The Brutal Truth

L.A. Mogliê, (pronounced "lah MOH-lyee-eh" - "The Wife" in Italian) refers to me Mary Rispoli. This is my story. I was married to a mobster named Tony Lauretti during Prohibition in San Francisco. Our granddaughter Sandy, gave me a voice to tell my story in this book. Tony was a mobster of the worst kind. Sandy dug into our family history during the pandemic. She started by trying to confirm the stories I shared with her about my life. The information she found went above and beyond the stories I shared with her over the years, corroborating and expanding on them. As she dug deeper, it was apparent my story needed to be told. For someone to survive such unimaginable cruelty at the hands of their husband, abuse that extended to her children as well, was a testament to my character. My story pulls back the curtain on organized crime in San Francisco during Prohibition - exposing a world of Black Hand extortion, white slave trafficking, prostitution, bootlegging, rum-running, racketeering, corruption, and murder.