Suzanne Corso: A New York Story
by Delia von Neuschatz
“The hookers kept their Rolexes, but I had to sell mine,” sardonically says writer Suzanne Corso about the aftermath of the 2008 fiscal crisis when her financier husband lost it all. Close to $100 million dollars down the drain she reveals over iced coffee.
“Everything?” I ask incredulously? “Everything,” she asserts. “Look!” she exclaims, holding up her hands, trying to prove her point. “No diamonds. All the bling is gone. But, I kept the Birkins,” she says, glancing at her 30cm saddle leather tote. “Whatever you do, don’t sell the Birkins!”
![]() | | Suzanne has also penned a children’s book and produced two documentaries. |
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Suzanne’s life is the stuff of movies ... and books. Indeed, in September, she is coming out with her second book, The Suite Life, a novel about the high-flying lifestyle and the rollercoaster ride of being married to a Wall Street hotshot.
There were mansions, a private helicopter, lavish trips, yachts, jewels, everything one would expect to come with the territory of being the wife of a powerful market-maker.
But, there was a flip side too. (Isn’t there always?) Part and parcel of the deal were the drugs and the prostitutes. Her husband, Anthony, orchestrated profligate jaunts involving private jets and all manner of extracurricular activities. In the end, though, “You can pay for sex, but you can’t pay for love,” muses Suzanne.
And for Suzanne and Anthony, it was love at first sight. As she tells it, she was walking to her administrative temp job one day when, at the corner of Wall Street and New Street, a handsome stranger with electrifying blue eyes bumped into her. Little did she know that her life was about to head down a “new street” alright.
Anthony Corso spun her around, told her she was very pretty and asked if he could take her out to brunch or maybe dinner. Her response? “What’s brunch?”
Born to an alcoholic, drug-addicted mother and abandoned in infancy by a violent father, 44 year-old Suzanne grew up on welfare and food stamps in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. From a young age, though, this half-Jewish/half-Italian straight-A student nurtured aspirations of becoming a writer and dreams of making it across the Brooklyn Bridge to the glittering promised land beyond.
Although her circumstances were bleak, she did have some support for her ambitions. There was a compassionate Catholic priest and encouraging teachers but most of all, there was her beloved Jewish grandmother, Rose, who stepped in to raise her early on. Strong and opinionated, Grandma Rose routinely propped her granddaughter with affirmations about how unique she was and how she would be somebody some day. And her grandmother did more than that. On Suzanne’s 17th birthday, she presented her with a Smith Corona typewriter. “Here, bubelah,” she said, “write yourself out of this story.”
![]() | ![]() | | Suzanne at the age of 23 in Bensonhurst. | ![]() |
The story came so close to having a very different ending for at the age of 15, Suzanne had begun dating a charismatic, powerful mafioso — “Tony Kroon” is the fictitious name she gives him in her book, Brooklyn Story, a thinly veiled coming-of-age account. Tall, blonde and blue-eyed, taking her out for steak and lobster and throwing expensive — albeit illicitly gotten — gifts her way, Tony was hard to resist. Of course, once more, there was a flip side.
For starters, there was the constant cheating (“You are never the only woman, ever, when you’re dating a mob guy”) and then, there was the physical abuse. It started with Suzanne being “smacked around” and culminated with Tony slamming her head against a dashboard and shoving a gun up against her cheek one night when, fed up with his infidelities, she tried to break things off. “You’re mine until the day ya die,” were his chilling words.
That was three years into their relationship. They would be together for another five years. “Eight years is a long time,” I remarked. “He and his friends had total control. I was completely trapped.” Tony had even forced her to drop out of high school during her junior year. “Too many guys around,” was his justification.
What finally saved Suzanne was Tony’s arrest and eventual incarceration. A botched bank robbery led to a conviction of two counts of manslaughter and weapons possession, among other charges, for which the mobster went on to serve 20 years behind bars. He is out of jail now and Suzanne says she does not know where he is and she doesn’t want to know. The author, who was 19 at the time of the arrest, ended up getting her GED and going on to college.
And what about that Smith Corona? Was it ever put to good use? You bet. “Brooklyn Story” were the first words she struck on the keys. She hid the ensuing pages under her mattress, holding on to the manuscript for some 20 years before summoning the courage to seek a publisher. |
