NEW YORK (CNN) -- "The World Trade Center was built to withstand winds of 250 mph. That's basically a Category 5 hurricane," says the author of "Empire Rising" over the phone from Los Angeles, California. "The Empire State Building was built to withstand winds of 1,250 mph. Do the math." The speaker is Thomas Kelly ("Payback," "The Rackets"), whose epic third novel teems with immigrants, corrupt politicians, and ascendant gangsters all swirling around the rising, stolid colossus of the Empire State Building -- the skyscraper that was the world's tallest for more than 40 years. [More]

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