Four on the Floor

Many people don’t get along with their parents. But for Bobby Luisi Jr., the relationship with his father deteriorated to the point where it became a matter of life or death—kill or be killed.
Luisi grew up in the shadow of his father, a notorious mobster who was feared by many in Boston’s North End, a tight-knit Italian neighborhood that was full of wiseguys.
It all came to a bloody end in 1995 when Luisi’s father, brother, and cousin were gunned down in broad daylight in a busy 99 Restaurant in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The mass shooting made national headlines and Luisi’s family turned against him.
In Four on the Floor, Emily Sweeney chronicles the last of Boston’s mob wars and provides an intimate look at a family torn apart by violence, and tells the story of how Luisi’s rocky relationship with his father drove him to seek success as a gangster. From the streets of Boston’s North End to mob hangouts in South Philly, this book reveals the inner workings of crime families and the deadly power struggles and infighting that took place among organized crime factions in the 1990s. It’s a fascinating tale of alliances, betrayal, and redemption that readers won’t want to put down

Emily Sweeney is a staff reporter at The Boston Globe and author of the books Boston Organized Crime and Gangland Boston. A proud native of Dorchester, she also appears in Bloody Boston, a two-part documentary special on the Reelz channel; Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie, and The Departed, a bonus feature on the DVD of the Oscar-winning movie The Departed; and the forthcoming Netflix series How To Become A Mob Boss.