Blood Relation

In this true crime memoir, a New Yorker writer investigates the life and career of his hit-man great-uncle and the impact he had on his family.

“Absorbing and marvelously told [in] graceful, perfectly pitched prose. . . . A mesmerizing expedition.” —New York Times Book Review

Growing up in a household that seemed “as generic as midwestern Jews gets,” Eric Konigsberg never imagined there was anything remotely mysterious about his family—until he learned from an ex-cop groundskeeper that his great-uncle Harold “Kayo” Konigsberg had been a legendary Mafia enforcer, suspected by the FBI of upwards of twenty murders.

In Blood Relation, Eric Konigsberg unspools the lurid rise and protracted flight from justice of his notorious “Uncle Heshy,” revealing Kayo as a fascinating, paradoxical character: a cold-blooded killer and larger-than-life con artist, both brutal and seductive. In the process, the author investigates Kayo’s impact on his family and others who crossed his path, brilliantly interweaving themes of Jewish identity, family dynamics, justice, and postwar American history.

“True-crime memoirs are a dime a dozen, but this one is different: a chronicle of criminal behavior, yes, but also a moving story of coming to terms with one's roots.” —Booklist

“Irresistible. . . . Scary, surreal, oddly funny.” —Chicago Tribune

“[Konigsberg] has produced a picture of the classic gangster, an excellent study not only of rime but of family and Jewish identity.” —Library Journal