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There's More Bodies Out There:
the true story of a Mafia associate and a police officer who emerge as suspected serial killers.
"At first, Henkel politely declined my request," Rick Porrello said. "Six months later, I persisted and sent him a page of questions based on three years of investigative research. He claimed there were significant inaccuracies about him, his crew members, and even some of his alleged victims.
This book is the true story of one of the country's most dangerous con artists, his police officer partner, the men and women who fell victim to his venom, and the lawmen who persevered to serve justice.
 
 




AmericanMafia.com/Amazon.com Book List
  • 30 Seconds
    by Sam Giancana, Bettina Giancana
         John Grisham meets Mario Puzo in this entertaining thriller by the godson of a real-life Mob boss. Marty English (born Iglesia) is an ad whiz and son of a Chicago gangster who finds himself entangled with the Mafia after his father, Tony Iglesia, is poisoned with a potent new drug... Lively and fast-paced, with enough high-tech drama to enthrall fans of Robin Cook and Michael Crichton, 30 Seconds delivers suspense and thrills enough for big-screen treatment. --Jane Adams




  • Accardo: The Genuine Godfather
    by William F. Jr. Roemer
         A former FBI agent with Chicago's Organized Crime Squad draws on official FBI files to chronicle sixty years of mafia bloodshed and mayhem that reached from Chicago, to Hollywood, to New York, and the man in charge of it all, Tony Accardo, nicknamed "The Genuine Godfather."





  • Accidental Mobster
    by M. M. Cox
         This novel about a New Jersey teenager being taken in by his godfather tells a tale of what it might be like to live with a mob family. 15-year-old Danny loves his new home and extravagant lifestyle, but on a fateful trip one night to the old diner downtown, Danny discovers his godfather makes a living in the Mafia. Trapped between helping his mobster godfather or protecting an undercover FBI agent who saves Danny’s life, Danny has only his friends and his street smarts to rise above a treacherous underground world of crime.





  • A G-Man’s Journal: A Legendary Career Inside the FBI - From the Kennedy Assassination to the Oklahoma City Bombing
    by Oliver "Buck" Revell and Dwight Williams
         A true insider's peek into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Washington halls of power... Revell served more than 30 years with the FBI, reaching the second-highest position available in the bureau, that of assistant director...
    --Tjames Madison





  • Al Capone (Biography (A & E))
    by Rick Hornung, Random House Value Publishing Staff
         Rick Hornung's riveting account of one of the century's most prominent celebrity sinners shows how Capone came to see the law as a bully and crime as a solid way to make a living. As a protégé of gangster John Torrio, Capone collected illegal bets, thereby learning the skills of "negotiation and compromise," backed by intimidation and raw force. Capone followed Torrio to Chicago, where the two ran brothels and, during Prohibition, imported liquor. Capone quickly outmastered the master and became the dominant force in Chicago's underworld by swiftly retaliating against those who encroached on his territory.
         "Capone's downfall was brought about by a landmark IRS investigation for which Capone served eight years in prison for tax evasion. Following his release, Capone withdrew from the public eye. Seven years later, at the age of forty-eight, he died from a brain hemorrhage.

         This compelling profile lets us understand the continuing fascination with a man who was at once a gangster and gentleman; tyrant and pal; family man and murdering pimp.

         "Love is what somebody feels just before they give you a good you know what, professor. Fear is better. Respect."
    --Al Capone

  • The Animal in Hollywood : Anthony Fiato’s Life in the Mafia
    by John L. Smith
         Anthony Fiato--"The Animal"--was a real life mob enforcer. His bloody deeds connected him to so many other mobsters that as a government witness he enabled the FBI to capture and convict nearly seventy underworld figures. Fiato was a tough kid from Boston's Hanover Street area who was envious of the underworld figures who wore the sharpest suits, the most expensive shoes, and attracted the prettiest women. At the age of seventeen he moved to Hollywood and by twenty he had been indoctrinated into the Mafia life on both coasts. Fiato grew up admiring tough, on-screen personas of actors such as Robert Michum. As an adult he would find himself working with such real-life mobsters as Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro, John Rosselli, Mike Rizzitello, and Peter Milano. The Animal In Hollywood is the true story of Fiato's explosive career in the mafia on both coasts. A tale of sex and violence, Fiato's biography recounts his adventures in frank and chilling detail.





  • As the Crow Falls
    by Don Maddux
         The Mafia and a real estate company are about to join forces. Gregory Crow is one of the owners of the real estate company and he has no idea what is happening around him. Or does he? He tries to forget through nearly suicidal levels of chemicals that he's the center of it all.







  • Being Oscar: From Mob Lawyer to Mayor of Las Vegas
    by Oscar Goodman, with George Anastasia
          In Being Oscar,one of America’s most celebrated criminal defense attorneys recounts the stories and cases of his epic life. The Mafia’s go-to defender, he has tried an estimated 300 criminal cases, and won most of them. His roster of clients reads like a history of organized crime: Meyer Lansky, Nicky Scarfo, and “Lefty” Rosenthal, as well as Mike Tyson and boxing promoter Don King, along with a midget, a dentist, and a federal judge.

    After thirty-five years as a defender, he ran for mayor of Las Vegas, and America’s greatest Mob lawyer became the mayor of its sexiest city. He was so popular his image appeared on the $5, $25, and $100 chips. While mayor of Vegas, he starred on the screen in Rush Hour 2 and CSI. He is as large a character in the history of organized crime as any of his clients and as legendary a figure in the history of Las Vegas as the entrepreneurs (his friends and clients) who built the city. This is his astonishing story—the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.






  • The Black Book and the Mob : The Untold Story of the Control of Nevada’s Casinos
    by Ronald A. Farrell, Carole Case (Contributor)
         A tale of good and evil, of corruption and deceit, of prejudice, politics, and power, this compelling account scrutinizes the immensely lucrative Nevada gambling industrys struggle to maintain legitimacy or at least the appearance of it.






  • Black Truth: The Last Days of Gotti
    by Mark D. Black
    Black Truth: The Last Days of Gotti      "After completing his state prison sentence, Mark is transferred to serve his federal time at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, where he is assigned a position as an orderly helping care for infirm inmates. While there, he befriends Gambino Capo Greg DePalma, Trafficante family associate Sam Cagnina and, ultimately, John Gotti. As Mark’s sentence counts down, he finds himself entangled in a ploy by José Reyes, incarcerated drug kingpin-turned-informant who is determined to help the FBI entrap Gotti and his son in a murder-for-hire scheme. Thrust into a web of conspiracy, can Mark maintain his principles to outmaneuver Reyes and the FBI to save himself and these aging mobsters during Gotti’s last days?




