Son of the Mob

Son of the Mob is a young adult novel by Gordon Korman, published in 2002. It is a comedic adventure story that concerns a teenaged boy named Vince Luca, and his attempts to come to terms with his Mafia family.

Vince’s life is a mixture of mundane teenaged concerns (girls, grades) and adult criminal activity. This is established in the first chapter of the book, when he takes a girl named Angela out on a date. He is groomed and prepped for the perfect romantic evening by his best friend and sidekick, Alex. While parked with Angela at the beach, Vince opens the trunk of his Mazda, hoping to find a blanket, and instead finds a (still live) body inside: James Ratelli, known as Jimmy Rat. This is a business associate of Anthony Luca’s, Vince’s father. Jimmy Rat owes Anthony money. Vince realizes that his hotheaded older brother, Tommy, who works for his father as an enforcer, impulsively took Vince’s Mazda earlier to find Jimmy and “lean on” him (11). Vince cannot hide Jimmy from Angela for long, and she is furious with him; they leave the beach and just manage to escape a police roadblock, with some dramatic last-minute help from “Benny the Zit,” another one of his father’s associates.