What inspired you to write your memoir?
Dennis N. Griffin and I co-authored the shocking true story LA BELLA MAFIA as told to us by Bella Capo.
About your Book:
SYNOPSIS
Bella Capo’s true story
Morgan St. James and Dennis N. Griffin as told by Bella Capo
Release: October 15, 2013. Foreword by actress/activist Ali MacGraw. Houdini Publishing, Las Vegas NV. Currently available for presale reservation at Houdini Publishing and Amazon.
“I had endured so much, I was beyond feeling anything. Because I believe in angels, I had a crying angel tattooed on my back so it could cry for me when I couldn’t cry for myself.” ~Bella Capo
***
On the surface, Bella’s family appeared to be living the American Dream, enjoying their nice house and the luxuries afforded by her father’s successful career. Influential friends from politicians to mobsters were frequent visitors who enjoyed his hospitality and drugs. However, lurking behind that façade were the dark secrets of a sadistically abusive father and brother, sexual abuse, ties to organized crime and free-flowing drugs that should have had no place in the life of this little girl, who loved to twirl and dance in her perfect pink bedroom while wearing a fluffy tutu.
When she grew older, she formed her own all-girl gang and became a wild child, sampling drugs, skipping school and partying. That is until her father beat her severely enough to cause traumatic brain injury and accelerate the PTSD she already suffered.
A profusion of foster homes, followed, including a compound in Malibu, California, that on the surface appeared to be an exemplary facility for calming runaways and youngsters with problems. But their hidden agenda appeared to be brain-washing their charges. Unaware of this underlying purpose, the facility attracted many supporters from the entertainment industry. They included superstar movie actress Ali MacGraw who became an unofficial godmother to Bella and a very positive force in her life for many years. Through writing this book, they have been reunited.
Bella went on to promote and run clubs and after-hours clubs on Hollywood’s famous Sunset Strip. Her magnetic personality and love of dancing rapidly propelled her into one of the power forces in the club world of the 1980s. However, in keeping with the love/hate feeling she sustained for her father, she had promised him that she would marry an Italian man and have babies to carry on their ethnic traditions. Little did she know that the man she chose would be her undoing.
The newlyweds bought a house in the town of Gardena in the Los Angeles area and she tried to be the perfect housewife and mother. Although it appeared to be a lovely residential neighborhood, their home was actually on the edge of the Hood, and in the evenings and on weekends the notorious gang, the Crips, met in a park only ten to fifteen feet away.
After a few years Bella’s husband became abusive and did drugs just like her father. He had a series of affairs and she discovered that he had organized crime ties in his hometown. A separation ensued, with Bella and her children remaining in the house and living in constant fear of the ever-present Crips.
In Bella’s words, “I finally decided that I had to put my “gangsta girl” face back on and become important in the gang instead of fearing them.” Using her knowledge and contacts in the world of rap music from her days in Hollywood, she actually became a white woman boss in the Crips and they protected her from her husband and his mobster friends as they stalked her and issued death threats. When her house sold, Bella and the children went into hiding.
The online movement she co-founded with Bella Czech, La Bella Mafia, has saved many from abuse, kidnapping, death threats and more. Although she constantly fights the effects of severe PTSD and traumatic brain injury, this beautiful, brave woman is revered by hundreds of “Bellas” and everyone who meets her.
Exhibiting great courage, Bella Capo, who came close to death several times, came out of hiding to tell her story as the way to reach as many abuse victims as possible with a message of hope, inspiration and action.
How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
When Bella contacted Dennis Griffin through her good friend Tony “Nap” Napoli, formerly of the Genovise Family and Dennis contacted me to be his co-author, we both knew this was a book that had to be written. It is published by Houdini Publisher, a company that had previously published books by Dennis.
How do you see writing a Memoir as different from writing other genres of books?
In fiction you can create the details and situations you see in your mind and creative spirit. In a biography you must strictly stick to facts that can be supported. In the case of a memoir it is similar to a biography but is based on the memories of the subject of the book. While Dennis and I required substantiation because of the life Bella lived and then turned everything around to help other abuse victims and those in jeopardy, we took the liberty of changing names for legal and protective reasons.
Author Bio:
BELLA CAPO, the sexually and physically abused daughter of a powerbroker, whose close associates included politicians and organized crime figures, and a drug-addicted mother, spent much of her youth in foster homes and rehabilitation facilities. As a young adult she became a force on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, running clubs and after-hours clubs. After a failed marriage to an abusive husband, Bella became a boss in the Crips—the only white female to hold such a position of power in the gang at that time. She later fled Los Angeles in fear for her life when her ex-husband and his associates stalked her and threatened her with death.
Although she could have died many times, Bella survived and overcame the obstacles to co-found La Bella Mafia, an online group that provides assistance and counseling to abuse victims—especially those in life-threatening situations. It is gaining an international following.
This courageous woman has now come out of hiding to share her story. It will serve as an inspiration to the hundreds of thousands of abuse victims who suffer in silence. http://labellamafiabook.wordpress.com
DENNIS N. GRIFFIN, author, organized crime historian and radio host. Dennis began his career as a private investigator with Pinkerton’s Inc., working mostly undercover assignments, which ultimately led to a position as the Director of Investigations with the New York State Dept. of Health laboratory division. There were stops along the way as a Sr. Child Support Investigator and deputy sheriff in Madison County, New York, inbetween. This is Griffin’s fourteenth book, including the biographies of former mobsters Andrew DiDonato and Frank Cullotta. He is host of the We Knowa Guy show on Blog Talk Radio, and is an active member of Wednesday Warrior Writers, Public Safety Writers Association and GLAWS. http://imaginepublicity.com/clients/dennis-n-griffin
MORGAN ST. JAMES, award-winning Author, Columnist and Speaker. This is her eleventh book. She writes the funny Silver Sisters Mysteries series with her real life sister in addition to various stand-alone books like Who’s Got the Money? and The MAFIA Funeral and Other Short Stories. In addition to her book Writers Tricks of the Trade: 39 Things You Need to Know About the ABC’s of Writing Fiction, St. James edits and publishes the online eZine Writers Tricks of the Trade and has written over 500 columns for the Los Angeles and Las Vegas editions of Examiner.com. An entertaining speaker, St. James frequently appears on authors’ panels, radio shows and other media forms as well as presenting writing workshops. She is an active member in GLAWS, Sisters in Crime, Las Vegas Writers Group, Henderson Writers Group and Wednesday Warrior Writers. www.morganstjames-author.com
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