  • Black Mass: The Irish Mob, the FBI and a Devil's Deal
    by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill
    Black Mass      In the spring of 1988, Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill set out to write the story of two infamous brothers from the insular Irish enclave of South Boston: Jim "Whitey" Bulger and his younger brother Billy. Whitey was the city's most powerful gangster and a living legend--tough, cunning, without conscience, and above all, smart. Billy, president of the state Senate, was a political heavyweight in Massachusetts. These facts alone make for an intriguing story, but as authors Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill found out, this was only the beginning.
         John Connolly, a rising FBI agent and fellow "Southie," had known the Bulgers since boyhood, when Whitey rescued him from a playground fight. After investigating organized crime in New York, Connolly was reassigned to the bureau's Boston office in 1975 and was determined to make a name for himself by relying on his old connections. He succeeded in a big way by lining up Whitey as an FBI informant in an effort to bring down the Italian Mafia--a major coup for both the FBI and Connolly. In exchange, Bulger received protection. Though heavily involved in extortion, intimidation, assassination, and drug trafficking, Connolly's "good bad guy" did not receive so much as a traffic infraction for over 20 years. In time, however, the deal changed, and information began flowing in the other direction, with Bulger manipulating Connolly and a small group of corrupt FBI agents to further his nefarious network. The criminals and the lawmen eventually became virtually indistinguishable.
         "Black Mass," expertly details the twists and turns of this complex story, painting a vivid portrait of Boston's underbelly and its inclusive political machine, as well as exposing one of the worst scandals in FBI history. It's also an examination of loyalty--to family, home, and heritage--and "a cautionary tale about the abuse of power that goes unchecked." As a final favor, Connolly tipped off Bulger that he was to be indicted on racketeering charges in 1995, allowing him time to go on the lam (he's reported to have access to secret bank accounts across the country). He was added to the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list in 1999.

  • Blood and Honor/Inside the Scarfo Mob--The Mafia's Most Violent Family
    by George Anastasia
         A former Mob member offers a firsthand account of organized crime in America, describing its violent apprenticeships, its deadly contracts, its chilling codes of silence, its courtroom battles, and more.

  • Boss of Bosses: The F.B.I. and Paul Castellano
    by Joseph O'Brien and Andris Kurins
    Boss of Bosses     Paul Castellano headed New York's most powerful Gambino crime family for more than ten years. On December 16, 1985, he was gunned down in a spectacular shooting on Manhattan's fashionable East Side. At the time of his death, Paul Castellano was under indictment. So were most of the major Mafia figures in New York. Why? Because in 1983 the F.B.I. had a hidden microphone in the kitchen of Castellano's Staten Island mansion. The 600 hours of recordings led to eight criminal trials. And this book. Agents Joe O'Brien and Andris Kurins planted that mike. They listened to the voices. Now they bring you the most revealing look inside the Mafia ever...in the Mafia's own words.


  • Bound By Honor
    by Bill Bonanno
    Bound By Honor      Bill Bonanno, was a "made" member of the Mafia by the time he was in his early twenties. He was rumored to be the model for The Godfather's Michael Corleone, and was the subject of Gay Talese's best-selling Honor Thy Father. Now retired, Bill is finally ready to give an eyewitness account of his life as a high-ranking captain in the Bonanno crime family, one of America's most powerful Mafia syndicates.





  • The Boys from New Jersey : How the Mob Beat the Feds
    by Robert Rudolph
    The Boys From New Jersey      Absorbing story of how the FBI developed a new mode of attack on the New Jersey crime family--and then failed to make its case in court. Rudolph covers organized crime for Newark's Star-Ledger. Once the FBI had admitted, during the mid-70's, that there was such a thing as the mafia, it began insinuating undercover agents into crime families, especially--in the mid-80's--into the Lucchese family, which had a lock on New Jersey rackets such as loan- sharking, gambling, fraud, extortion, and drug-dealing. Masterminded by FBI agent Dennis Marchalonis, the government operation was carried on with such enormous secrecy--it had been decided to make a case against an entire crime family and wipe it out all at once, a historic decision--that FBI agents might find themselves under surveillance by two or three other legal agencies.


  • Breaking the Mob
    by Francis Friel, John Guinther
         The cop who took on Nicodemo Scarfo chronicles Scarfo's nefarious business dealings and describes how he hunted down Scarfo and some of the most evil and peculiar men, including Harry ""the Hunchback"" Riccobene, Teddy Di Pretoro, and Salvatore ""Salvy"" Testa.







  • A Bronx Tale
    VideoBronx_Tale      Longish but well-observed slice of life, as a boy grows up with two heroes of conflicting nature and beliefs--his loving, hard-working father, and the neighborhood capo, who takes him as a personal protégé. Written by Palminteri, and based on his play; an impressive directorial debut for De Niro, who brings a keen eye and equally strong sensibility to this potent (but ultimately upbeat) material. Incidentally, to re-create the Bronx of the 1960s, De Niro had to shoot this in Brooklyn and Queens!
    >>From Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide





  • Bugsy
    VideoBugsy      Beatty gives the most forceful performance of his career as Benjamin ``Bugsy'' Siegel, the fabled crackpot gangster who helped build Las Vegas. Long but well-told tale manages to dodge gangster clichés. Beatty and Bening set off sparks together (just as they did in real life), and a strong supporting cast fleshes out James Toback's intelligent script...
    >>>From Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide








  • Bugsy Siegel: Gambling on the Mob, A Biography
    VideoBugsy_Biography      This is, by far, the most informative biography on the legendary gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. It looks at his life as a mobster, and as a business man and of coarse, as a ladies man. Hard to believe how such a charming and dapper man could be what he was. This is a must see piece for anyone who is interested in history, Las Vegas, Bugsy, the mob, .....You'll enjoy this..I guarantee!!!
    Amazon reviewer






  • Busting the Mob : United States V. Cosa Nostra
    by James B. Jacobs, Christpher Panarella, Jay Worthington (Contributor)
         This study of two warring entities, the U.S. government and the American Mafia, views the last 15 years of the struggle via five landmark cases brought against the Mob.

  • Bullets Over Hollywood
    by John McCarty
    Bullets Over Hollywood Book Description
          A lively history of gangsters in American film and an insightful look at why we love them.

