Giancarlo Giambrone

The roaring '20s was the wildest decade of the 20th century! It was a heady time, dominated by two significant events, Prohibition, and the soaring stock market. More alcohol was consumed during Prohibition than before the law was enacted. And loose money, only ten percent down, bought anything from stocks to autos, homes, and appliances. With the stock market open to everyone, fortunes were made and lost in days.

Enter this era with Giancarlo Giambrone, a Sicilian emigre of a wealthy, centuries-old olive oil business, vowing to earn his own fortune. Join him as he becomes a stockbroker, foresees the 1929 market crash, and traverses the depression, becoming even wealthier. Enjoy his successes, romances, travels, and contributions to society, while surviving tragedy and standing up to FDR.

Joe Reina Bio

Meet Joe Reina, entrepreneurial businessman turned author. Joe came up through the ranks in the apparel industry from salesman to manager, to store owner, business mogul, and real estate developer. An avid reader of history, he took the lessons from the past to navigate the economic ups and downs of the mid-twentieth century. His businesses entailed international travel and enabled him to explore a good part of the world. That exposure helped satisfy his lifelong desire to experience the pleasure of meeting people all over the world and then share his travels with his family and friends.

Throughout his successes, Joe never forgot his roots of growing up on the "hill" of St. Louis and the fortitude of his spirited mother, an emigre from Sicily. He wrote the book, The Goat Sleeps in the Kitchen, to tell her remarkable story of becoming a successful businesswoman in the early twentieth century. His fascination with that era resulted in the birth of his fictional alter ego, Giancarlo Giambrone, one of the world's great entrepreneurs. Joe lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.