The Hitman Of Avenue U

Wednesday, February 11, 1981. It is just twenty-one days since President Reagan took the oath of office, in which he urged Americans to exercise the will and courage of free men. And it is nearly a year since George Mancuso, a longtime employee, was unjustly downsized and terminated at The New York Globe. Also, it is the day that George receives the gun that, with his first hit, will initiate him into the Mafia world of Big Nick Lombardi, his boyhood pal. Though it may not have been what Reagan had in mind, will George have the will and courage to use the gun?

George does not want to be a killer. A quiet family man and churchgoer, George has tried hard to find another job. But no one will hire a middle-aged guy without a college degree or special skills and talents. Only Big Nick has come across for him. Big Nick assures him that he would be an ideal hitman. Mature, inconspicuous, respectable, never in trouble with the law—who would ever suspect him? All George has to do is to get the gun and prove to himself that he has the guts for the job.

The cold steel of the revolver gives George a strength and self-confidence he had never had, and so he sets out on his second and more successful career. Luck is with him as never before in his underprivileged life, because he spots on the street none other than Jack Warren, Director of Human Relations at the Globe, whose lies and deceit over the years wrecked his life. It is a snowy day, and George should be home on Avenue U in Brooklyn. There, like the good husband praised in scripture and the media, he would be doing such household chores as feeding the cat and starting dinner for his wife, the current breadwinner of the family. But in a burst of will and courage, George sets out in pursuit of his prey.

And then, at last, he is face-to-face and utterly alone with the man who wrecked his life and trampled on his dreams. To set out on the bright path to success, all he has to do is pull the trigger and report his achievement to Nick...

THE HITMAN OF AVENUE U is a book for everyone who has ever worked in the private or public sector and struggled against forces that rate power and profits above human values, ignoring the aspirations of the poor and powerless. It rips away the idealistic veneer of journalism and exposes the underbelly of a New York tabloid and the lies, rivalries, and dark ambitions of the people who run it—all the way up to the editors and the publisher.

Spend the day with George Mancuso on his quest for revenge and meaning. It may change your life as well as his!

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