Frank Palescandolo

Tony Di Napoli: a Novel of the Lower East Side Frank Palescandolo

The Dream Book of the Lower East SideOn his ice wagon, Tony, watches operatic funerals funneling to the cemeteries in Queens while a bystander plays a lottery: a hearse 33; a corpse 67; a snowy day 67. Tony quits City College where he is a math prodigy to support a dying father and a tubercular sister. His father takes policy plays on the side. Tony relays the bet to a local capo who becomes aware of his way with numbers, and hires him to figure spreads to keep the mob ahead of the players. Secretly, he amasses of thousands of desperate plays day after day, based on dreams of the East Siders. The Dream Book of the Lower East Side. To save a Monsignors life, a compulsive gambler, Tony risks his own. Against a mob ban, he plays at casinos to pay the Monsignors markers. The mob confronts him, also paid off charities in false wins. A mob sit down says Tony must be whacked. His Great Dream Book will be a nightmare.