Breakshot includes Gallo's efforts to solve the 1987 murder of Joe Avila,[1] a local restaurateur in Orange County, California, who was also said to be one of OC's biggest cocaine dealers in the 1980s.

[3] Gallo filed a lawsuit in 2011 against Phoenix Books for publishing his autobiography Breakshot: A Life in the 21st Century American Mafia without a contract, taking his copyright, and selling the paperback rights to Simon & Schuster without his permission and without paying him.

[5] Publishers Weekly wrote, in a starred review, "Crammed with the kind of characters and detail that make pages turn and moviemakers salivate, self-described 'mobster, drug lord, and porn kingpin,' Gallo's story of life as a criminal and Mafia associate is tantalizing material.

[7] The OC Weekly wrote that the book "sheds new light on Newport Beach’s dark past as a haven for Italian mobsters and Colombian cartel figures.

"[8] In 2011, Breakshot was optioned by producer Henrik Bastin and sold to Fox Broadcasting Company for development as a weekly hour-long dramatic series with Robert Moresco as producer/screenwriter.