Book description
In 1945, as part of the Occupation forces sent to postwar Japan
Nick Zappetti, a native of Italian East Harlem, entered a world as
strange as any he had ever know, In postwar Tokyo, however, he
realised there were certain opportunities. He had a failed stint as a
professional wrestler, and participated in a fumbled (but famous)
diamond heist. He was deported but managed to return with the
assistance of the Mafia. Then Nick opened a pizza joint in what would
be the centre of Tokyo's nightlife and became "the king of
Roppongi and Mafia boss of Tokyo," and the intimate of some of
Japan's most notorious underworld figures as well as many of its
political and business leaders. Following Zappetti's rising and
falling fortunes, and his love-hate relationship with his adopted
country, Robert Whiting show us the sinister (and sometimes
ridiculous) goings-on among Tokyo's traditional criminal gangs as they
developed from local racketeers and gamblers into lynchpins of
international finance, politics and corruption. Here is a fresh
perspective on postwar Japan and how it went from being a defeated
nation to an economic player, with a little help from some less than
diplomatic friends.
