New Book Reveals Mob Secrets: "The Accidental Gangster"

Plenty of authors have written best-selling gangster novels, but not that many have written first-person accounts of their lives as a gangster. Until now.

Orlando “Ori” Spado has written an autobiographical account of his decades as a mobster in his new book “The Accidental Gangster: From Insurance Salesman to Hollywood Fixer.” Released in August by Coastal West Publishing, the book chronicles his childhood and early adulthood in Rome, NY and the circumstances, which forced him into the mafia, ultimately resulting in his being known as the Mob Boss of Hollywood.

“I was extremely good at selling life insurance. I was a top agent for the Prudential Insurance Company. Once my license was taken from me for the state of New York, I was left with no means to make money anymore,” said the 76-year-old Spado. “I had to do what I had to do.”

Friends with mob boss John “Sonny” Franzese of the Columbo organized crime family, Spado did many jobs over the years, hobnobbing with many famous people along the way. Eventually, the FBI indicated him on RICO charges, and he served 62 months in federal prison.

Spado knew he was under police surveillance for a decade before being arrested in 2008. However, that didn’t stop him from doing jobs; instead it added a sense of challenge to outwit the police. “They got a job to do. We got a job to do,” said Spado, who now lives in Beverly Hills. “If they catch us, then we gotta do our time.”

The amazing thing about “Accidental Gangster” is the details, which Spado recounts. One would imagine he had to consult detailed journals to write things from 50 years or more ago with such precision, but that wasn’t the case. Any good gangster knows you don’t keep written records, which the authorities might seize. Instead, Spado just benefitted from a phenomenal, near photographic, memory.

“That’s one thing the lord has blessed me with,” said Spado, the father of three adult children. “I can remember being in fights when I was five years old and I can tell you what the other guy was wearing. It’s just something I’ve been blessed with.”

Even though he’s served time in prison, one might wonder how wise it is to put all his misdeeds down on paper. Couldn’t authorities use them against him and possibly jail him on more charges?

He says not. He had lawyers vet the book before publication.

“There’s nothing in that book that they can use [to charge me with further crimes],” said Spado who’s busy writing his second book, “Lost Angels,” a nonfiction work about the underbelly of Los Angeles.

Despite the book’s subtitle about being a Hollywood fixer, don’t look for celebrity dirt here. He doesn’t offer up many names of the Hollywood players he’s helped over the years, even though he knows he likely would sell more books if he had.

“It’s just against my grain [to name names],” he said, proving there’s still honor among thieves.

For more info: www.TheAccidentalGangster.com