I myself was truly surprised at reading what Roberts is really like. On the other side, you have countless beatings, killings, and other assorted acts of violence carried out by Roberts directly or his crew on his behalf that you quickly lose count of as you read the story.Īgain, I go back to the thought that if you’ve seen the documentary you go into this thinking Roberts is one kind of man. Many anecdotes, such as Jimi Hendrix getting kidnapped and shooting speed, pulling robberies with Tony Sirico (Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos) in the early 70s, doing coke with the Pittsburg Steelers the night before the Superbowl and hundreds of beautiful women are one part of it. Those men, his father and uncles, were his “positive male role models” growing up.Īmerican Desperado is an enjoyable book to read. Roberts’s male family members were directly related to Lucky Luciano and Murder Inc.
As a matter of fact, if you’ve seen the documentary and then read American Desperado, you’ll be in for a surprise. I wouldn’t call it unflattering, but it doesn’t come close to scratching the surface of who he really is. Now, the fascinating Cocaine Cowboys documentary portrays Roberts in a certain light. The ingenuity that Roberts and his crew displayed in their endeavors makes you shake your head and wonder at that old cliché about what they could have accomplished had they decided to be good people. What started out as a kilo or two of cocaine turned into one of the largest cocaine smuggling operations in the history of American crime. Roberts, through his own wild youth, went to Miami in the 70s with almost nothing and became an outlaw in the truest sense. Jon Roberts was an Italian kid from New York whose family at one time was Mafia royalty. After reading American Desperado and finding out exactly who Jon Roberts is, I can only imagine Evan Wright being the one to tell the story. Wright was later portrayed by actor Lee Turgenson on the HBO series, “Generation Kill.” Any writer willing to embed with force recon marines for a story automatically gets respect in my book. I was first introduced to Evan Wright when I read his book Generation Kill, the story of a Marine force recon platoon Wright was embedded with during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Cocaine Cowboys IS one of my all-time favorite documentaries, but it portrays Jon Roberts very differently than how he is portrayed in his autobiography. A cult-favorite, it is the story of Miami drug smugglers and dealers in the 70s and 80s. I first was introduced to Jon Roberts in the documentary Cocaine Cowboys. Of course Dave is too tough for something as silly as cancer and is back on the streets of Boston, saving lives and living like to the fullest. Dave took a little time off to wage a war for his health and well-being. American Desperado – Evan Wright and Jon RobertsĮditor’s note: I just want to welcome Dave Wahlman back to the fold.
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