          The gangster, like the gunslinger, is a classic American character--and the gangster movie, like the Western, is one of the American cinema's enduring film genres. From Scarface to White Heat, from The Godfather to The Usual Suspects, from Once Upon a Time in America to Road to Perdition, gangland on the screen remains as popular as ever.

          In Bullets over Hollywood, film scholar John McCarty traces the history of mob flicks and reveals why the films are so beloved by Americans. As McCarty demonstrates, the themes, characters, landscapes, stories--the overall iconography--of the gangster genre have proven resilient enough to be updated, reshaped, and expanded upon to connect with even today's young audiences. Packed with fascinating behind-the-scenes anecdotes and information about real-life hoods and their cinematic alter egos, insightful analysis, and a solid historical perspective, Bullets over Hollywood will be the definitive book on the gangster movie for years to come.




  • But He Was Good to His Mother : The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters
    by Robert A. Rockaway
    But He Was Good to His Mother      Now in its 7th printing - inludes more gangsters! Newly footnoted and expanded bibliography! New FBI documents! More detailed information about the alleged plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler! While doing research for this book, Prof. Robert Rockaway interviewed old-time Jewish mobsters and their families. He never knew what his subjects would say or do, so he came prepared for any eventuality.




  • Casino: The Movie
    writen by Nicholas Pileggi
    VideoCasino the Movie      Director Martin Scorsese reunites with members of his GoodFellas gang (writer Nicholas Pileggi; actors Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Frank Vincent) for a three-hour epic about the rise and fall of mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro), a character based on real-life gangster Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. (It's modeled after on Wiseguy and GoodFellas and Pileggi's true crime book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas.) Through Rothstein, the picture tells the story of how the Mafia seized, and finally lost control of, Las Vegas gambling. The first hour plays like a fascinating documentary, intricately detailing the inner workings of Vegas casinos...
    --Jim Emerson




  • Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas
    by Nicholas Pileggi
    Casino the Book     Pileggi, author of the best-selling Wiseguys (1986), which was filmed by Martin Scorsese as Goodfellas unravels the tale how a team of Chicago mobsters headed west to conquer Vegas again. Filmed as CASINO (directed by Scorsese and starring Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone).




  • The Chicago Outfit (Images of America)
    by John J. Binder
    The Chicago Outfit (Images of America)     John J. Binder's book, The Chicago Outfit is a real treat for anyone who loves gangsters and has a special interest in Chicago gangland. He not only sites interesting facts, includes a wealth of captivating photographs and mug shots, but his analysis of the Chicago gangs is fascinating and informative. A great illustrative book that is a must have. Highly recommended (Amazon.com reviewer)




  • Cigar City Mafia
    by Scott M. Deitche
    Cigar City Mafia About the Author
         Scott M. Deitche was born and raised in central New Jersey. He has had a number of articles published on organized crime and its manifestations in Florida. His work and research on the topic has been featured on Fox-TV.He resides in St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife and daughter.

    Book Description
         Bootleggers, gambling ringleaders, arsonists, narcotics dealers, and gang murderers-a variety of characters flourished in the era known as Prohibition, and Tampa, Florida was where they battled for supremacy of the criminal underworld. With meticulous detail, Scott M. Deitche documents the rise of the infamous Trafficante family, ruthless competitors in a "violent, shifting place, where loyalties and power quickly changed." Ybor City, the region of Tampa known as Little Havana, was a hard-working, multi-ethnic community, pillared by the cigar industry. With ambitions of greater power and money, the young Italian mob had to contend with the likes of Charlie Wall, old school dean of the underworld, the Cuban Syndicate, and thousands of corrupt police officers who exchanged loyalties for dollars.

         Complete with a profile index of each known Trafficante family member, Cigar City Mafia is the only chronology of the Tampa underworld to show readers the local factories, bolita gambling houses, and the Hillsborough River, where a new body floated to the surface practically every other day.




  • Codes of Betrayal
    by Dorothy Uhnak
         The grandson of a Mafia don, Nick O'Hara walks a fine line between family loyalty and professional ethics--a line that blurs even more when his young son is killed during a shootout in Chinatown. Eventually Nick finds himself between a rock and a hard place as he is forced to choose between saving his own life or betraying his beloved grandfather.

  • The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to the Mafia
    by Jerry Capeci
    Complete Idiot’s Guide® to the Mafia      Finally, a book that explains what the mafia is and how it operates without assuming you know the lingo and the main characters. The many examples from real events in organized crime bring the text to life and make it not only understandable but enjoyable to read as well. This is a book for those casually interested in the mafia and for the "expert" as well. Capeci not only walks the mafia novice through a mob induction and the rules that govern it's members but also reveals the real killers in a major mafia hit. For the price it's a "must" buy for all those interested in the mob.
    (Amazon.com reader/reviewer)



  • The Company She Keeps
    by Georgia Durante
    The Company She Keeps      GEORGIA DURANTE ~ Model, Mafia Wife, Mother, and Stunt Driver - has packed a lifetime of lessons into forty-eight years. This is the true story of one of Hollywood's most successful female commercial stunt drivers. A woman who can dominate a two-ton vehicle at high speeds, but off road has careened from one emotional head-on collision to another. The story, told from a woman's point of view, chronicles the life of a battered woman as she struggles to break the abusive cycle while engineering her escape from the Mafia underworld.

         In The Company She Keeps, Georgia Durante's past is as varied as the worlds in which she's lived. This fast-paced story exposes the truth behind the myths that surround the glamorous industries modeling and show business, while sparating the legend from realities of life inside the mob. A powerful and raw, deeply personal account of one woman's life and her struggle to escape the darkness.

  • Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief
    Confessions       The extraordinarily captivating memoir of the remarkable jewel thief who robbed the rich and famous while maintaining an outwardly conventional life-an astonishing and completely true story.










  • Contract on America : The Mafia Murder of President John F. Kennedy
    by David E. Scheim
    Contract on America : The Mafia Murder of President John F. Kennedy      A reexamination of the Mafia's role in the assassination of John F. Kennedy discusses Jack Ruby's criminal activities, his top-level Mafia ties, and how the Warren Commission blatantly covered up the evidence.






  • Crime Incorporated or Under the Clock : The Inside Story of the Mafia’s First Hundred Years
    by William Balsamo, George Carpozi (Contributor), Joan S. Dunphy (Editor)
         Reviewer: A reader from Long Island, NY May 27, 1999
    Liked the historical perspective and pov. My own grandfather worked on Petrosino's elite squad of cops in the early part of the century. This book is a faithful re-telling of his own stories to me as a kid. Nary a Brando or De Niro in sight!

