q Page 14 - The Michigan Daily - Sunday, July 22, 1984 Books A Man of Honor by Joseph Bonanno with Sergio Lalli Pocket Books 400 pg. $3.95 With scenes of the movie, The God- father, still flickering in my mind, I picked up A Man of Honor; the new autobiography of "the boss of bosses," Joseph Bonanno. For those of you who aren't into organized crime, Bonanno was the Godfather of one of the five notorious "families" of New York in the 1930s. The back cover of the book is lavishly adorned with praise for the book's con- tents. "Ripping away organized crime's shroud, Joe Bananno, the most powerful crime lord of our time, ex- poses the innermost secrets of the God- fathers." Oooh-an autobiography of a Crime Lord! Ripping away all sorts of shrouds of secrecy, too!! Without fur- ther hesitation, I plunged "into the sin- siter intrigues of a hidden nation of vast money and immense power-full of, bloody violence and sudden death"! The book begins with a telling of Bonanno's childhood in Castellammare del Golfo, at Sicily's western tip. It is here that Bonanno introduces what will become the major theme of the book, and one which he will continually harp upon for 392 pages. That is the "honor" of the Castellammare. The uncom- promising code of ethics that the men of his "tradition" follow. This code of honor expounds above all an unswer- ving loyalty to one's family. If someone insults either you or your family's honor, Bonanno's "tradition" expects you to get even; either by procuring a public apology, or by making sure he'll never insult anybody again. Along these lines, Bonanno also ex- plains in the second chapter that the term "mafiosa" actually means spirited, brave, keen, vibrant, and alive. He claims throughout the book that the puiblic's image of the mafia is false and misleading-the people of America simply don't understand the Sicilian immigrants' "tradition." Bonanno explains that what seemed to the public to be gangland wars in the '30s were actually nothing but innocent feuds between opposing families. In the second part of the book ... oh, excuse me a second, I've got a phone call. "Hello? Yes, this is. Yes, as a matter of fact, I'm writing my review of it right now. What?! Listen, Mr. Leone, I don't know who you're used to dealing with, but this humble reporter cannot be bought! 'Good day!" Jeez, the nerve of that guy, trying to bribe me into writing a good review! As I was saying, the second part of the book describes Bonanno's rise to power in New York's underworld. This is by far the most interesting part of the book. He relates his relationship with such notorious gangsters as Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, and even Al Copone. He doesn't divulge as much in- formation as I had expected, but there's still plenty to savor. You get an in- sider's view (albeit a very one-sided view) of how and why the New York crime establishment functioned. (Knock-Knock) Now who could that be knocking on my door? "Hello-can I help you guys? I do you a favor and you do me a favor? What kind of favor? What?! Listen, Antonio, like I told your friend-I can't be bought! Now, if you'll excuse me... (Slam!) Well, it's getting late - I'd better wind up this review. The last three -parts of the book (about 200 pages) are an anti- climatic finish to the book. They tell of Bonanno's life, just before, during, and after his retirement as Godfather of his "family." He goes on and on about how degraded his "tradition" had become in America during the '50s, '60s, and '70s. He also goes into repreated and boring detail of how the FBI and other law- enforcement organizations continually hounded (poor, innocent) him during his later years in Arizona. 0 4 0 Joseph Bonnano, one of the New York mafia's "top Bonnanos" during the '30s, thinks you're going to like his new book, 'A Man of Honor,' Gee, I'm having trouble keeping chameleon! Decapitated by a Ginsu my eyes open. I'll finish this knife!Argh!!! tomorrow. I'm going straight to But I still won't do it. You hear bed. me, Joe?Istill won't give your book Ahh, I love climbing between a good review! I don't care what nice, cool sheets and . . . yuck! you do to me, I'll ... What's this wet feeling by my feet? -Mark Kulkis Oh no! Yahhh! My poor g People in the news From The Associated Press Frank's folly With a little help from his friends-and pals of Quincy Jones as well - Frank Sinatra is about to hit Music Television. Though a world premiere date has yet to be set, a spokeswoman says the video of Sinatra's new single, "L.A. Is My Lady," will debut on the cable music channel, MTV: Music Television, July 28 in time for the start of the Summer Olympics. The laid-back tribute to the City of Angels will be something of a departure from MTV's usual diet of rock and pop, and it will have plenty of star-watcher appeal. Appearing in the video with Sinatra will be Mayor Tom Bradley; actresses Jane Fonda and Dyan Can- non; actor-crooner Dean Martin; pop stars Donna Summer, LaToya Jackson, Michael McDonald and James Ingram; "General Hospital" heartthrob Jack Wagner; author Alex Haley; Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda -and pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, plus rock bands Van Halen and Missing Persons, Quincy Jones, producer of both the record and the video, will appear, as will his wife, former "Mod Squad" star Peggy Liptin Jones, who co-wrote the song with Oscar-winning composers Marilyn and Alan Bergman' Back at work Director Peter Bogdanovich, who hasn't made a film since the 1980 murder of his actress-girlfriend, Dorothy Stratten, is back at work on Mask, a movie starring Cher. Bogdanovich spent most of the last four years writing a book about his relationship with Stratten and the events that led to the former Playboy Playmate's death. Called The Killing of the Unicorn, it is to be released Aug. 15, the fourth anniversary of Stratten's shooting death at the hands of her husband, Paul Snider. In the interim, two screen versions of the Stratten story have been released-one a TV movie starring Jamie Lee Curtis, and Bob Fosse's feature movie, Star 80. Bogdonovich disliked both. I never thought the movie would work, and it didn't," he said. "It wasn't a true story, after all. That wasn't me in the picture; it wasn't Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner; it wasn't Dorothy," Bogdanovich said he hasn't missed filmmaking that much, and that Mask-the story of a young man whose features harden due to an accumulation of calcium in the head-was "the first thing I've wanted to do in a long time." Do it yourself Is your "moonwalk" something short of Michael Jackson's? Do you want to learn "poppin'," "lockin' " and "breakin' " without lingerin' on inner city sidewalks? A new K-Tel videocassette promises to initiate you into the mysteries of break dancing in the privacy of your own home. "Breakdancing--You Can Do It" was filmed in a dance studio rather than outdoors because its young instructor, "Soul Train" regular Odis Medley, feels his art has been associated mistakenly with street life rather than other forms of dance. Medley, who has taught such celebrities as Al Jarreau, Thelma Houston and Magic Johnson and has appeared in a number of films, TV shows and video clips including Jackson's 'Thriller," also says break dancing's components are not new but have been around for eight or nine years. The videocassette, which uses footage from the film, Breakin' is practical as well as instructive, with advice on such safety precautions as padding. Royal chance Promptness may be a virtue, but a director's speedy work apparently cost Richard Pryor a chance to converse with royalty. Princess Anne of Great Britain was to have met Pryor on the set of his new film, Brewster's Millions, when she stopped by Universal Studios during her recent visit to Los Angeles. But director Walter Hill, working ahead of schedule, had on a previous day completed the scene the princess was to have viewed. Instead, she met with Pryor's co-star, John Can- dy-and by at least one account was not overly distressed by Pryor's absence. "I don't think she even knows who Richard Pryor is," said an observer. "I'm sure she was much more excited at meeting John Candy, who's a Canadian citizen." I I 6