博客來The last thing Bobby Bologna ever saw was Michael Jordan’s jump shot.
Which, if you think about it, is a pretty good last thing to see.
Better than a hospital ceiling. Better than the barrel of a gun. Better than the inside of a car trunk on a cold night in January, which is how most people in Bobby’s line of work usually went.
No, Bobby Bologna-Chicago mob boss, legendary eater, and the loudest man in any room-died watching the greatest basketball player of all time sink a seventeen-foot jumper to clinch the 1998 NBA Finals. He died courtside. He died with joy in his heart and mustard on his chin and a hot dog lodged so deep in his throat that three paramedics couldn’t dislodge it.
He died the way he lived: eating, loudly, in public.
And that’s when things got complicated.
Because Bobby didn’t just leave behind a criminal empire. He left behind:
- A consigliere who can’t stop making lists and hasn’t slept since 1994
- An enforcer who’s terrified of his own job and just wants to open a sandwich shop
- A nephew who’s been trying to go straight for years-and keeps getting pulled back in
- A wife who knows more than she’s letting on
- A rival family that smells blood in the water
- The FBI, who’ve been waiting for exactly this moment
- And a 400-pound lion named King, who Bobby smuggled into Lincoln Park Zoo and who may be the most dangerous thing he ever brought to Chicago
Legends Don’t Die in Chicago is what happens when The Sopranos meets It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia-a hilarious, heartfelt, and occasionally violent story about the crew Bobby leaves behind and their increasingly desperate attempts to survive without him.
It’s about loyalty and betrayal. About family-the one you’re born into and the one you choose. About a city that makes legends out of loudmouths and refuses to forget them, even when it probably should.
It’s about what happens when the guy who always had the answers finally stops talking.
And it’s about food. So much food. Italian beef. Hot dogs (no ketchup). Deep dish versus tavern style. Giardiniera on everything. Because this is Chicago, and in Chicago, you either eat or get eaten.
Bobby Bologna figured why not do both.
Book One of the Legends Don’t Die in Chicago series.
＂In Chicago, you either eat or get eaten. Bobby Bologna figured why not do both.＂
-Overheard at Manny’s Deli, 1998
