Vikki LaMotta - Knockout!: The Sexy, Violent, Extraordinary Life of Vikki Lamotta

Books by Thomas Hauser

General Non-Fiction

Missing

The Trial of Patrolman Thomas Shea

For Our Children (with Frank Macchiarola)

The Family Legal Companion

Final Warning: The Legacy of Chernobyl (with Dr. Robert Gale)

Arnold Palmer: A Personal Journey

Confronting Americas Moral Crisis (with Frank Macchiarola)

Healing: A Journal of Tolerance and Understanding

With This Ring (with Frank Macchiarola)

Thomas Hauser on Sports

Reflections

Boxing Non-Fiction

The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing

Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times

Muhammad Ali: Memories

Muhammad Ali: In Perspective

Muhammad Ali & Company

A Beautiful Sickness

A Year At The Fights

Brutal Artistry

The View From Ringside

Chaos, Corruption, Courage, and Glory

I Dont Believe It, But Its True

Knockout (with Vikki LaMotta)

The Greatest Sport of All

The Boxing Scene

An Unforgiving Sport

Boxing Is...

Box: The Face of Boxing

The Legend of Muhammad Ali (with Bart Barry)

Winks and Daggers

And the New...

Straight Writes and Jabs

Thomas Hauser on Boxing

A Hurting Sport

A Hard World

Muhammad Ali: A Tribute to the Greatest

There Will Always Be Boxing

Protect Yourself At All Times

A Dangerous Journey

Staredown

Fiction

Ashworth & Palmer

Agathas Friends

The Beethoven Conspiracy

Hannemans War

The Fantasy

Dear Hannah

The Hawthorne Group

Mark Twain Remembers

Finding The Princess

Waiting For Carver Boyd

The Final Recollections of Charles Dickens

The Bakers Tale

For Children

Martin Bear & Friends

This Encore Press edition 2020

Cover design: Kinmond Smith, Smokin Dogs Inc.

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Copyright (c) 2006 Thomas Hauser and Harrison Foster

Encore Press Inc,

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Mississauga, ON

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Canada

www.encore-press.com

Ordering Information:

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Published in Canada

ISBN: 978-1-989728-26-0

Electronic edition ISBN: 978-1-989728-27-7

In 1984, I met Vikki LaMotta. I had just begun researching The Black Lights , which was my introductory work on professional boxing. Vikki was 54 and had achieved a measure of fame in a life that included experiences as diverse as having been married to Jake LaMotta and posing nude for Playboy at age 51.

Like most people, I was impressed with Vikkis looks. Not only was she beautiful; she had a style that demanded attention. Heads turned when she walked by. For several years, we maintained a casual friendship. Then, in 1986, she asked if Id be interested in collaborating with her on a book about her life.

The idea appealed to me. Vikkis story was like a highlight reel from a television mini-series. Born into poverty, married at age sixteen Subjected to brutal beatings by her husband, world middleweight champion Jake LaMotta She left Jake, worked as a chorus girl to support three young children, was pursued by Frank Sinatra, and became romantically involved with mob boss Sam Giancana... At one time or another, shed crossed paths with the likes of Babe Ruth, Jimmy Durante, Johnny Carson, and Robert DeNiro. She had lived a lifetime of nightmares and dreams.

Vikki and I worked on the book in 1986 and 1987. We spent several months talking about her life, listening to audio tapes and reviewing scrapbooks she had put together. During that time, she was painfully honest about some horrifying experiences that she had endured. When the manuscript was complete, we submitted it to publishers. We got an offer. Then Vikki got cold feet. She was uncomfortable with some of the revelations about her parents and other people she loved. Maybe after Im gone, she said.

At that point, I could have made a fuss. Id put a lot of time and effort into the project. But I decided to let the matter drop. That left me with the satisfaction Id experienced in writing the book and in a letter from Vikki that read as follows:

Dear Tom,

Life, final and complete. Once my past, dead, now alive forever. Packaged, small enough to carry under my arm. Not an edited life but honest facts and events.

After a final reading, a deep sigh with an amazing amount of relief and exhilaration. Not relief of a project completed but relief of a past saved, not lived in vain. Starting a new life combined with the past animated. Nurtured and cherished. I can hold it close, yet share it at the same time.