Within the interconnecting worlds of bigtime gambling, publishing and the film industry, the power of corruption and the corruption of power are nowhere better explored. From New York to Las Vegas, Merlyn and his brother Artie obey their own code of honour in the ferment of contemporary America, where law and organiased crime are one and the same...

Mario Gianluigi Puzo (October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was a two time Academy Award-winning Italian American author and screenwriter, known for his novels about the Mafia, especially The Godfather (1969), which he later co-adapted into a film with Francis Ford Coppola.