Blood & Volume
Inside New York's Israeli Mafia
News & Reviews
Blood & Volume News:
Baltimore City Paper: Everything Was For The Taking
"Speaking from his cell phone while heading toward New York on I-95, Dave Copeland sounds like he may be living the freelancer's dream. Four years ago, he was laboring for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review covering local business. Now, two years after graduating from Goucher College's nonfiction graduate writing program, the 34-year-old has just published his first book, Blood and Volume: Inside New York's Israeli Mafia. A few movie studios are taking peeks at it. The book tours have begun, and he's got a reading at Borders scheduled for Saturday in the Bronx. Right now, he's heading into lower Manhattan, where he's going to be featured in a documentary about the book."
May 9, 2007
The Springfield, Mass. Republican: Author delivers true underworld tale
"University of Massachusetts alum Dave Copeland returned to his old stomping grounds recently to talk to some journalism students about his new book and he told them that sometimes finding a good story is 'pure dumb luck.'"
April 29, 2007
The Jewish Daily Forward: The Mob From Zion"Now, after 17 years in the federal witness protection program, Gonen has told the tale again, this time to Dave Copeland, a Boston-based journalist whom he found on the listings Web site Craigslist. Copeland’s new book, 'Blood & Volume,' traces Gonen’s journey from petty thief to snowman for the 'Bright Lights, Big City' crowd. With the book’s publication, Gonen says he and his family lost federal protection, but he nevertheless stands by decision."
April 26, 2007
The Massachusetts Daily Collegian: '96 alum and the Israeli mob
"Part of what drives me in journalism is trying to find out why people do the things they do," Copeland said.
April 10, 2007
The Jewish Telegraph (U.K.): When the Israeli 'mafia' controlled drugs in New York
March 30, 2007
The Tartan: Former Pittsburgh reporter exposes New York's Israeli mafia
“[The] reason that I like my job [is that] whoever I’m writing about, they have an interesting life, and not one that I’m interested in leading,” Copeland said. “I don’t want to be a cocaine dealer.... It’s interesting to talk to them, and seeing what life as one is really like.”
March 26, 2007
The Jewish Advocate: Former Israeli mobster tells all
March 23, 2007
Pittsburgh City Paper: Mob Scenes
Copeland...crafted the true story of life inside the Israeli mafia with the literary style and pacing of a novel.
March 22, 2007
Publishers Weekly: Web-Exclusive Reviews: Nonfiction
This debut true crime from journalist Copeland is a thrilling guts-and-glory look inside the Israeli organized crime machine of 1980s New York City. The Israeli mafia was small—"core membership numbered fewer than twenty men"—and lacked the "codes of criminal conduct" intrinsic to their Italian and Russian counterparts; as such, it didn't last long: "by September 1990, all the gang's core members had either been arrested, entered the Witness Protection Program, fled the country, or been murdered." The narrative centers on three members—de facto leader Johnny Attias and narcotics dealers Ran Efraim and Ron Gonen—but sticks closely to the perspective of Gonen, the first to get arrested and turn state's evidence. The wild ride Copeland unfurls has all the insane highs and lows an audience familiar with Blow and Wiseguy expects, and they don't disappoint: "Gonen was one step removed from a Colombian cocaine cartel and, in a good month, netted $100,000." In the late 1980s, failing health and concern over his family prompted Gonen to consider retirement. When he was arrested in 1989, it was "just in time to save his life." It would mean the end of the Israeli mafia, capping a story so entertaining that, were it not rooted in such ably handled characters—at once despicable, pitiable and human—it might be unbelievable.
March 19, 2007
The World: Radio interview on NPR
Anchor Marco Werman speaks with a former member of the Israeli Mafia in New York and with the author of a book about the former mobster. Ron Gonen is the subject of "Blood and Volume - Inside New York's Israeli Mafia." Dave Copeland is the author.
March 9, 2007
Boston Herald: All thanks to Craigslist
The Departed" scribe William Monahan may have won an Oscar for writing his gangster story, but Burlington author Dave Copeland, whose book about the Israeli mob has just been released, is getting a movie made about him!
March 8, 2007
Boston Globe: A book party with safety issues
For safety's sake, the star of "Blood & Volume: Inside New York's Israeli Mafia" isn;t invited to tonight's party celbrating the book's release. "If someone found out Ron [Gonen] was there, it could be a problem," said author Dave Copeland, who will be at tonight's shindig at the Living Room.
March 8, 2007
Jerusalem Post: Former Mobster Writes Tell-All Book
Ron Gonen, who has spent the past 18 years in the US Witness Protection Program, has teamed up with author Dave Copeland to offer an insider's glance into a parallel universe of crime, murder and deciet.
March 4, 2007
New York Daily News: Mob Rat Loses His Hidey Hole
A drug dealer who helped the feds take down a vicious crew of Israeli mobsters says he has been bounced from the witness protection program because he detailed his life story in an upcoming tell-all book.
Ron Gonen went into hiding 17 years ago after his cooperation helped authorities end the bloody reign of Israeli mobsters who carried out contract killings in Brooklyn, gold heists in Manhattan's Diamond District and lucrative cocaine deals across the nation.
February 25, 2007 (PDF version)
Maybe I'm Amazed: Dave's World
In the future on this blog, you'll start getting to know some folks who I think are pretty cool and who are doing some awesome things. The first in this series is a Q&A session with Dave Copeland, a fellow graduate of the MFA in Creative Nonfiction program at Goucher College. Let's get right to the interview!
February 2, 2007
Tellhimfred.com: Interviews With Regular People
Dave Copeland is a writer. His book, “Blood & Volume: Inside New York’s Israeli Mafia” on life inside New York’s Israeli mafia will be released in 2007 by Barricade Books. His freelance work has appeared in Reason, the Wall Street Journal online, Boston Common and dozens of national and regional newspapers and magazines. He’s been a staff writer for the the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Dow Jones, and the Old Colony Memorial in Plymouth.
February 1, 2007
Justice: No One Knows Who I Really Am
Lies to your friends, isolation from your family, temptations from your past: Come peek inside life in the federal witness protection program, where even everyday tasks require life-and-death secrecy.
February, 2006
Israeli Mafia News:
Jeruselam Post: Aging former gangster gunned down in Tel Aviv
In the second suspected gangland hit in as many days, 60-year-old Ran "Freddy" Efrayim was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on the sidewalk on Thursday, only steps away from his South Tel Aviv apartment.
Efrayim, an art dealer, was allegedly part of the infamous New York Gang -- an Israeli drug smuggling ring that operated in the Big Apple at the height of the cocaine craze in the eighties. He only returned to Israel in recent years after a long period in the US.
February 1, 2007
Jeruselam Post: Suspect in Ben-Or killing arrested
Police arrested on Sunday night 23-year-old Eran Hiyat, a suspect in the December 2004 killing of policeman-turned-gangland assassin Tzahi Ben-Or in Cancun, Mexico, police revealed on Monday.
August 21, 2006
Media contact information:
Both Dave Copeland and Ron Gonen are available for interviews, appearances and discussions on Blood & Volume: Inside New York's Israeli Mafia, organized crime and related topics.
To schedule an interview or appearance with Copeland or Gonen, please contact:
Jon Tapper
Melwood Global
(617) 272-6610
jtapper@melwoodglobal.com
-- or --
John Boit
Melwood Global
(202) 468-9413
jboit@melwoodglobal.com