Ben’s

About the Book

Beginning with the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Logan experienced a massive change and shifting population. The racial boiling point in Philadelphia was ten years later in 1978. Ben's is set in the summer of that year when turf wars, crime and political upheaval were rampant in the city. The central character, Torch, is a small-time numbers writer who works for Bah-Bah, the head of a lucrative gambling and loan shark operation in south Philadelphia. When Bah-Bah is forced to change the location of his business and go underground, he runs into some tense situations with the members of Ben's. They are a loosely organized group of young men-including Torch-who are engaged in various types of petty crime and hustles. The situation is made more complicated and dangerous by the existence of a hidden meth lab and several, local, rogue cops who want to find it and rip it off.

About the Author

Sammy Levitt was born and raised in Philadelphia. He graduated from Temple University. He is a former Philadelphia city employee. His articles have appeared in Gambling Times, Win, and American Turf Monthly magazines. He has been an officer in the Roxborough Lodge Son’s of Italy for over 25 years.

Parkway high-school , Temple University and a former city-worker who knows the pulse and unique rhythm of his hometown. his two thoroughly engrossing novels, " Ben's" and " The Will of The Creator", reflect his love for all things Philly, well many things anyway. sammy paints vivid word pictures that alternately reflect his unabashed devotion to a tough town without sugarcoating the more unseemly sides of it. philly homies will likely recognize his fictional character as facsimiles of their own acquaintance. and it won't take many pages for readers whether they're rooting for some and against others. In either case by then they'll be drawn into the narrative and will remain so for the duration. I am pleased to offer my endorsement of these books and no doubt any others that he may write.

-Bernard Fernandez, former sports writer (now retired) of The Philadelphia daily News