"Books about the Kennedys are legion. Yet missing until now has been an exploration of a crucial element: the bond between Jack and Bobby and the part it played in their rise and fall."--BOOK JACKET.

"As Mahoney demonstrates in this book, the Kennedys lived their days of power in dangerous, trackless territory. The revolution in Cuba had created a poisonous cauldron of pro- and anti-Castro forces, the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, and the Mafia. As attorney general, Bobby had made bringing down the Mafia one priority; another was bringing down Castro - and in this mission the very forces of crime he was trying to eradicate came into play.

The Mafia, and in particular the murderous and charming Johnny Rosselli, had been enlisted by the CIA to eliminate Castro. Bobby may have spearheaded an anti-Mafia crusade, but Joe and Jack had courted the mob, which played a key role in the 1960 presidential race. Blackmail and double-dealing were the order of the day. Achieving power meant compromising the best and brightest of ideals and entering into a Faustian bargain - as Bobby Kennedy discovered on November 22, 1963."--BOOK JACKET.