The Corporation: An Epic Story of the Cuban American Underworld

Petty gambling leads to grand theft, arson, and dozens of murders in this sprawling true-crime saga. Journalist English (Havana Nocturne) recounts the career of José Miguel Battle, aka “El Gordo,” a refugee from Castro’s Cuba (and Bay of Pigs veteran) who became the boss of bolita, an illegal lottery popular among Cuban exile communities in Miami. By the 1980s, the pastime swelled to a billion-dollar industry and sparked conflicts between rival New York City bolita outfits, with assassinations galore and a rash of arson that killed innocents. Battle’s story reads like an ultraviolent mashup of The Godfather, Scarface, and Bugsy, with plenty of gore, colorful characters, and intricate subplots: the loose-cannon protégé of Battle who started going after the bosses; Ernestico, the drug dealer who killed Battle’s brother Palulu and survived umpteen retaliatory hit attempts; Battle’s Peruvian casino venture, where he wallowed in cocaine and paranoia; mob-linked anti-Castro terrorists; Miami cops who spun wiretaps, stakeouts, and a source code-named “Sexy Cubana” into a RICO case. English stuffs in so much material that the thread sometimes gets lost, but his vast narrative is rich enough to keep the pages turning. (Mar.)