Unlocked: A Journey from Prison to Proust

A former New York Mafia soldier, Ferrante was known for being a “solid” guy, a thug with a specialty in safecracking, truck heists and loan-sharking collections. With this book of his personal transformation, he writes accurately and sometimes comically of his rapid rise from petty crook to reliable criminal with a bungling and colorful crew: Tony the Twitch, Botz, Fuzzy, Rizzo, Slim, Vinnie Bo Peep, Augie, Tony Pork Chop and Artie the Hair Do. Sometimes his mob account reads like a Puzo novel on steroids, but the author takes his licks when he is busted on a federal credit card rap and sentenced to a maximum security prison even though famed attorney William Kunstler represents him. In the federal pen with all its mayhem, Ferrante confronts his personal demons, elevates himself through reading books and embraces a new faith as an Orthodox Jew. Ferrante produces a raw, brutal memoir with glimmers of hope and redemption, and in so doing, this true crime account does not resemble any of the cardboard wise guys of the tube or the silver screen. It definitely grabs the reader's attention. (Mar.)