Doing What It Takes

By: Z. I. Farber

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A reclusive ex-mobster leads his protégé to the top of a local gang.
Jerry Kaufman was a Jewish gangster in 1950s Bronx. With a gift for strategy and a hard punch, Jerry was a rising star in the Italian mob, when he was betrayed and forced to abandon the life. Now a wheelchair-bound widower in his 90s, Jerry lives in near-isolation in a suburb just outside the Florida Everglades.

Looking back on his life, Jerry cannot shake the feeling that he missed his chance, so when he witnesses his caretaker’s son, Amede Delwa, beaten in a gang fight, Jerry sees an opportunity to try again, this time by proxy.

Amede is a Haitian man trying to make it in a Cuban gang, an outsider’s struggle Jerry viscerally understands. Sharp, strong, and charismatic, Amede has the skills to make it big. What he lacks in experience, Jerry can supply, along with money, connections, and strategy. But it will be up to Amede to do what it takes.