"Lilyhammer" with Steven Van Zandt (2011)

Here’s a series I never heard of before. It was at the Library, filed under L for Lilyhammer. There’s no telling how many times I may have passed it by without notice, but for whatever reason this time I took it home with me. Glad I did.

Frank the Fixer; played by Steven Van Zandt; has testified against his “boss” in New York and as a result he needs to go into the Witness Protection Program. But he chooses not to head to Arizona or Florida; warm climates where most of the people in the program usually opt to relocate; he decides it would be safer if he were to relocate somewhere more obscure; and cold.

Remembering that he has seen Lillehammer on TV during the Olympics a few decades ago, he decides to cast his himself as a former restaurant owner and heads off to begin his new life in “Lilyhammer”; which is the way he pronounces it.

Once there he has to come to terms with life in a social democracy; where political correctness is the norm and hunting is not allowed. All of these things come into play as he navigates his new life, meeting his neighbors and in some cases corrupting them.

From the very first episode it is apparent that this man; who is trying to live his life unnoticed; is not going to quietly “fit in” with his new environment. He has troubles with the Employment Office; a personality conflict with one of the town’s police officers; is mistaken for an Islamic terrorist newly released from Guantanamo; and extreme difficulty understanding the passivity of the people.

But in spite of all the social differences; or perhaps because of them; Frank quickly discovers that people everywhere are really the same. They all want to be one step ahead of one another.  Great viewing; get ready to binge watch this one.

"The Mob and Me" by John Partington and Arlene Violet

John Partington is one of the original founders of the Witness Protection Program. Along with former Attorney General Arlene Violet, he has written a book that is at once, both historically accurate, and very insightful. The book takes you beyond the world shown in films such as "Goodfellas", where the bad guys are the heroes, and shows what it is like when things don't go right for members of organized crime.

Mr. Partington's experience begins in the mid 1960's, working as a U.S. Marshall. It was in this position that he first encountered Robert F. Kennedy, who was a strong believer in getting mobsters to "roll" on one another. The Witness Protection Program became the vehicle which would drive that effort. With promises of protection, money, housing and even jobs, the program almost became a retirement plan for some of the nation's worst criminals.

By dangling bits of information in front of the Feds, the mobsters learned quickly how to play the "Program", just as they had learned to "fix" the gambling in Vegas.

This is an insightful look at the other side of organized crime, taking the reader into the lives of the families of the mobsters. The price that they pay, in lost relations, normal childhoods and freedom are enormous. But there is another side to this book as well.

What toll is taken on the family of the agents involved in this program? How do the wives, and children, of the agents involved, deal with the long absences required of this highly unusual job?

From Joe Valachi, Bob Leuci (Prince of the City) to John Dean and Howard Hunt of the Watergate Affair, the author fills his account with some unforgettable characters. And one of the most important things which the reader takes away from this book is that the Criminals and Marshalls are but two sides of one coin. By that I mean, that though their goals may be totally different, the problems they face in their personal lives are too often the same.