  • Deadly Alliance: The FBI’s Secret Partnership With the Mob
    by Ralph Ranalli
    Deadly Alliance      It was the brainchild of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover: the Top Echelon Informant Program. Under its protective umbrella, dangerous felons were courted and coddled and given free reign to commit the worst crimes imaginable in exchange for damning insider information about the bosses of organized crime. Dangerous conmen and sociopaths, like South Boston's James "Whitey" Bulger, became Bureau-supported criminals kingpins, indulging in robbery, extortion, even murder under the eyes of the FBI. Only now, forty years after the program was first conceived, is the true story of blood and madness being told and an account made of the bodies left in its wake.

         A prize-winning Boston journalist, Ralph Ranalli now exposes a shocking history of corruption, terror, and violence born of an unholy collusion between America's top law enforcement agency and some of the worst criminal psychopaths ever to victimize an unwary nation.

  • Deadly Secrets : The Cia-Mafia War Against Castro and the Assassination of J.F.K.
    by Warren Hinckle, William W. Turner, Bill Turner (Contributor)
    Deadly Secrets      The fantastic story of the U.S.'s undeclared war against Cuba, including an expanded section on the CIA's role in the assassination of JFK. "Deadly Secrets is a warning as well as terribly exciting reading".--Studs Terkel. National radio and TV coverage.






  • Deal With the Devil: The FBI's Thirty-Year Relationship With a Mafia Killer
    by Peter Lance
    Deal With the Devil      In Deal with the Devil, five-time Emmy winning investigative reporter Peter Lance draws on three decades of once secret FBI files—and exclusive new interviews—to tell the definitive story of Gregory Scarpa Sr., aka "The Grim Reaper;" a Mafia capo, who "stopped counting" after 50 murders, while secretly betraying the Colombo crime family as a Top Echelon Criminal Informant for the Bureau.
         Lance draws on thousands of pages of court transcripts, interviews and declassified FBI files, to trace Scarpa's shadowy relationship with the Bureau starting in 1960 when his debriefing reports went straight to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover himself.






  • Dirty Boys
    by John Ligato
    Dirty Boys      Former decorated Marine and FBI Special Agent John Booker spent years infiltrating the Italian Mafia. But when a few random corpses begin to ferment a New York landfill, the Bureau has enough of Booker’s antics. He is transferred to an office job on the Joint Terrorism Task Force where his new boss is a rigid bureaucrat indirectly responsible for the deaths of two undercover agents, one of which was Booker’s mentor. Booker’s life changes when he meets a sexy Egyptian professor with a past. When the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is murdered by muggers, Booker begins to unravel an international plot designed to slowly destroy America from the inside out. But Booker can’t convince his bosses, and the FBI suits force Booker to go rogue. He teams up with two salty Cleveland Police officers and FBI agents Gwen McNulty and Fred Gregory to save the country. He has a chance meeting with CIA operations officer Frank Nash who asks Booker, “What if a few terrorists were both brilliant and organized?” “Then,” Booker concedes. “The United States would be in a world of shit.”
         Author John Ligato is a highly decorated former U.S. Marine, wounded three times in Vietnam, and whose actions at Hue’ City during the 68 TET offensive led to an actual exhibit at the Marine Corps Museum. A retired F.B.I. agent, John spent 8 years in deep cover with the Mafia and has won several of our nation’s highest awards.






  • Donnie Brasco : My Undercover Life in the Mafia: A True Story
    by F.B.I. agent Joseph D. Pistone, Richard Woodley (Contributor)
         Donnie Brasco is Pistone's unforgettable account of how be became part of the mysterious underworld that is the Mafia--the first and only account by a law enforcement agent--and it is amazing and intriguing as the flamboyant, deadly world it portrays.

  • Don't Call Us Molls: Women of the John Dillinger Gang
    by Ellen Poulsen
    Don't Call Us Molls:Women of the John Dillinger Gang      Buried under decades of stereotype and parody, the true history of the female companions of the Great Depression's bank-robbing gang is uncovered. Don't Call Us Molls carefully examines the legacy of the Dillinger women using eyewitness and descendants' accounts as well as courtroom and prison records. This book explores the collective experience of these fugitives and offers a thoughtful, well-informed commentary on past attitudes toward the marginalized women of the day-the lawbreakers, the informers, and a lone female sheriff. FBI memos, court transcripts, and never-before-published photos reveal the events experienced by women under siege, resurrecting historical figures and their private behavior. This history lays bare the personal lives of the wives and girlfriends of the public enemies of the 1930s and examines how their conflicting loyalties were challenged and exploited by unrelenting pressure of the United States government to betray their men.







  • Eliot Ness : The Real Story
    by Paul W. Heimel
    Eliot Ness : The Real Story      This is the only biography of Ness, separating man from myth. The product of three years of research, Eliot Ness: The Real Story separates the man from the myth. This book traces the life of Eliot Ness from his childhood in a Scandinavian suburb of Chicago through his service as a Federal Prohibition Agent in the Windy City.
         Ness's raids on the breweries of Al Capone, glorified in Hollywood accounts, are reported as they actually occurred. Ness later served as Public Safety Director in Cleveland, employing many of the same bold crimefighting techniques he had used in Chicago, as he attacked organized crime and police corruption. He went on to a fascinating, albeit disappointing, business career. Eliot Ness died in 1957, never knowing that the rough manuscript he had written, "The Untouchables," would form the foundation of a legend that still captivates audiences today.



  • The Everything Mafia Book (Everything Series)
    by James Mannion
    The Everything Mafia Book      Are you one of the millions of television and movie viewers who scours the shelves for Mafia movies - both new and old? Do you ever wonder how much of these Hollywood dramas are real? Do they accurately capture this remarkable - and often sordid - world? The Everything® Mafia Book takes you away from fiction and tabloid and introduces you to the true-life accounts of the major players in the American Mafia. From Al Capone to John Gotti, you’ll learn to separate truth from myth and gain a better understanding of America’s most notorious crime families.

         Features colorful information on: ·The Sicilian Mafia, The Mustache Petes, The "real" Untouchables, The mob and politicians, The five New York "Families" Infamous rats. acked full of real-life photographs and up-to-date gangster information, The Everything® Mafia Book will have you understanding - and speaking - Mob "Slanguage" in no time!

    About the Author
    James Mannion is a former publishing professional and the author of The Everything® Great Thinkers Book and The Everything® Philosophy Book. He lives in the Bronx, New York.




