Description: The story of how an Italian American housewife and community organizer battled a Brooklyn Mafia boss and political activist for the hearts and minds of a white working class in revolt.
Brief description: Jeffrey Louis Decker is a professor in the English Department at UCLA.
Review Quotes:
"Rebel Girl and the Godfather tells the gripping true story of Mary Sansone, an Italian American housewife, and Joe Colombo, a Mafia boss, as they clashed over civil rights in 1960s-70s Brooklyn ... Decker's book uncovers a surprising chapter in America's civil rights and ethnic history." - New York Trend
"Rebel Girl and the Godfather is about the battle between a five-foot Italian American Brooklyn housewife, mother, and social worker and a politically powerful Organized Crime boss. She won. An amazing story as told by Jeff Decker, who was there. I know, because so was I." - Nicholas Pileggi, author of non-fiction bestsellers Wiseguy and Casino and award-winning coscreenwriter with Martin Scorsese on the movie Goodfellas
"This is a fantastic, gripping, and surprising work of history that upends our expectations of the narratives we think we already know about race, gender, and the civil rights movement in the United States. Clearly written and carefully researched, it's riveting and original." - Samantha Pinto, University of Texas at Austin