Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost it to the Revolution (2007) by T.J. English is a nonfiction account of how American gangsters such as Meyer Lansky and Charles “Lucky” Luciano turned 1950s Havana into a playground for gambling and vice—only to lose everything when Fidel Castro’s revolution toppled Batista’s regime. English traces the Mob’s rise through political connections, corruption, and Batista’s complicity, while showing how Castro’s guerrilla war gained popular support as a moral answer to widespread crime. Blending history and true crime, the book portrays the mobsters’ ambition, overreach, and eventual downfall, and was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime in 2009.
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