  • Federal Mafia: How It Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes
    by Irwin Schiff
    Federal Mafia: How It Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes      Be careful to pay attention to the warning in this book about how you can be illegally prosecuted for not paying taxes and may have to pay stiff penalties and serve some jail time. You've got to ask yourself, is it really worth it? Schiff lays down a very thorough argument that the federal government taxes us when it is unconstitutional to do so and that is why the legal language in IRS tax code does not say you are "required" to pay your taxes. Instead they say taxation is based on the Orwellian doublespeak term "Voluntary Compliance".
    (Amazon visitor review)




  • Fixed : How Goodfellas Bought Boston College Basketball
    by David Porter
    Fixed : How Goodfellas Bought Boston College Basketball      Big-time mobsters, All-American athletes and high-powered lawyers are but a few of the intriguing characters who appear in Porter's well-researched, action-packed account of the 1978-1979 Boston College point-shaving scandal. Porter, a veteran sportswriter and columnist, traces the scandal from its creation in the summer of 1978 through the trials of the players and mobsters in 1981; particularly fascinating is his exploration of how the scam affected the players mentally and the relationship between them and the gangsters... (Publisher's Weekly)







  • From the Dead [Paperback]
    by John Hilferty
    From the Dead [Paperback]      Hooking up with his old boyhood pal was a last-gasp idea, but Vince Berardi needed money, and Feeno Bannon, the one-time-ne'er-do-well, had loads of it. As president of a bank full of Teamsters deposits, Bannon and his mobster buddies shelled out unpaid loans to Las Vegas casinos, fancy resorts and mob-owned restaurants. So helping Berardi secure a Teamsters loan to build houses in the New Jersey Pine Barrens would have been easy, until Bannon is snuffed out by the mob as an FBI informant helping to finger the murderers of former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. Bannon runs from both the mob and FBI, hiding under their noses in Atlantic City casinos, and when their search gets hot, he goes underground in the Pine Barrens. "From the Dead" blends true crime — what happened to Hoffa — with fictional characters based on true-life figures, set in New Jersey, Philadelphia and the Detroit area.







  • The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
    by Jimmy Breslin
    The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight      ... a book that has kept me laughing for years... Breslin has captured a time and a mindset that are, believe it or not, already mostly gone. Debunking the glorification of mobsters in THE GODFATHER, here is a riotously funny but far more truthful portrait of the petty, far from brilliant men who made up so much of the mob... jbk@corcoran.com







  • Gangbusters : The Destruction of America's Last Mafia Dynasty
    by Ernest Volkman
         The most powerful and successful group of organized criminals in history--the American Mafia-has finally lost a long war with its law enforcement adversaries. "Gangbusters" tells the story of how this supremely successful criminal gang was finally destroyed.

  • Gansters of Boston
    by George Hassett
    Gangsters of Boston      This book is the first comprehensive account of three centuries of thug life in the city where America began. In chilling new detail, veteran Boston journalist George Hassett reveals the legendary crime stories of Boston - from Prohibition to the Mafia, the Irish Gang War to Whitey Bulger. The forgotten chapters of Boston gang history are also covered - from the role of street gangs in the American Revolution to Chinatowns infamous Tong Wars to the murder of number king Daddy Black - it is all here. Every neighborhood, every era, every gangster.




  • The General: Godfather of Crime
    by Paul Williams
         This biography of Martin Cahill--the greatest criminal mastermind in Ireland's history, alternately hailed as a modern-day Robin Hood and reviled as a brutal thug--is the real-life story behind the recent film from acclaimed director John Boorman. Author Paul Williams is an award- winning crime journalist for Ireland's largest newspaper, the Sunday World, and wrote extensively on Cahill over the course of his career, which was ended in 1994 by an IRA assassin.

  • The Godfather Movie
    by Mario Puzo
    VideoThe Godfather Movie      The story of Don Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia family, inspired some of the most successful movies ever. It is in Mario Puzo's The Godfather that Corleone first appears. As Corleone's desperate struggle to control the Mafia underworld unfolds, so does the story of his family. The novel is full of exquisitely detailed characters who, despite leading unconventional lifestyles within a notorious crime family, experience the triumphs and failures of the human condition. Filled with the requisite valor, love, and rancor of a great epic, The Godfather is the definitive gangster novel.




  • The Godfather
    by Mario Puzo
         The story of Don Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia family, inspired some of the most successful movies ever. It is in Mario Puzo's The Godfather that Corleone first appears. As Corleone's desperate struggle to control the Mafia underworld unfolds, so does the story of his family. The novel is full of exquisitely detailed characters who, despite leading unconventional lifestyles within a notorious crime family, experience the triumphs and failures of the human condition. Filled with the requisite valor, love, and rancor of a great epic, The Godfather is the definitive gangster novel.

  • Goodfellas
    Based on the book 'Wiseguy' by Nicholas Pileggi
    Video          GoodFellas chronicles the life of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) from his dreams of being a gangster, to his adoption by a local "family" led by Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino), and his 30 years in the Mafia Family ending with his life in the Witness Protection Program. Great performances by Joe Pesci as Tommy De Vito, the psycho mobster and Lorraine Bracco who plays Karen, Henry's wife.
    Directed by Martin Scorcese.




  • Goodfella Tapes
    by George Anastasia
              As mob families go, the Philadelphia Mafia is the most dysfunctional family of all--with brother turning against brother, sons turning on their fathers. In 1993 an embittered legacy of rivalry and hatred exploded in a brutal, bloody battle between Old-World mobster John Stanfa and the young, flamboyant Joey Merlino. However, this would be warfare different than any before. This time, the FBI had it all down on tape--over 2,000 hours worth.




  • Gotti: Rise and Fall
    by Jerry Capeci, Gene Mustain (Contributor)
         In this year's most explosive true crime thriller, the authors expose the dark underside of New York's organized crime syndicate and its undisputed leader, John Gotti. Boldly written and masterfully paced, this book gives all of the incredible details behind the downfall of America's most famous and fascinating gangster since Al Capone.

  • Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club
    by Keith Zimmerman (Contributor), Kent Zimmerman (Contributor), Ralph "Sonny" Barger
         Narrated by the visionary founding member, Hell's Angel provides a fascinating all-access pass to the secret world of the notorious Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. Sonny Barger recounts the birth of the original Oakland Hell's Angels and the four turbulent decades that followed. Hell's Angel also chronicles the way the HAMC revolutionized the look of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle and built what has become a worldwide bike-riding fraternity, a beacon for freedom-seekers the world over.





