Sal Liparello is a character straight out of central casting. A student at the school of hard knocks. A peer to Capone, Accardo and Giancana with an underworld empire that stretches from Illinois to California. He’s the kingpin of vice from Chicago Heights.
Never heard of him? That’s because Sal is the protagonist in The Heights, the first novel by Deer Park's Ray Franze. But wait, Chicago Heights? Thanks to 30 years of research and scouring 5000 pages of FBI files, Franze has shed light on the significant role played by little-known, publicity-averse gangsters from Chicago Heights.
Franze’s novel is based on the true story of an Italian immigrant who ruthlessly fought his way into the top echelon of the Chicago mob and expanded organized crime across the West. It’s a story one reviewer called “more fact than fiction.” Another review proclaimed that The Heights “deserves to be in the same conversation as The Godfather.”
It’s a whale of a tale by a first-time novelist, but it’s something that Franze said he came by naturally. His parents were both originally from Chicago Heights, and like many from their era, stories about the mob influence in their hometown were very common. Many families either had family connections to the underworld or were mob-adjacent. Growing up and hearing bits and pieces of adult conversations, Franze said “There were always stories about the mob and family and friend connections.”
For Franze, writing The Heights was a creative itch that needed to be scratched; and besides, “the influence of Chicago Heights’ own homegrown mob is a fresh take on another branch of the mob in Chicago’s history.” He also believed that this was a great story waiting to be told because of its cinematic qualities across a long sweep of the 20th century.
Franze said that to get the story told he needed either a screenplay or a novel. He elected to write a novel as a kind of personal challenge: “I wanted to see just how far I could take this idea. I still don’t think of myself as a creative. Sure, I’ve written a book and my efforts have been validated by a publishing company, but it is still kind of a pinch-me-moment that I’m living right now.”
After putting the finishing touches on his manuscript, Ray considered taking the vanity press route, meaning having his book published in limited quantities and relying mostly on word-of-mouth and online fulfillment to sell it. He discarded that idea quickly because he wanted to see if an independent publishing company would see the sales potential for the story. “In the long run, working with an editor to refine the book, and then getting validation from my publisher, Blue Handle Publishing, that my book is good enough for them has been an incredibly valuable lesson for me.”
Franze is a realist, however, who has no plans on retiring anytime soon from his 30-year career as a trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange where he met his wife, Nicole. Franze, 51, grew up in Arlington Heights, and after high school earned a marketing degree from the University of Iowa. As a kid, he had relatives in Barrington and was familiar with the area. “If we were going to live in the suburbs, we wanted it to be in the Barrington area," Franze said.” He and Nicole have lived in Deer Park for 19 years raising three daughters (ages 15, 17 & 19).
The Heights is likely not Ray’s only project. He says he is kicking around at least six other ideas, including a comedic screenplay on growing up in the northwest suburbs.
The Heights is available on Amazon or BookShop.com.
It was the summer of 1913 and the Heights, 30 miles south of the Loop was booming. Three thousand Italians made up 30% of the town's population, having left the poverty of southern Italy, drawn to the growing steel and railroad industries in Chicago Heights.
