The Blackhawks

About the Book

Tony Remo, growing up on the mean streets of Manhattan’s East Village during the turbulent Viet Nam era, has been enrolled in college for the past three years primarily to escape the military draft. We meet him the crucial day of the December 1, 1969 draft lottery. His birth date, the 326th selection, has virtually guaranteed that he would not be drafted. Initially euphoric, his mood turns somber and introspective as he realizes that he would soon be making a crucial decision concerning his future, now that he believes he actually has one. Will he remain in school and attempt to make it in the “straight life” he is so comtemptuous of, or quit to further pursue his gang related activities. Tony is the president of the Blackhawks street gang.

The Blackhawks is the story of Tony Remo’s struggle out of  poverty and how he, and those around him, are changed in the process. In a span of twelve years, he will transform the Blackhawks from a minor street gang into a corporate real estate giant. However, the price of  success will be high. While learning to manipulate the system to accomplish his goal, he’ll become corrupted by the very system he’d distrusted and avoided.  As his story unfolds it takes the reader on a tour of the underbelly of New York, from the degredation of the Bowery to the wealth of Fifth Avenue and the power of Wall Street, played out against the background of the most interesting decade in our nation’s history.

Intergral to his story are: Laura, his childhood sweetheart, desperate to escape the slums and her humble origins, who will unwittingly  play a pivotal role in Tony’s drive for success and spark the radical change in his fortunes; Rosy, a free spirited young prostitute,  who will re-make herself  for his love; and Carla, the savvy Brooklyn girl determined to outlast the others to win the prize.

Tony’s family will also play an important role in his fortunes: Pat, his feminist sister and nagging conscience; His brother-in-law Salvatore Rizzo, an ambitious young drug dealer, moving up in the Ricardi crime family, and Tony’s fierce rival, will be instrumental to Tony’s success and eventual downfall; Carmine, Tony’s older brother, involved in the tragedy of the My Lai massacre, will return a psychological cripple and unwittingly stumble onto a massive ongoing enterprise of insurance fraud that will ultimately change Tony’s fortunes forever.

We will also meet the brilliant and mercurial  Jerry Rubin, Tony’s lifelong friend, and the driving force behind his corporate success. And Steven Heller, a young college professor, who will teach Tony the important lesson of supply and demand upon which he will base his future success, and ultimately teach him the most important  lesson of all, the meaning of being a ‘mensch’.

About the Author

Dr. Norman Roberts, a native New Yorker, moved to Florida in 1975 where he currently resides. The multitalented well traveled dentist, exhibiting a wide variety of interests and hobbies has been: a contributing editor of New Scene Magazine; authored  A Second Opinion - How To Aviod The High Cost Of Dentistry;  written and produced The Sunshine Connection Show for cable television; worked as a professional dancer; and is the inventor of the Roberts Book Holder reading aid which he has successfully marketed since 1987. Following the writer's maxim of knowing your subject, Dr. Roberts leaned heavily on past experiences while writing this, his first novel, and is intimately familiar with the settings and scenes he describes. A physical fitness fanatic, when not at the gym, he can usually be found cycling along Ft. Lauderdale's beautiful South Beach.