NON-Fiction Bestseller “Havana Nocturne”–actually plagiarized from NOVEL by DGI-controlled Cuban author
"We demand royalties, Mr English!..You'll hear from my attorney Greg Craig!"
And here some of us thought TJ English's Book "Havana Nocturne; How The Mob Owned Cuba and Lost it to the Revolution" was unreliable because the author had relied on a Castro regime official as a major source.
HAH!...What a FOOL I was!....Turns out, instead of merely sourcing an official of Castro's DGI-controlled Casa de Las Americas--the Bestselling author whose book has been optioned for a major Hollywood movie--had actually transcribed the Communist propaganda screeds of this Castroite official word for word! To wit:
"I have no intention of talking to Mr. T.J. English," harrumphs Casa de Las Americas official Enrique Cirules. " Instead, I’m offering figures, data and clear evidence of his plagiarism. In his book Havana Nocturne (2008) T.J. English did not quote my work; instead, 72 times he mentioned the name of Cirules in an attempt to justify plagiarizing more than 260 pages from the novels El Imperio de La Habana and La vida Secreta de Meyer Lansky."
But the Miami Herald hails the book "as thoroughly and impressively researched!"
And the Washington Post gushes that: "Havana Nocturne has the air of a thriller with the bonus of being true!”
Upon reading it, the top news source for young Americans (Jon Stewart) gushed. "WOW! So the Mob actually BUILT Cuba's economy!...So it was actually WORSE than shown in Godfather II!"
Absolutely 'Un-Freakin Real
WOW! So a smug PC prick who wouldn't dare take a real risk gets rich and famous for that?
I have been reading the book by English, and I just read the interview with Cirules. Here's a fascinating quote from Cirules; fascinating to me since I'm actually reading the book:
"...But it is more complicated than it seems, because behind Mr. English’s arrogance and plagiarism is a well-plotted scheme to cover up the US mafia’s crimes back in the 1950s..."
This is fascinating because...English is "plotting" to cover up the mafia's crimes back in the 1950s??? Holy crap! Has Cirules read the book English supposedly plagiarized from him? If you read the book, it appears there was no other commerce, business or life in Havana outside what was created by the Mob! What the hell does Cirules think English is covering up? Can't trust any of these bozos. Their lies and inconsistencies are staggering and make them utterly unreliable when it comes to historical accuracy.
I am so fed up with the narrative on Cuba, with the notion that we were such a bankrupt, poverty stricken country full of worthless natives that a few shitty American gangsters could actually go there and take over an entire country. For this to have happened, its implies that--from the tip of Oriente to Maisi-- there were no well-to-do Cubans, no powerful Cuban businessmen, no honest Cuban politicians, no Cuban middle class, no intellectual class. Nothing, zilch, zero. And if they existed, they were so minute and so corrupt that they accepted this shameful takeover by a foreign criminal entity. In fact, that's what many people believe [deluded as they are by years of castro's propaganda]. I've spoken to people who have told me that Cuba was run by a tiny coterie of corrupt oligarchical families in cahoots with Batista and the mafia. They believe that there were no industries in Cuba, no makers and shakers and that these families lived off of prostitution, and tourism of the worst type [i.e. sex and gambling seeking tourists]. And now you have books like this garbage book perpetuating that notion. Of course, Hollywood is INSTANTLY interested in making a movie about this crap.