This story will take you through the life of John Palermo: how I grew up, and how I was influenced by some of the most celebrated historical top organized-crime figures in America for over thirty years. This journey by one child and a man will take you through some of the most corrupt courts, mob-controlled towns, and politicians. This story is my firsthand account of corruption in my own situations and what I have been told and seen. I formed my own opinion of telling this story because most people think that gangsters' lives are glamorous. It was once said that our family lived a life like the TV show The Sopranos. It was far from it. Most Mafia families lived like their Mafia family members. They kept a low-profile life, nothing flashy. It was just like the gangster code of living in the shadows.