Mobsters I Have Known and Loved

Book excerpt: When Frances McKee, a former Marine, was a first-year history teacher, young wife, and mother of two little ones living in San Francisco in 1961, she never imagined that in a few months she would become the darling of the New Jersey Mob. It all came about when she couldn't accompany her Marine husband to Okinawa and had to return to Long Branch, New Jersey to live with her mother. As fate would have it, a waitress at the Landmark Hotel needed someone to take part of her shift. Frances took the job there and later at the Surf Lounge in June 1962, intending to work for fourteen months, but ended up staying for fourteen years. The Surf Lounge at the time was run by James "Skippy" Faye and Pat Simonetti, son-in-law of Vito "Don Vito" Genovese, the reputed "vice lord of America." Although Simonetti was not part of the Mob, it was only natural that The Surf would earn the reputation of being a Mob hangout. Mobsters I Have Known & Loved is not another chronicle of crimes committed by the Mob, but a lighthearted memoir of the Mob's fun, pranks, humor, and good deeds. Although Frances endeared herself to several mobsters, one in particular stole her heart - Anthony "Little Pussy" Russo, who inspired her to write this book. Mobsters I Have Known & Loved is Frances McKee's first book.