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In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks from April 22nd-28th. Don’t miss out—purchases support your local bookstore!
Shop nowThe Good Rat
A True Story
Length
6 hours 53 minutes
Language
English
Narrators
Richard M. Davidson, Kaipo Schwab & Richard Mover
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreJimmy Breslin can sniff out a story like he can sniff out a rat. Here, he tells a lifetime of anecdotes in his inimitable New York voice, giving us a view through the keyhole of the people and places that define the Mafia—characters like Sammy the Bull, the original snitch, and Gaspipe Casso, named for his weapon of choice; and hangouts like Pep McGuire’s, the legendary watering hole where reporters and gangsters (all hailing from the same working class neighborhoods) rubbed elbows and traded stories. But best of all, Breslin captures the moments in which the Mafia was made and broken—Breslin was there the night John Gotti celebrated his acquittal, having bribed his way to innocence. In The Good Rat, Breslin brings together the most recent, most memorable, and the long forgotten stories to create a sharp-eyed portrait of the mob as it lived and breathed; as it sounded and survived.
Jimmy Breslin was born in Jamaica, Queens. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary in 1986. His critically acclaimed books include The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?, The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Guiterrez, several anthologies, and a memoir. He lives on Broadway, the Big Street, in New York City.
Richard M. Davidson is an actor and Earphones Award–winning narrator. Trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he is well versed in theater and has had a long-standing career in acting, including a lead role in the show Diamonds, which aired on the CBS network, and a part in ESPN’s The Hustle.
Kaipo Schwab is an actor, director, and producer who has worked at the Roundabout, the Public Theater, Second Stage, Hartford Stage, and Cincinnati Playhouse. Kaipo’s film and television credits include Anesthesia, The Royal Tenenbaums, Law & Order, Rescue Me, and Orange Is the New Black. He lives in New York City.
Richard Mover is an actor and director living in New York City. His audiobook narration includes The Collectors by David Baldacci, as well as the voice of Burton Kaplan in Jimmy Breslin’s The Good Rat.
Reviews
“Bad cops, good crook, great story.”
“Breslin chronicles the cops’ sordid tales with a mixture of awe, repugnance, and perfect diabolical detail. He remains a master of transforming crookery into opera.”
“A great look at the ugly and anything-but-glamorous truth of organized crime. This is Breslin at his Runyonesque best.”
“Each character is so well developed and believable that listeners will suspect they’re listening to actual recordings rather than outstanding performances.”
“Richard Davidson has just the gravelly tough-guy voice to bring Breslin’s Mafia story to life…Flamboyant language and colorful characters.”
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