I met Charles Brandt a few years ago in Rehoboth Beach at a signing for his book, “I Heard You Paint Houses,” the story of the “last ride” of Jimmy Hoffa as told by Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, the man who took Hoffa on that “ride.” I went to the signing on a lark, and ended up asking him a myriad of questions about people and places that were familiar to me and surprisingly in his book.

So when he came back to Rehoboth this month to promote his new book, “Unfinished Business,” written with Joe Pistone (AKA Donnie Brasco), I asked him about his “Houses” book tour, and the people he met along the way with questions and stories. Enough people, interestingly enough, to warrant an epilogue to the book. If you have the hardback already, you can download the Epilogue here for free, or you can just buy the paperback and it’s already in there.

“At every signing there have been people coming up to me with stories.” -Charles Brandt

Mr. Brandt told me the story of a man who solved the mystery of the missing airstrip in Baltimore, an airstrip that was now a Gap store. And the former union driver who came in to get an autographed copy of his book for James P. Hoffa, Jimmy’s son. And the man from Palm Springs who received a call from Josephine Hoffa wondering if he knew the whereabouts of her missing husband.

Mr. Brandt was also approached by law enforcement officials who dealt with the case. Like the Department of Labor prosecutor that turned Frank Fitzsimmons into an informant.

One of my favorite stories was the man whose father bugged Sam Giancana’s house for Sam Giancana. Apparently Giancana was a paranoid man living on the lamb in Mexico and he bugged his own home to see what the other mob bosses were saying about him when they visited. Giancana ended up getting wacked 3 days before his Church Committee testimony.

The most intriguing story Charles Brandt told me, though, wasn’t generated through a book signing, it came from good old fashioned reporting. Eric Shawn, a reporter from FOX News, followed a lead on a woman who witnessed the hit on “Crazy” Joey Gallo. The woman was an editor for the New York Times and was one of many witnesses who left the scene without ever being questioned. She identified Frank Sheeran as the “lone gunman,” which contradicted the news stories that there were 3 gunmen. The police, however, confirmed the “lone gunman” story. Also confirmed was one interesting guest sitting at “Crazy” Joey Gallo’s table, Jerry Orbach of Law and Order fame. He refused to cooperate with the investigation. I wonder what Detective Lennie Briscoe would have to say about that?

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 8:13 pm and is filed under Books, Hollywood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.