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Name – Joe Bruno

Age –Ancient

Where are you from?

The Lower East Side of Manhattan – NY City

A little about your self `ie your education Family life etc –
Transfiguration Grammar School. Cardinal Hayes High School, Hunter College. Vietnam Veteran. The Mean Streets of New York City.

 

Fiona: Tell us your latest news? –

My new book “Mob Rats – Gangsters Who Squeal – Volume 2 – The Cleveland Canaries” is on pre-order and is already ranked #1 on Amazon.com in the categories “Hot New Releases – Best Sellers in Law Enforcement Biographies & Memoirs,” and #1 in “Hot New Releases – Best Sellers in Organized Crime True Accounts.”

 

 

Fiona: When and why did you begin writing?
The mid-1960s. I started with grocery lists.

 

 
Fiona: When did you first consider yourself a writer?
In 1976, when I cashed my first writing check.

 

 
Fiona: What inspired you to write your first book?

Money.

 

 
Fiona: Do you have a specific writing style?
Think Mickey Spillane – nonfiction, not fiction. I write for people who have a little trouble reading.

 

 

Fiona: How did you come up with the title?
My first book, early 1980s, was “Mulberry Street,” which is where I grew up in New York City’s Little Italy.

 

 

Fiona: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Yes, stay away from the mob, or they’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.

 

 

Fiona: How much of the book is realistic?
All of it is realistic. It’s where I lived for 48 years.

 

 

Fiona: Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
This could get me in trouble, but all my fiction books – four of them – are based on people I knew and events I’ve either seen or taken part in. And I’m still alive. I think.

 

 

Fiona: What books have most influenced your life most?
Lawrence Block’s “Telling Lies for Fun and Profit.”

 

 

Fiona: If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Lawrence Block.

 

 

Fiona: What book are you reading now?
“The Mysterious Affair at Styles” – Agatha Christie.

 

 

Fiona: Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
Not really, I like the old-timers like Steven King and Dean Koontz.

 

 

Fiona: What are your current projects?
More “Mob Rats” books. Four books on Mob Rats already published, and more to come. There’s never a shortage of mob rats.

 

 

Fiona: Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
When I’m drunk, I usually use a lamppost to support me.

 

 

Fiona: Do you see writing as a career?
It has been for the past 40 years.

 

 

Fiona: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
No. I wouldn’t change a thing in any of my 25 books.

 

 

Fiona: Do you recall how your interest in writing originated.
I was too small to play professional basketball, but I wasn’t too short too to be a writer.

 
Fiona: Can you share a little of your current work with us?
“Mob Rats – Gangsters Who Squeal – Volume 3.”

 

 

Fiona: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Getting out of bed in the morning. Once I’m up and about, the words flow like pressured water from a fireman’s hose.

 

 

Fiona: Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
Lawrence Block. No one writes a better story, and those who do write better than Larry, are all dead.

 

 

Fiona: Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?
Yes. I travel every day from my bedroom to my office, which is in the adjoining bedroom.

 

 

Fiona: Who designed the covers?
I now use Alchemy Covers. I formerly used Nitro Covers.

 

 

Fiona: What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Sitting down in front of my computer. The rest is child’s play

 

 

Fiona: Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
I learned never to be a Mob Rat. The life expectancy is too short.

 

 
Fiona: Do you have any advice for other writers?
Write what you want, not what somebody else wants, or just to make money. Unless you’re broke, then write for the money.

 

 

Fiona: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Yes, hurry up and buy my books. My supply of Cognac is getting low.

 

 

Fiona: Do you remember the first book you read?
No, but it was probably something by Arthur Conan Doyle.

 

 

Fiona: Other than writing do you have any hobbies ?
Reading. Watching sports on TV, and most importantly, breathing.

 

 

Fiona: What TV shows/films do you enjoy watching?
Boardwalk Empire. Ray Donovan. The Sopranos. 24. Mad Men. The Blacklist. The Knick.

 

 

Fiona: Favorite foods / Colors/ Music
Red and Green, especially the green in hundred dollar bills.
And I love all Doo Wop music. I sang for many years in several New York City Doo Wop groups. Got hit my many tomatoes, and a few raw eggs. They tasted okay, but I’d rather have them cooked.

 

 

Fiona: If you were not a writer what else would you like to have done?
I’d be an attorney like my daughter.

 

Fiona: Do you have a blog/website? If so what is it?
Joe Bruno on the Mob – https://joebrunoonthemob.wordpress.com/

Joe Bruno
Amazon Best Selling Author of 25 crime fiction and nonfiction books, including:
“Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volumes 1 – 5″