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| Plot Summary of The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight |
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"Salvatore “Kid Sally” Palumbo wants to rise in Papa Baccala's Mafia family, but his incompetence holds him back. His face is scarred from a bungled arson attempt that ended in an explosion. He is successful only in low-level muscle and murder when directed by more skilled members of the mob. He is finally given one last assignment – to run a bike race, on which the organization expects to make a fortune. The race is aborted at the last minute through his incompetent planning.
The race brings Mario Trantino, a local bike-race champion and sometime artist in Calabria, to the United States to participate. While in New York, he meets and falls in love with Sally's sister, Angela. Angela helps Mario stay in the country after the collapse of the race and encourages him in his new career – counterfeiting art works.
Sally, now in disgrace with Baccala because of his failure, decides to try to take over the organization. Every attempt to murder Baccala or any of his gang ends in a disaster. When they kill one of Baccala's top lieutenants and dump his body off the Verrazano Bridge, it lands on a barge and alerts the police – and the wealthy shipper who owns the barge – to the ongoing gang war. When he steals a carton of .32 caliber bullets manufactured for automatics, along with some .32 revolvers, he sets the stage for his greatest folly – an attempt on Baccala's life. With Baccala at point-blank range, Sally's gun misfires because of the ammunition mixup.
And so it goes – the gang never does learn to shoot straight, and the gang war ends with Sally's defeat.
"
David Gordon, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 30%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- Dry-cynical
Time/era of story:
- 1960's-1970's
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
The crook is....
- criminals killing each other
Crime Thriller
Yes
Mostly a criminal POV story
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- killer
Age:
- 60's-90's
How much violence does he/she use?
- a significant amount
Ethnicity/Race
- Italian
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- killer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an above average amount
Motive of antagonist
- power
The antagonists are:
- US mafia
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Dumb
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 8 or more
Unusual forms of death
- run over
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Jimmy Breslin Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Gordon
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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