DEATH WISH: A STORY OF THE MAFIA - ICEBERG SLIM

I’ve almost finished the Iceberg Slim ovreau; he wrote 10 books and this is the ninth I’ve read so I feel like I’ve got a sense of him as a writer. I remain convinced he’s outrageously underrated, from both the perspective of a pulp craftsman as well as a writer of deeper political fiction. He’s reduced to the ur-pimp, a precursor to the blacksploitation character, who in turn is the precursor to the hip-hop archetype both of which often celebrate and glamorize when Slim is definitely not doing that, quite the opposite, his books are always indictments of streetlife while illuminating the structural issues that create the sorts of environments that pimps and others exploit. Additionally his books offer a glimpse into race-relations and Black life (he’s as great an artist w/r/t the Great Migration as Jacob Lawrenece) in the 20th century. Death Wish is by no means short of this sort of content, despite exploring an area slightly outside of what Slim usually tackles. As the subtitle suggests Death Wish primarily focuses on the Sicilian Mafia, here called the Honored Society, in Chicago. The main plot involves a power struggle within the organization and various characters vying for power. They are opposed by a group of Black Power advocates called the Warriors who are attempting to take out the mafia, and the police who work for/with them, for exploiting the Chicago ghettos. There’s all sorts of shoot-outs and mafia betrayals and voodoo sacrifices and all the pulpy goodness you’d expect from Slim. I would say, like many of his books, the ending seems abrupt and not at the same level as the rest of the book and the pivoting between the black characters and the Mafia characters made both storylines feel like they needed a bit more. All that being said, it was a fun read, not top-tier Slim but a worthy addition. As always please enjoy this list of street names from the book. ‘74 Honored societies

Larry Love Bone

The Surgeon

Charming Mills

Lil’ D

Kong

Lupo

Mack Rivers

Tit-for-Tat Taylor

Rappin’ Roscoe

Bumpy Lewis

Lotsa Black Hayes

Ivory Jones

Dew Drop Allen

Thick Set

Carl The Sphinx

Bama

The Mole

Buncha Grief

Double Head

Skinny Man Blake

Fluffy

Dandy Ike

Easy Pockets

Lucky Red

Bulldog Slim

Ya-Ya Franzzio