Marked to Die

The tale of Jerry (Chicken Delight) Festa, who worked his way up from freelance con man (home improvement and roofing scams were his specialty) to fringe organized-crime figure in Newark--then turned government witness to avoid a murder rap, entered the federal Witness Protection Program, and has been looking over his shoulder ever since. Brown, who spent several months in hiding with Festa and his large family (wife, five children, and an aunt), paints a stark portrait of the life of a protected witness, rapid moves from one run-down rented house to another (including one without a stick of furniture); kids unable to make friends; constant stress and attendant psychological problems; the fear of mob hitmen (there was a $500,000 contract out on Festa); and, Brown suggests, the not-so-farfetched possibility of being ""set up"" by one of the federal marshals supposedly providing protection. Though Festa himself comes across as a wise guy who deserved whatever he got, Brown gives a sensitive accounting of the effect of years of hiding on other members of the family (particularly Festa's aunt, an old-fashioned, religious woman caught up, out of family loyalty, in a mess).