HANDSOME JOHNNY: The Life and Death of Johnny Rosselli

'No one knew more about the mob, Hollywood, and Las Vegas than Johnny Rosselli.' Gentleman gangster, Hollywood producer, CIA assassin, Johnny Rosselli was at the centre of the 20th century's darkest secrets, straddling the underworld and the day's most compelling headlines. Al Capone's last protégé, Handsome Johnny flourished for an extraordinary half century, beginning in the bloody bootlegging of the Roaring Twenties until he was tapped to be the Mob's 'Man in Hollywood', seducing seductresses such as Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe, and becoming indispensable to Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohen. Later Rosselli himself would even make movies, producing to the best film noirs of the 1940s. After a stint in federal prison, he was deployed by new Chicago boss Sam Giancana to oversee the creation of Las Vegas. He was the gambling mecca's behind-the-scenes power, running the town from his suites at The Tropicana and the Desert Inn, and enjoying Rat Pack nights with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. In his most unexpected and combustible role, Rosselli became a central figure in the Kennedy-era CIA's attempt to assassinate Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. And even that patriotic job as an assassin was not his final chapter... The biography is full of glitter, grit, guns and gams, a true rags-to-riches life. 532pp, paperback with 16 pages of photos.