From Publishers Weekly
A respected thoracic surgeon and also a Mafia confidant, Elliot Litner was a self-described "nerdy, Jewish kid from the Bronx" who'd witnessed a slaying as a boy yet kept mum, impressing local hoodlums; later, his acquaintance with mobsters' sons provided entree to New York's Cosa Nostra during its heyday. In 1971, while a surgical resident, Litner helped Gambino family associates establish clandestine abortion clinics. Soon, Litner was the Gambinos' go-to for sensitive medical emergencies and even served as a courier for the family. His enthusiasm for the gangsters' rough-edged lifestyle wrecked his marriage, even as his career was, according to Felber, abetted by hospital associates with mob connections. In an overwrought narrative, Felber (The Privacy War, etc.) alternates depictions of Litner's divided life with the narrative of how Paul Castellano unwisely divided the Gambino family into white collar and "muscle" crews. This led to open warfare in the 1980s, Castellano's assassination and Rudy Giuliani's devastating RICO prosecutions. Things climaxed for Litner in 1986, when he was asked to engineer an "accident" during surgery on Giuliani witness Ralph Scopo, the request accompanied by John Gotti's threats. Litner's story, though provocative, is related with melodrama and purple prose and sheds little new light on figures like Castellano and Gotti. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In the guise of a biography of Mob-connected surgeon Elliott Litner, Felber presents a rambling history of the American Mafia and its Sicilian roots and intertwined profiles of former prosecutor and New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and erstwhile "Teflon Don" John Gotti. Litner grew up in an Italian and Jewish neighborhood. As a schoolboy he covered for the son of a local caporegieme; later he matriculated from low-scale academic fraud to the wise guys' payroll. Ultimately, he faced a moral decision regarding a mafioso whose survival would be inconvenient, but by then, with Giuliani apparently triumphant and Gotti in jail, the Mob was in shambles. Introduced to Litner by godfather Joseph Bonano's son Bill, Felber became "enamored with the notion" of Litner's double life as "high-society Manhattan physician" and "sex addict and inveterate gambler working secretly for the Mafia." Felber depends on long conversations Litner reported verbatim, and some may be annoyed that he fails to reveal significant details of Litner's sex addiction. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
From Book News, Inc.
This narrative describes the experiences of a prominent heart surgeon who lived a double life working at Mount Sinai Hospital by day and providing illegal medical services to members of the Mafia by night. Felber (a doctoral candidate at Drew U.) recounts the doctor's early ties to criminals during his childhood in the Bronx, his participation in a ring of underground abortion clinics in the 1970s, and the dilemma he faced when ordered by a Mob boss to kill a government witness on the operating table.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Book Description
The gripping story of the man who was the doctor to all of the top NY mafioso in the 70s and 80s, who got caught in the middle of a federal investigation.
Il Dottore: The Double Life of a Mafia Doctor FROM THE PUBLISHER
The gripping story of the man who was the doctor to all of the top NY mafioso in the 70s and 80s, who got caught in the middle of a federal investigation.
SYNOPSIS
This narrative describes the experiences of a prominent heart surgeon who lived a double life working at Mount Sinai Hospital by day and providing illegal medical services to members of the Mafia by night. Felber (a doctoral candidate at Drew U.) recounts the doctor's early ties to criminals during his childhood in the Bronx, his participation in a ring of underground abortion clinics in the 1970s, and the dilemma he faced when ordered by a Mob boss to kill a government witness on the operating table. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
A respected thoracic surgeon and also a Mafia confidant, Elliot Litner was a self-described "nerdy, Jewish kid from the Bronx" who'd witnessed a slaying as a boy yet kept mum, impressing local hoodlums; later, his acquaintance with mobsters' sons provided entree to New York's Cosa Nostra during its heyday. In 1971, while a surgical resident, Litner helped Gambino family associates establish clandestine abortion clinics. Soon, Litner was the Gambinos' go-to for sensitive medical emergencies and even served as a courier for the family. His enthusiasm for the gangsters' rough-edged lifestyle wrecked his marriage, even as his career was, according to Felber, abetted by hospital associates with mob connections. In an overwrought narrative, Felber (The Privacy War, etc.) alternates depictions of Litner's divided life with the narrative of how Paul Castellano unwisely divided the Gambino family into white collar and "muscle" crews. This led to open warfare in the 1980s, Castellano's assassination and Rudy Giuliani's devastating RICO prosecutions. Things climaxed for Litner in 1986, when he was asked to engineer an "accident" during surgery on Giuliani witness Ralph Scopo, the request accompanied by John Gotti's threats. Litner's story, though provocative, is related with melodrama and purple prose and sheds little new light on figures like Castellano and Gotti. (Oct.) Forecast: An NBC Dateline segment on Litner could boost sales for an otherwise marginal Mafia account. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
The gang's all here from Mob leaders John Gotti and Paul "Big Paul" Castellano to mob soldiers Sammy "The Bull" Gravano to crusading Mob prosecutor Rudy Giuliani and Elliot Litner, MD. Litner, "Il Dottore," grew up the son of immigrants in the Bronx to become a highly regarded cardiac surgeon by day and a Mob-funded sex and gambling addict by night who performed favors for his childhood friends and their associates. His story includes some wild middle-of-the-night tales relating how Litner was whisked away to tend an ill or injured godfather or loved one. Threaded throughout Litner's story, as told to Felber (The Privacy War), is a brief history of the "Commission," the Mob organization in New York City ultimately dismantled by Giuliani. Litner's dual worlds collided when he had to choose between saving a patient and his loyalty to the Mob, which wanted to assure that the patient (Giuliani's key witness) would not survive bypass surgery. A fun, breezy read (and a good choice for public libraries), though those interested in the history of the Mafia in New York would have preferred a more in-depth approach. ["Dateline NBC" will feature the doctor's story in October. Ed.] Karen Sandlin Silverman, CFAR-Ctr. for Applied Research, Philadelphia Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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