Mafia Dreams: A True Crime Saga of Young Men at the End of an Era in Kansas City by Frank Hayde (BookBaby, July 2023). Paperback 228 pages. Also Kindle e-book.
Kansas City’s historically powerful Mafia crime family appeared to be on its last legs in the 1990s. But “the life” still beckoned to a group young men with gangster ambitions.
The FBI was still battling the Mafia remnants that would stubbornly survive into the next millennium. Federal agents in Kansas City also pursued a massive insurance fraud enterprise run by the Riley family. The Rileys were a criminal organization unto themselves. Their youngest member, Joseph Riley, had dreams of gangster glory. Big-time white-collar crime soon collided with the gritty underworld in a deadly drug sting that attracted nationwide attention and tested the limits of a controversial legal doctrine.
Through copious research and interviews with principal participants, author Frank R. Hayde has pieced together an epic true crime tale with surprising connections and startling events.
