Wiseguys and the White House: Gangsters, Presidents, and the Deals They Made

Crisis management consultant Dezenhall (False Light) worked at the White House during the Reagan administration. His book explores connections between organized crime and presidential politics. The presidents he examines are Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. After a deep dive into potential connections with crime affiliates for each named president, the book grades each on a scale of one to five with the lowest number being only a tangential connection to the mob; the highest grade indicates the author’s assertion that they wouldn’t have become president without help from the mob. Organized crime has endured, he argues, because it’s localized in nature; in its early years, the government chose to focus more on combating communism than on crime, and politics and crime can be transactional. The book includes an extensive bibliography and notes.