Harlem to Hollywood: My Real-to-Reel Life Paperback – May 6, 2024

Film historians say that “Trapped” could be the title of all memorable stories and films, because being trapped resonates with all of us. At the age of 14, Italian Harlem-raised Sonny Grosso lost his beloved father, and he was the eldest of four kids to a loving but single mom, who struggled to keep her family safe and fed. Sonny grew up with the rich smells of thick Sunday sauce and the music of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Jimmy Roselli singing “Mala Femmina” —every Italian guy’s anthem back then and a song they used on The Sopranos. But Sonny also grew up alongside neighborhood guys called Smiley, Bobo, Itchy, and Fat Tony. And, when his father died, feeling trapped by his “real-life” circumstances, he was tempted by the dark side. But a fortuitous incident—“the mistake that made my police career”—changed Sonny’s life on a dime. Indeed, after busting the famous French Connection case, whose story revolves around two brave cops overcoming the traps of police bureaucracy and the underworld, he retired from the NYPD as a highly decorated detective, and became an award-winning producer of nearly 900 hours of dramatic movies and groundbreaking television. Producer Sonny Grosso learned that “moments make movies,” and this book, Harlem to Hollywood: My Real-to-Reel Life, is full of dozens of magical moments—about everyday people heroically rising out of their own “personal traps.” Sonny told author Ashley Jude Collie, these unforgettable stories and added, “Everyone always asks me how I went from being a detective in Harlem to a producer in Hollywood, I will tell you what I told them.” Read more