John Boy and Roberto, descendants of immigrants from the same town in Italy, by chance find their lives interwoven as young adults in the Italian neighborhood in Boston, the North End. Their early years have little or no resemblance to one another's early life experiences.
John Boy, a moniker given to him by his great-uncles, is surrounded by a huge loving family who will always have his back, and he knows it. Roberto, although he was born in America, returns with his Italian father to Italy at an early age after his mother died. He grew up without family on the streets of Palermo, Sicily. He is street-smart and knows how to play life's game as he sees it.
John Boy fervently believes in the American dream, the shining city on a hill. He loves America and its founding fathers, especially James Madison, so much so, he is considered by some to be naive and gullible as he becomes involved in Boston's political scene. He, too often, spouts off about important people who have influenced his thinking.
Roberto becomes fully indoctrinated into the life of the Mafia in Sicily and in New England. He is self-educated, well-read, and driven to better himself, and he is connected to important Mafia men. He and John Boy are, in more than some ways, alike, but attack life's opportunities in different ways. Before John Boy attains a seat in Boston's city council, attempts are made on his life.
John Boy is the fourth book in a series of short stories that begins after World War II. The first story, Club Morocco, involves a gambling shack and a dishonest self-serving police chief. Their lives are interwoven initially in book two, Promises, in Boston, and even deeper in book three, Passion and Power, which eventually relocates from Boston to Palermo, Sicily.
This book, titled John Boy, begins in a Palermo hospital. It continues into Rome, Siena, Florence, and San Gimignano. John Boy falls in love with a beautiful airline executive, Claudia, while he and Roberto discover, to a considerable extent, especially for Roberto, the interwovenness of their lives and a deeper recognition and value of family. The history of the Mafia is apparent throughout book four.
All are woven together with flashbacks to earlier Mafia murder plots, politics in Boston and Italy, and some interesting historical stories about a few Italian cities with a little about tasty food.
All is woven into a thrilling series of crime, family, love, and life. Lastly, with the help of a mutual priest friend, John Boy and Roberto grow to understand what is expected of them, as will you.