Perfect Villains, Imperfect Heroes: Robert F. Kennedy's War Against Organized Crime (Capital Classics)
In 1961, when Robert Kennedy became attorney general, Goldfarb (The Contempt Power), then a liberal young New York City lawyer, agreed reluctantly to serve in the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering section. Soon he was swept up in his boss's campaign against the rackets, the first time any administration had launched all-out war against the mob, the officials it corrupted and the unions it poisoned. While RFK's successful battle against Teamster chief Jimmy Hoffa was his most publicized case, the author shows that he instituted hundreds of other cases and inspired his subordinates with his combination of pragmatism and idealism and with the way he exercised power with confidence and empathy. In Goldfarb's estimation, RFK was a notable being. Arresting is the author's tendency to accept the thesis that the Mafia engineered the assassination of John Kennedy, who was doing deals with the syndicate to eliminate Castro even as his brother's Justice Department was aggressively attempting to prosecute the mob. This insider's view of RFK's campaign against organized crime shows us the workaday world of the Attorney General and his single-mindedness in combating "the roots of evil." Without romanticizing RFK, Goldfarb presents us with a genuine visionary.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.