  • I Don't Want to Go to Jail : A Good Novel
    by Jimmy Breslin
         Readers who remember Breslin's first Mafia novel, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1969), will want to check out the New York columnist's fictional take on the Mob's last days. New Yorkers and Mafia mavens will know where Breslin is headed once they discover that his capo--Fausti ("the Fist") Dellacava--spends much of the book dressed in pajamas and robe, gulping Thorazine... (BookList)





  • Into the Kill Zone : A Cop's Eye View of Deadly Force
    by David Klinger (Author)
    Book Description
         What's it like to have the legal sanction to shoot and kill? This compelling and often startling book answers this, and many other questions about the oft-times violent world inhabited by our nation's police officers. Written by a cop-turned university professor who interviewed scores of officers who have shot people in the course of their duties, Into the Kill Zone presents firsthand accounts of the role that deadly force plays in American police work.





  • Jackie Disaster: A Novel
    Eric Dezenhall (Author)
         From his curved-glass desk in a casino overlooking the Atlantic City boardwalk, Jackie “Disaster” DeSesto—an ex-welterweight boxing champ and former top flack for the Atlantic City Police Department—has a great view of the hustlers he now makes his living nailing. Jackie runs Allegation Sciences, a crisis management firm known for helping businesses with uncomfortably public problems. That’s why Sally Naturale, America’s deliciously loathsome doyenne of good taste and wholesome living, hires him after a pregnant South Jersey woman blames her miscarriage on Sally’s organic soy milk. Jackie doesn’t buy the poor woman’s story and, worse, he doesn’t buy Sally Naturale’s version either. His suspicions are confirmed when assassins from the Jersey Pine Barrens try to kill him one night in his sleep. So with his band of subversives (a.k.a. the Imps), Jackie embarks on a gonzo damage control campaign to vindicate Sally and catch the folks who are trying to drag him down with her.

         In turns suspenseful and hilarious, Jackie Disaster is a spin-till-you’re dizzy dance through the mysteries of media manipulation and South Jersey.





  • Joe Dogs; The Life and Crimes of a Mobster
    by Joseph Iannuzzi
         An insider's account of the Mafia and its workings is culled from a former mobster who became an FBI informant and documents the careers of such notorious figures as Paul Castellano and John Gotti.








  • To Kill The Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia
    By Rick Porrello
         The story of fearless Irish-American racketeer Danny Greene who takes on the mob. The end result is the fall of several Mafia families and the defection of high-ranking mobsters. Author Rick Porrello is a veteran cop who wrote about his mob roots in The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia. To Kill The Irishman has been optioned for a major motion picture.








  • The Last Godfather: Joseph Massino and the Fall of the Bonanno Crime Family
    By Anthony DeStefano
         The Last Godfather is the epic inside story of the rise and fall of Joseph Massino, written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who interviewed Massino's family and friends, as well as law enforcement officials and confidential sources. It’s the story of the brutal mob war that made Massino head of the Bonanno family and the most powerful gangster in America. The family made millions of dollars smuggling heroin into the U.S. and running rackets involving loansharking, gambling, theft, and extortion. Ultimately, The Last Godfather is a Shakepearean tragedy of epic proportions, as Salvatore “Good Looking Sal” Vitale, Massino’s childhood friend and brother-in-law, cooperates with the FBI to convict him on charges of racketeering and murder.

    Anthony M. DeStefano was part of the team of New York Newsday reporters who won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the August 1991 subway crash in Manhattan. He has covered organized crime for Newsday and been the lead reporter on several major criminal trials, including that of subway gunman Bernard Goetz.








  • The Last Mouthpiece : The Man Who Dared to Defend the Mob
    by Robert F. Simone
         Robert "Bobby" Simone draws upon a 35 year career as a practicing criminal defense attorney to write a unique, informative, and at times alarming expose and anecdotal description of the criminal justice system in The Last Mouthpiece. This book reads more like a film noir script than a history of the law as we encounter "Phil "The Chicken man" Testa, Nick the Blade, Hunchback Harry, and a series of other real-life mob characters and their cadres.
         Here is a candid revelation of the mobsters, rats, set-ups, wires, bugs, double-crosses, strategies, judges, juries, and lawmen who were the daily elements of Simone's law practice. If you enjoy the fictional "The Sopranos" television series, then you will be fascinated by Bobby Simone's factual and real-life expose, The Last Mouthpiece.
    Midwest Book Review




  • The Life and Crimes of Don King: The Shame of Boxing in America
    by Jack Newfield
    The Life and Crimes of Don King      Here is a new, updated edition of award-winning columnist Jack Newfield’s best-selling biography of America’s boxing mogul, the source for the Emmy-winning movie Don King: Only in America.
         When Jack Newfield’s unauthorized biography of Don King first appeared in 1995 it was hailed as one of the most important pieces of sports journalism of the decade. The HBO movie based on the book continues to be a television favorite. Now, for the first time, The Life and Crimes of Don King is available in paperback.
         Jack Newfield has provided a new introduction and an extensive epilogue - "The Shame of Boxing in America" - for this new edition.



  • Lost And Found - A Daughter’s Tale of Violence and Redemption
    by Babette Rosen Hughes
    Lost and Found      Although there have been countless movies, television programs and books about the Mafia, with the exception, perhaps of The Sopranos, little has been told about the affect these men of violence have on their wives and children.
         This true story fills that gap.
         When Babette Hughes was two years old, her father suddenly disappeared. Although he was a bootlegger who had been murdered in a turf war with the Mafia, and although her uncle -- an innocent bystander -- was murdered along with him, her mother told her that he died of pneumonia, never acknowledged her uncle's existence, and until the end of her long life refused to admit the facts.
         Lost and Found is about Babette's search for the truth about a father she never knew and his killers. It is a story of a family captured by its own bloody history. But ultimately it is a triumphant tale of Babette's step-by-step passage from an ill-starred destiny to selfhood, freedom, and a transported life.



  • Mafia & Mafiosi : Origin, Power and Myth
    by Henner Hess
    The author, Henner Hess , January 7, 2000
    The author proudly presents a selection of reviews.

