BLUE DOMINO

by Stephan; Bill Erwin & Michael Fooner Del Corso ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1978

The tough-guy dialogue here makes Kojak script writers seem like literary eminences, as Detectives Steve and Bill do battle with the dope dealers and hoods on Pleasant Avenue. Instead of guns and fists they use video tape and electronic bugs, and dress as gypsy cabbies, subway repairmen, whatever. The time is 1971 and the Knapp Commission is making the NYPD look bad, particularly the Narcotics Division which seems to be putting its kids through college on bribes from pushers. All this was told before--and better--in David Durk's The Pleasant Avenue Connection (1977) and once is certainly enough. . . but anyway. Somehow Bill and Steve's unit (Intelligence, not Narcotics) manages to ""turn over"" Delores Gomez, a lush Latina whom Steve has eyes for, and ""Didi,"" wired for sound, makes their case. In a well-synchronized bust that hit all the front pages in New York, they net the elite of Pleasant Avenue: ""Fat Gigi"" Inglese, Johnny Echoes Campopiano, Ernie Boy Abbamonte, and 83 of their friends and business associates. The action for ""Operation Discover"" moves from a Bronx Meat Market turned social club to the Stage Deli to ""Lady in Pink"" Didi who provides the script with sexual innuendo when the action lags. And lag it does here.

Pub Date: June 15, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1978

Categories: NONFICTION