I have been reading Tim Russert's book "Big Russ and me". Prompted by the death of Tim and by liking his other book, "Wisdom of Our Fathers" so much. Also having lost my father recently, I was looking forward to Tim recount some tales of his father. I was deeply affected by the death of Mr. Russert, he was a great American, no , he was a great human. I'm about 3/4 of the way through the book. Dullest book ever. The stories of my father's youth were just a tad more colorful. The last time I saw my Dad alive he was at my kitchen table and, out of the blue, told me of how someone let him borrow their car and he wouldn't give it back, so the guy hired Joe "The Animal" Barboza to get it back. When I asked him what happened, he just smirked and said he talked his way out of it and kept the car, which was stolen in the first place. Another story that comes to mind is about the guy Charlie "The Crow" or "Two Gun" Charlie. He seemed kind of a hero to my Dad, anyway Charlie wanted my Dad to go on a bank robbery with him, but he didn't want to go. "Two Gun" Charlie ended up being killed by the cops that day. My Dad said that the cops had set him up somehow.
Another time my father was recounting a particularly memorable arrest. The police cordoned off a city block in East Boston and there were like a hundred cops with guns drawn, he had machine guns pointed at him, I forget what the crime was, usually he would tell me it was mistaken identity. Anyway, I haven't gotten to that part in "Big Russ and Me" yet.
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