In "King of the Gypsies" journalist Peter Maas tells the story of Steve Tene who is anointed as the new leader of American gypsies by his grandfather King Tene Bimbo. As he did in "The Valachi Papers" and "Serpico," Mr. Maas has gotten close to the principal character and told the story from his viewpoint. Mr. Maas gets his narrative under way with a marvelous scene showing Steve as a 4-year-old working a gypsy scam in a jewelry store with his mother. Steve steals a diamond by swallowing it and is hustled back home where mommy stuffs him full of bread to coat his digestive tract until he passes the stone.

Peter Maas has the eye of an experienced journalist, and fills his narrative with the kind of detail that makes a good story come alive. King Bimbo was so adept a swindler that he made a hobby...