Carlo Brunzi (Napoleon's World)

Carlo Brunzi (4 November 1910 - 15 May 1986) was an Italian-American author and lawyer, known in the 1940's and 1950's for defending members of the Mafia and other New York organized crime figures and later writing numerous novels and short stories about life, in particular for Italian-Americans in the New York area, during the 20th century. He is best known for his two epic novels, An Immigrant's Tale (1973), which was adapted into the first half of the Story of America trilogy, and The Gangster (1962), which later became a TV miniseries starring Sal Caparza and Mike Myers.

In addition, Brunzi also wrote a number of novels such as The Rat King (1970), The Arkansas Conspiracy (1968), New York Love Story (1966), and The Irish Problem (1971). His short story collection, Brunzi, Bastards and Brooklyn, was published posthumously in 1987 in three volumes, containing almost 1,500 pages worth of content, most of which was thirty-four short stories written by Brunzi since the late 1950's. In addition to his works of fiction, Brunzi wrote numerous nonfiction works, such as Defending the Indefensible: Lawyer's in a Blind Legal System and A Definitive History of the American Mafia. His final posthumous work, Brunzi's Law: Social Realities And Legal Theories, was published in 1988 after being edited for three years by his colleagues.