An autobiographical account, Cammy Franzese describes her life of being married to 'mafia capo' Michael Franzese - a charismatic and handsome man.
A beautiful, dedicated dancer, Cammy auditions to be part of a dance troupe in the 1980's film Knight of the City. It is on set that she meets Michael - an executive producer. All the girls fuss and fawn over him but his attention is focused on Cammy. She, however, in return takes little notice of him. They eventually begin to date and subsequently marry.
In admitted naivety, Cammy is unaware of her husbands criminal associations until one day in 1985, the same year they married, Michael is arrested. He spends four years in jail only to be re-arrested not soon after his release for another spell in prison. Somewhere along the way, they have four children, Cammy gets arrested and Michael re-discovers his faith in God. Bolstered by her mother's unwavering faith, Cammy loses some of the naivety and builds strong bonds between her, God and Michael - the man she loves in spite of his dark background.
A fairly well written account of being a mobsters wife. Yet, there is nothing that is shocking in this book at all, simply because Michael protected her from anything that was mafia or crime related. His stock phrase of "it's going to be fine..." so she wouldn't worry, resonates throughout the book yet sounded trite to me; however Cammy was a young twenty something when she married, so in love and saw life (and her husband) through rose colored glasses.
As it's her story and she was so shielded from her husband's former mafioso life, I found the story a little lacking. She certainly hinted at it - that he was high-ranking member in the Colombo crime family - but didn't describe what it was that he did. She said that if he wanted to, he would tell her. Really? I'm not sure what wife wouldn't want to know what her husband did in a previous life. Forewarned is forearmed surely?
For me, the love and devotion of her mother was very touching; Cammy's telling of her mother's death is moving and I very much felt her pain in losing someone who provided so much strength to her over the years whilst her husband was in prison.
Overall a good book. I would say that one would have to read Michael's life story that he has published (and uses in his ministry) to fully appreciate her struggles of being married to/being part of a mob family.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson as part of their Booksneeze program. The opinions expressed here are my own.
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