7 children.
Founder of blazing-into-the-future companies Tesla and SpaceX, on 30 May Musk tweeted he felt as if he was being watched, and cleverly implied that the Central Intelligence Agency was responsible.
Twitter Related?
Musk’s plans to buy Twitter have sparked a huge online controversy. To quote CNN, Musk believes Twitter should be a “digital town square that abides by free-speech principles. Musk’s main critique about Twitter today is that it is too restrictive. Under his ownership, Musk has suggested, Twitter would treat content more permissively, pivoting away from content removals and account bans. He has also proposed opening up Twitter’s algorithm to public review so that, in theory, users could understand how it makes decisions . . . a kind of referendum on the future of online speech.” https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/tech/importance-of-musk-buying-twitter/index.html
The possible purchase has become highly politicized, fueled in part by the Biden administration’s announcement of a Disinformation Governance Board mere days after Musk’s bid to buy Twitter. Hardly a coincidence and gasoline on the already raging online fire, the Board was shuttered after only 3 weeks amid discussion of its legality. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillgoldenziel/2022/05/18/the-disinformation-governance-board-is-dead-heres-the-right-way-to-fight-disinformation/
FYI: Personally I think Twitter has become a toxic stew. I maintain an account but am rarely on the platform.
The CIA angle
As a 30-year veteran of the CIA, and occasional talking head about the Agency, I’m concerned about the notion of the CIA “watching” a US citizen, especially if this has anything to do with the current presidential administration’s obvious opposition to Musk’s Twitter purchase.
The Agency’s legal mandate expressly forbids it from participation in US policy or targeting Americans. The latter responsibility belongs to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Codified in the National Security Act of 1947, the Agency’s mission is no secret.
“To stop threats before they happen and further U.S. national security objectives, we:
- Collect foreign intelligence;
- Produce objective analysis; and
- Conduct covert action, as directed by the president.
We do not make policy or policy recommendations. Instead, our Agency serves as an independent source of information for people who do. We are not a law enforcement organization.”
https://www.cia.gov/about/
Related: My CIA Career: Glutinous but not Unflavorful
Two Rules
When I joined the CIA as an all-source foreign intelligence analyst during the second Reagan administration, it was drummed into our heads that analysis was independent of policy. Over and over, we were warned about “clientelitis:” massaging intelligence analysis conclusions to align with the views of the client, i.e. the policymaker it was intended for. Just like the CIA website says: an independent source of information for people who do.
Related: Inside my CIA Career: The Analytic Puzzle
With my Career Intelligence Medal on the Great Seal, shortly before Christmas 2016
Later, as an intelligence collector, the legal structure ensuing that collection stayed true to the CIA’s foreign intelligence mission was inviolable. Specifically targeting an American citizen was unthinkable and there were multiple layers of oversight to ensure it did not happen. Were there lapses? Not on my watch, not in offices I managed.
If either of these two guiding rules at the CIA are no longer enforced, there is trouble ahead.
Carmen Amato is the author of the Detective Emilia Cruz police series set in Acapulco and the upcoming Galliano Club historical thrillers. A 30-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, her personal experiences occasionally make their way into her fiction.
Want to know more? Follow me on Facebook or get Mystery Ahead updates in your email inbox every other Sunday.
May 29, 2022 | #EmiliaCruz
Mark Esper has written about his stint as secretary of defense during the last year of President Donald Trump’s administration in A SACRED OATH. Before the book came out this month, excerpts published in the New York Times revealed that President Trump, frustrated by the constant flow of drugs across the US-Mexican border and convinced that Mexican authorities were losing control, reportedly asked Esper about the possibility of launching missiles to destroy Mexican drug cartel labs.
Esper dismissed the notion out of hand, saying that if he had not been face to face with the president, he would have thought the question was a joke.
I can well believe that reaction. The overwhelming bureaucratic response to the flood of illicit drugs coming into the United States is to rely on a limited suite of options which has neither stemmed the flow of drugs nor the rising number of drug-related deaths.
Related: Hard truths from the drug war from an intel professional
An outsider looking at the situation dispassionately might say: “The substances the cartels are pumping into my country are killing people at an unprecedented rate. What resources do I have to impact this problem?”
According to the CDC, 93,331 people died from a drug overdose death in the United States during 2020, a 30% increase over the previous year. The upward trajectory continued, with 108,000 deaths in 2021. Two-thirds were due to the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which can be produced in a laboratory–no swaths of poppies needed–and pressed into pills that are easy to conceal/disguise/transport. Availability and increased demand have risen together.
The last big effort to stem the drug tide was the Mérida Initiative, a bilateral security cooperation agreement between Mexico and the United States negotiated between presidents George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón. Mexico received nearly $3 billion for military equipment and training, as well as to strengthen a relatively weak judiciary system.
This package and Mexico’s quasi-military approach established a framework for action against the cartels that remains, by and large, the shape of US policy. Meanwhile, we are seeing record highs for US drug deaths, drug gang related crime, deaths in Mexico attributable to organized drug crime, numbers of missing persons in Mexico, and the availability of lab-produced drugs.
A missile strike without the consent of the Mexican government is a non-starter IMHO, but is it any wonder that a US president would be trying to find an outside-the-box solution? What if the proposal was put to Mexico? A partnership to take out the drug labs? No doubt Mexico City would have refused to cooperate but I’ll bet the idea would be crazy enough to provoke a new discussion instead of more of the same.
When I published the first Detective Emilia Cruz mystery, CLIFF DIVER, fentanyl was not yet the scourge it is now. Cocaine was king and bundles of marijuana were still being muled across the US-Mexico border. Drugs weren’t so cheap and the growing season meant seasonal eradication operations. Fentanyl is a new plot twist, but some things never change.
I truly appreciate the reviewer who said:
I am in awe of Amato for being brave and shedding light on many home truths.
Read an excerpt of CLIFF DIVER here.
Carmen Amato is the author of the Detective Emilia Cruz police series set in Acapulco and the upcoming Galliano Club historical thrillers. A 30-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, her personal experiences occasionally make their way into her fiction.
Want to know more? Follow me on Facebook or get Mystery Ahead updates in your email inbox every other Sunday.
