The Deeds of My Fathers: How My Grandfather and Father Built New York and Created the Tabloid World of Today »

Paul David Pope began working for his father, Gene Pope, Jr., publisher of the National Enquirer, as a teenager. Following Gene's death, after Paul mounted a bid to acquire the newspaper that fell just short, he embarked on the writing of this revelatory book. He lives in Weston, Florida, near the towns of Lantana and Manalapan, where his father relocated the National Enquirer and his family from New Jersey and New York in 1971. For more information, visit www.thedeedsofmyfathers.com.

This captivating true story reads like a cross between The Godfather and Citizen Kane. It chronicles the emergence in America of an Italian immigrant and his son whose deeds would make them among the most prominent practitioners of power and influence in the new world. Based on previously untapped sources, this engrossing book presents an archetypal story of the American century, told candidly by a consummate insider.

Publishers Weekly

Once considered the black sheep of America's publications, the National Enquirer is celebrated on the eve of its 60th anniversary by Pope's powerful biography of its creators, the family patriarchs. The book, which sometimes reads like a straightforward Puzo sequel, chronicles the arrival of Generoso Pope, the author's grandfather on these shores with and no prospects; Gene, Generoso's son and publisher of the scandalous tabloid; and the realization of the ultimate American immigrant dream. Its chapters detail the Pope men's achievements, the grandfather's construction firm building some of Gotham's landmarks and the father's grooming of a struggling paper into a major publication. Crowded with presidents, celebrities, and mobsters, this bio of ambitious alpha males, in a dysfunctional clan worthy of a soap opera, is among the best portraits of Italian-American life to appear in some time. (Oct.)

Contents

List of Photographs....................ix
Pope Family Tree....................xii
Map: Birthplace of Generoso Pope, Sr....................xiii
FOREWORD A Tale of Three Sons....................xv
PROLOGUE A Meeting with Frank Costello....................xvii
1 A Family Turns on Its Youngest....................3
2 A Coffin Built for Two....................18
3 The Warmth of a Horse's Neck....................24
4 Voyage to the New World....................32
5 Making Friends and Enemies in the Sand Pits....................41
6 "You Will Be Proud to Know that I Have Been Made a Boss."....................59
7 "Guinea Fucking Rockefeller"....................65
8 Uncle Frank Makes a Few Calls....................76
9 Delivering the Finished Product....................87
10 The Favored Son, The Youngest One....................95
11 Making a Friend of Mussolini....................103
12 Advice for Mayor Walker....................120
13 Everybody Loves a Parade....................128
14 The Murder of Carlo Tresca....................145
15 Gene Becomes the Boss....................165
16 Gene Meets the Right Girl....................191
17 Frank Costello's Photogenic Hands....................197
18 "I Just Bought a Newspaper."....................207
19 Scooping The New York Times....................212
20 Roy Cohn Breaks a Newsstand Boycott....................229
21 "This Is for You, Frank."....................244
22 Fortune and Anthony Take a Bad Fall....................254
23 Ugly Trends, Ugly Ends....................263
24 Selling Supermarkets on Selling the Enquirer....................274
25 "Liz Taylor's Not That Good an Actress."....................292
26 An Epitaph for Elvis....................306
27 The Last Christmas Tree....................326
AFTERWORD The Enquirer Up for Sale....................347
Appendix & Notes on Sources....................355
Acknowledgments....................384
Index....................385
About the Author....................396