Blood and Volume

Blood and Volume: Inside New York's Israeli Mafia by Dave Copeland reads like fiction but is absolutely all true. Ron Gonen ran a multi-million dollar drug distribution and contract murder syndicate in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan in the 1980's. With associates Ron Efrainm and Johnny Attias, the money was coming in fast. Closest in comparison is Henry Hill's story, which was made into a movie, Goodfellas. Gonen was manipulative and charismatic, traveling between Tel Aviv and New York, doing deals until it all unraveled. He saw the helicopter over his house and knew it was over. After his arrest he exchanged information for the witness protection program. Lest the reader think he is enjoying the ill-gotten-gains of his crimes, the morality tale here is that he is living somewhere unrevealed with his family, eking out a modest income and even borrowing a few dollars from his mother to get by.

In the 1980s, a multi-million dollar drug distribution and contract murder syndicate led by murderous gangsters Johnny Attais rose to prominence in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. Calling themselves the Israeli Mafia, the group Attias, along with pals Ran Efraim and Ron Gonen, richer than they had ever dreamed, but brought on troubles they never expected. In Blood & Volume: Inside New York's Israeli Mafia, author Dave Copeland gives an exclusive and never-before revealed look into one of the most successful Israeli gangs ever to operate on American soil. While the book gives readers an intimate portrait of Gonen, Efraim, and Attias, the book focuses most deeply on the life and crimes of Ron Gonen. A charismatic rogue, Gonen lived life in the fast lane and eventually spiraled out of control. Blood & Volume is filled with paranoid mobsters, clever scams, deep betrayals, and the struggles Gonen faced as he tried to find redemption and do the right thing by his young daughter and his family. Readers will see firsthand the crimes that could have propelled Gonen and his gang to the top of the New York underworld—if he hadn't agreed to cooperate with federal law enforcement officials.