    Mafia & Mafiosi      I'm the author of "Mafia and Mafiosi" and would like to share with you some quotes from the reviews the book got in the press:
         The book makes an impressive addition to the knowledge and understanding of a subject of great criminological interest. Dr. Hess has written as a sociologist with excellent historical insight, bringing to light new facts and offering what is in important respects a new interpretation of them.
    (Times Literary Supplement, London)

         The best non-fiction book published on the topic, a luminous work that makes you think of E.J. Hobsbawm's studies on banditism.
    (Libération, Paris)

         The role and function of mafioso behaviour is discussed excellently.
    (E.J.Hobsbawm, London)

         A fundamental advance towards the scientific analysis of the Mafia.
    (Pino Arlacchi, Head of United Nations Division of Narcotic Drugs, Vienna)

         Though a small book, it is worth of our greatest interest because of its rich documentation and scientific rigour.
    (Il Giorno, Rome)

         The book presents one of our most tormenting problems with great richness of detail and clarity of exposition.
    (Jury of the Italian National Award Premio Nazionale Iglesias)

         The Jury wants to underline the importance of this richly documented work which unites description and interpretation in an intelligent and buon senso synthesis. It will remain the authoritative reference.
    (Jury of the Italian National Award Premio Nazionale Empedocle)


  • Mafia Allies: The True Story of America's Secret Alliance with the Mob in World War II (Hardcover)
    by Tim Newark
    Mafia Allies Review

    America in WWII, June 2007

    "Through novels like The Godfather and movies and television, Americans have acquired an oddly parochial view of the mob, the view that it is in some way an American hybrid institution associated more with Jersey City, New Jersey, than Palermo, Sicily. Newark is a Briton and his European resources together with his narrative skills help correct that outlook and point out the mob's power and connections in Europe in the war years and highlight how the rise of Italian fascism drove some infamous Mafiosi from Europe to America in the years before World War II...Was this alliance with the Mafia useful to the Allies? From archival sources in London, New York, and Washington, D.C., Tim Newark is able to substantiate that 'it was what it was' and that there is always some truth to the adage ' The enemy of my enemy may be my friend.'"

    Book Description

    The Mafia is one of the most feared and powerful criminal organizations the world has ever known. It was also, briefly during World War II, America’s ally—a fact that had a profound effect on the fortunes of the Fascists, and on those of the Mafia, whom Mussolini had effectively crushed. This book brings to light a little-known chapter in the history of World War II, and of organized crime. It tells how Cesare Mori, deputized by Mussolini to “cauterize the sore of crime in Italy,” waged all-out war on the Mafia in the name of fascism; and how the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 (Operation Husky) gave the Mafia an opening to regain its strength—and its hold on political power—in the vacuum created by the Fascists’ defeat. A provocative account of how the rise and ultimate defeat of fascism in Italy affected the world’s largest and most notorious criminal organization, Mafia Allies also illuminates a dark truth about the unexpected long

  • Mafia Cop: The Two Families of Michael Palermo; Saints Only Live in Heaven
    by Richard Cagan
    Mafia Cop: The Two Families of Michael Palermo; Saints Only Live in Heaven      A true docudrama of the life of New York City narcotics detective Michael Palermo. Detective Palermo built his career on his unique ability to inhabit two worlds at once: the world of law enforcement and the underworld of New York’s crime family organizations. Palermo participated in over two thousand arrests while maintaining close relationships with the kingpins of organized crime—ties that allowed him to stay one step ahead of the rest of the New York City Police Department. This true crime drama takes you inside the police force at its most corrupt and into the dark and dirty world of dons, consiglieres, underbosses, button men, soldiers, and cowboys.





  • Mafia Cop: The Story of an Honest Cop Whose Family Was the Mob
    by Lou Eppolito and Bob Drury
         The son of a mobster, Lou Eppolito's family was dismayed when he defied their Mafia world to become a cop. During the twenty years that he wore a badge, Eppolito became one of the most decorated cops in New York City history. He survived eight shootouts, killed at least one man, and his heroism was legendary. Resented by his colleagues, Eppolito was unfairly accused of selling police department secrets to the mob. He was brought to trial before the New York Police Department's infamous hanging judge and was acquitted, only to find himself shunned by his department. In the bestselling tradition of SERPICO and WISEGUYS, MAFIA COP is the extraordinary and dramatic inside story of the brutal destruction of one outstanding cop, betrayed by his own bosses.

  • Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family
    by John H. Davis
         The Gambinos--they arrived in America from Sicily when the `20's roared with bootleg liquor. For thirty years they fought a bloody battle for control of New York's underworld to emerge as the nation's richest and most powerful crime family. Now Mafia expert John H. Davis tells their compelling inside story. Here are the chilling details and deceptions that created a vast criminal empire. Here are six decades of the uncontrolled greed and lust for power of such men as Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Carlo Gambino, Paul Castellano, and John Gotti- men for whom murder and betrayal were business as usual. From the Gambinos' powerful stranglehold on New York's construction, garment, and waterfront industries to the government's onslaught against them in the `80s and `90s, Mafia Dynasty takes you into the mysterious world of blood oaths, shifting alliances, and deadly feuds that will hold you riveted from the first page to the last.

  • Mafia Encyclopedia
    by Carl Sifakis
         Written by a veteran crime reporter, this bestseller is the most complete and up-to-date source available on this fascinating subject. In this "Who's Who" of crime, readers will find the full flavor and substance of Mafia culture, customs, and characters presented in more than 400 articles. More than ninety-five black-and-white photographs help capture Mafia history from the birth of the brotherhood and the major underworld figures who created it, to the law enforcement agents and organizations who have tried and failed to destroy it.

         The Mafia Encyclopedia includes biographical entries of both well- and less well-known wise guys, their criminal specialties, career highlights, friends and enemies, eccentricities, peccadilloes, and frequently dramatic demises.
    --This text refers to the paperback edition of this title.

  • Making The Wiseguys Weep: The Jimmy Roselli Story
    by David Evanier

         The fascinating life of an Italian American icon.

         The mob couldn't live with Jimmy Roselli and it couldn't live without him. Roselli is Hoboken's other great singer, and to a greater degree than Frank Sinatra, Roselli maintained his ties to his old neighborhood and its people--indeed, he made a career of those ties. He's their link to their cultural heritage and Italy, and continues to sing a good half of his repertoire in Italian. But this didn't stop his wiseguy following from getting angry at him from time to time.

         "When I started singing big," Roselli told biographer David Evanier, "the tough guys were in the front row with the big cigars. They loved me so much they wanted to kill me. But their mothers and sisters and their wives wouldn't allow it." Roselli sang his best-loved song, "Little Pal," at John Gotti, Jr.'s wedding reception. Mobster Larry Gallo was buried with a Roselli record in his hands. "Hell of a guy," Roselli says of Gallo. "Nice, warm individual."

