I haven’t talked about White Shadow in a while. My fifth novel was a real breakthrough for me. It was the first book after my Nick Travers stories and the first time I’d written about a true event.
For those of you who haven’t read the novel, the story centers on the violent death of former Tampa, Florida kingpin, Charlie Wall. Wall was the old guard of Tampa, the man the superstitious Latins called the “White Shadow” because of his protection of the ethnic neighborhoods. But after Prohibition and the war years, ole Charlie was pushed aside by the Tampa mafia, most notably Santo Trafficante, Sr. It’s rumored that his son Santo Jr. called the hit.
Right before White Shadow was released in ’06, I visited Tampa and Charlie’s house where he was killed in April, 1955. For years, I’ve meant to post these photos to my website. But here, for the first time, you can see the room and the home where the infamous mob hit took place. A new trade paperback version of the novel is out in December featuring a brand-new behind-the-story on the murder.
