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American Desperado is the story of Jon Riccobono (whose “nom de plume” Jon Pernell Roberts was lifted from the TV show Bonanza,), who was born in New York in 1948 to Sicilian parents, and died of cancer in 2011. The son of mafioso Nat Riccobono, Jon was tenacious and aggressive from a young age. He later worked for the mafia as a club manager and restarauteur. A drug addict, drug trafficker, mafioso and horse lover, the book in fact takes its name from his horse Desperado, who he says, “had good instincts. He didn’t like other horses. Desperado was a killer. I called him Desperado because I saw myself in his eyes.” Roberts eventually worked his way up to becoming the undisputed boss of Miami’s crime market and a member of the Medellin Cartel. He was friends with Jimi Hendrix, Richard Pryor, O.J. Simpson, John Gotti, Manuel Noriega and especially the CIA, which didn’t save him from arrest, however. Then came his so-called redemption and a collaboration with the federal government as an informant. Mark Wahlberg is producing and set to star in a film adaptation of American Desperado.
Evan Wright was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Willoughby, Ohio. He graduated in Medieval History from the prestigious Vassar College, and in 1995 became an editor for the porn magazine Hustler. In 2009 he published the “sort of autobiography” Hella Nation, a collection of essays that paints a portrait of America through on its diverse subcultures. In 2002, Wright wrote about the Taliban and the war in Afghanistan for Rolling Stone. In 2003 he was embedded in Iraq with a reconnaissance battalion led by Gunnery Sergeant Brad Colbert. This experience inspired Generation Kill, which brought him notoriety and was later adapted into an HBO mini-series by David Simon. His meeting with Jon Roberts, an American mafioso and the alleged inspiration for Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone’s Scarface, led to this autobiography co-authored by the two men.
American Desperado, Crown Publishers, New York, 2011
Hella Nation: Looking for Happy Meals in Kandahar, Rocking the Side Pipe, Wingnut's War Against the Gap, and Other Adventures With the Totally Lost Tribes of America, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 2009
Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America and the New Face of American War, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 2004
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