Havana Nocturne

How the Mob Owned Cuba...and Then Lost It to the Revolution

By: T. J. English

Narrated by: Mel Foster

In Havana Nocturne, T. J. English offers a riveting, multifaceted true tale of organized crime, political corruption, roaring nightlife, revolution, and international conflict that interweaves the dual stories of the mob in Havana and the event that would overshadow it: the Cuban Revolution.

Bringing together long-buried historical information and English's own research in Havana - including interviews with the era's key survivors - Havana Nocturne takes listeners back to Cuba in the years when it was a veritable devil's playground for mob leaders Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Thanks to strong ties with the island's brutal dictator, President Batista, the mob soon owned the biggest luxury hotels and casinos and launched an unprecedented tourist boom.

But their dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others who would lead the country's disenfranchised to overthrow their corrupt government and its foreign partners - an epic cultural battle that English captures in all its sexy, decadent, ugly glory.

©2008 T. J. English (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"English's engaging narrative reads with the gripping quality of fiction: the dark underworld of Havana comes to life....Highly recommended." ( Library Journal)
"Crime writer English...unfolds a story whose main outline will be familiar to any fan of The Godfather: Part II, but whose twists and turns no screenplay could keep up with." ( Kirkus Reviews)

Interesting and educational

I started this having no idea that the Mob had been involved in Cuba. In fact, I knew nothing about Cuba and its relationship with the United States so it was quite interesting to learn how the relationship could have been much different now if the American government and the mobsters had picked a different horse to back, or perhaps if Castro had been killed in one of his early coup attempts.

Anyway, it was a slow trek through the story because none of the politics, or the mob relations or the characters involved were familiar to me. But it was enlightening in how it explained the background to the current US-Cuba relations.

The narrator is okay... a bit boring but at least he's understandable.

Socialism beats the mob

A good example of how greed, sleaze and criminality can defeated but not in the USA. No lessons were learned.

Interesting but a little bland

Learned a lot about both sides of the isle and not just America’s viewpoint. I can see how Castro might have been viewed differently than just a dictator.

Great story, especially relevant now.

This is an amazing and unusual story. It is primarily about how the mob ran Havana's casino business, but this story is inseparable from the story of the Cuban Revolution that ended it all. It's a great piece of history to learn about, especially given recent events between the US and Cuba.

Some listeners complained about the plain delivery style. I would agree that it is pretty dry, but it didn't bother me. It is non-fiction, after all.

My only complaint about the narration is that it was not done by a native Spanish speaker. The narrator learned the basic rules, so it wasn't the worst I've heard. But can be a little challenging to unravel some of the the names of songs and people (for example, in the song title "Como Fue", somehow "fue" ends up having two syllables).

Overall, I highly recommend it. The subject matter is of course, at least R-rated. It would not be a good choice for your family vacation with elementary-school kids.

a good read before heading to Havana

fascinating story that captures the period and has lots of behind the scenes anecdotes. I would recommend it.

The only book on Cuba you will ever need to read.

This NEEDED to be written..finally the unbiased story of this fascinating period. If you want to know what the heck was going on in Cuba immediately before Castro took over, and how and why he was able to pull off the impossible...a successful revolution; including the dictator Batista, American policy, the American Mob, Meyer Lansky, Casinos, etc; and how they all had a hand in this fascinating history...then this is THE book for you. And it is a page-turner...TJ English has taken this fascinating history and written it in a highly readable fashion, (and was obviously thorough in his research). I couldn't put it down. I've read most of the books on this subject at this point, and this book is by far the best.

believe the hype

Havana Nocturne is everything it purports to be and more. exhaustively researched, elegantly written, a story boldly told.

Hot Cuban Nights

Story that sounds like a perfect screenplay, but was all true. Pre-communist Cuba had something for everyone: gambling entertainment,and live sex shows. Made Las Vegas look like a church potluck.

So that's where my uncles went on vacation

Fishing my ass uncle Danny you went to Havana for this. Aunt Millie never knew...
Nor did any of us guess how incredibly convoluted the mystery was. I never thought that a dollar could stretch so far as to be in the pocket of six mobsters and a president at the same time. Since I grew up on the east coast when this all was happening and the names are all familiar memories this tale of the corruption in Cuba is even more relevant now that we are trying to normalize the last 50 yrs of idiocy. More than adequate narration as well...

Mostly interesting, very biased

I will say the book is quite interesting, however it’s also annoying. Just understand going in that the US is evil and all white people are evil and just out to exploit Cuba and its locals. Also know that Castro is awesome and that he loves freedom. If you can stand that PC nonsense and you can make it past the hour long descriptions about 14-inch members and other sex acts you’ll find an interesting story you’ve probably never heard. How accurate is the information? I have my doubts as there seems to be a lot of conjecture, but then again the mob isn’t exactly big on documenting everything. As for the sex stuff it’s only annoying in that it just goes on and on. I don’t have a real problem with it, if it was brief and used to set a mood that would be fine but seeing as he says the mob didn’t have much to do with the sex stuff why do we need so much of it. I have google if I want porn, an audio description of what would go in stage performers coffee during sex shows doesn’t really do much for me.