         Hoboken's unsung singer feuded with Sinatra, stood up to shakedown artists, befriended godfathers, and now has thirty-six recordings in print. A captivating story of a brilliant entertainer, Making the Wiseguys Weep is also a colorful portrait of Italian American culture from the 240 saloons that lined Hoboken's streets to the bright lights of New York City.

    About the Author
    David Evanier's work has appeared in The Nation, The New York Times Book Review, and New York. He is the author of Red Love and The One-Star Jew. He lives in California.





  • Mobfather : The Story of a Wife and a Son Caught in the Web of the Mafia
    by George Anastasia
         Recounts the true story of Maryann and Bobby DelGiorno--wife and son to Philadelphia mobster Tommy DelGiorno--two people who decided to break all ties to the mob.

  • Mob Stories
    by Allan May
         Mob Stories is a collection of short stories from around the United States on organized crime, including events and personalities on both sides of the law. Mob Stories attempts to present a human side. Included is information on the characters that relates to how families were affected by the careers, and in many cases, the demise of its participants. Mob Stories is not a rehash of stories already done. Instead characters and events are given an in depth analysis to further understand their contribution to the history of organized crime. Many stories are appearing in book form for the first time. Several topics were selected because in the past a reader might have had to look at numerous sources to piece together a complete story. Original newspaper articles were used when possible in collecting information that may have been passed over by previous writers.

  • Mob Nemesis : How the FBI Crippled Organized Crime
    by Joe Griffin, Don Denevi
    Mob Nemesis
         This book tells the fascinating, first-hand story of how F.B.I. Special Agent Joe Griffin, with the help of a team of courageous professionals, succeeded through dogged determination and uncanny street smarts. in convicting major La Cosa Nostra leaders in Buffalo, Rochester, Cleveland and Youngstown.






  • Money Wanders
    by Eric Dezenhall
    Money Wanders

    Book Description
         Jonah Eastman, disgraced Presidential pollster, is summoned home to Atlantic City by his ailing grandfather Mickey Price--a legendary Atlantic City gangster and owner of the Golden Prospect casino. When Mickey dies, Jonah is "persuaded" by mob boss Mario Vanni to help improve his image by launching a misinformation campaign aimed at gaining public acceptance and ultimately a way "outta the life."

    So Jonah goes to war through a comical and audacious manipulation of the media which includes online rumoring, exploiting romantic myths of the mob, and orchestrating a union-backed pseudo-vigil after Vanni is arrested. To pull off these stunts, he enlists the help of his grandfather's Prohibition-era cronies, pimply-faced hackers, a disgruntled Secret Service agent, a cagey Washington lobbyist, a slick Philadelphia publicist, and a street-fighting rabbi.

    Money Wanders is a wild and uproarious tour of spin and media manipulation from the lobbied halls of Congress to the dilapidated boardwalk of Atlantic City.

    About the Author
         Eric Dezenhall is the co-founder of Nichols-Dezenhall Communications Management Group, one of the nation's leading crisis management firms, and is the author of Nail 'Em! Confronting High Profile Attacks on Celebrities and Businesses (Prometheus Books, 1999). He lives in Bethesda, MD. This is his first novel.






  • Murder, Inc.: The Story of the Syndicate
    by Burton B. Turkus, Sid Feder (Contributor)
         Written in 1950, it tells the unbelieveable story of how the Mob solidified and the murderers that made it work. And it tells of the aftermath, the early days of the Mob eating itself alive...no one gets out. Incredibly informative and lightened by Mr Turkus's narrative and emotion. Exciting and brutal...

  • Murder Machine: A True Story of Murder, Madness, and the Mafia
    by Gene Mustain, Jerry Capeci (Contributor)
         Reporters for the New York Daily News and experts on organized crime, Capeci and Mustain trace the rise and bloody fall of Roy DeMeo, one of the most feared and brutal men of organized crime in the U.S. They tell of cold-blooded murders for profit and pleasure.

  • Murder of a Mafia Daughter: The Life and Tragic Death of Susan Berman
    by Cathy Scott
    Murder of a Mafia Daughter      "Having lived in Las Vegas for most of my life, Ms. Scott's book brings back vivid memories of the spoiled kids of our town's originating citizens. Susan Berman, may she rest in peace, was one of those kids who was raised in the lap of luxury only experienced by the sons and daughters of the Vegas Mafia. Often times the hoods would use their kids as status symbols, providing the best schools, clothes, cars, etc., to impress their hoodlum friends."
         "Susan is described in Murder of a Mafia Daughter as a perfect example of the heretofore ruling class of Vegas, a group who was cash rich and lacked the class to go with their cash. The book captivates all readers whether they grew up in Sin City, or not. What an inside look into the dark side of our town, and Susan Berman, an unfortunate victim of an unsolved murder. A victim because she wanted to maintain the lifestyle she grew up enjoying, but could no longer afford after the untimely death of her Mob father. What a story! What a book! A great read." ---review by Steve Miller




  • Of Rats and Men
    by John L. Smith
         For more than 35 years, Oscar Goodman was the country's pre-eminent defense attorney for alleged gangsters... Though no further connection between Goodman and the Mafia has even been proved, the famous litigator has often been accused of being more than just a mouthpiece for organized crime... After scores of unlikely courtroom victories, Goodman pulled of an even more unlikely career change. Twice elected mayor of Las Vegas, he went from legal spokesman for the most notorious crime figures of our era to political spokesman for the most notorious city in the country. Of Rats and Men is the story of Mafia informants, made men, overzealous government agents, a courtroom wizard, and the "happiest mayor in America." It's the biography of Oscar Goodman.

         John L. Smith is the most widely read columnist in Nevada. He writes for the Las Vegas Review Journal and has written several books about crime and corruption in Las Vegas.




  • One Good Daughter
    by James Tucci
    One Good Daughter      James Tucci, trial lawyer and raconteur, takes you on an underworld journey, from a mob kingpin's humble beginnings in Sardinia, Italy, to his meteoric rise through the ranks of the Mafia, seemingly ending with his daughter seated at the height of legitimate corporate power and prestige. Tucci paints a vivid picture of a Mafia Don's undoing... the violent torture and murder of an underling, who has gone into the drug business for himself, stealing profits from the family.
         The novel takes you from Vittone's early life in war ravaged Italy, to the seminary he abandons; from the night life of Miami Beach in the Sixties, to the most exciting city in the world, New York, where all of Vittone's guile and brilliant planning threaten to send his beloved daughter to prison for the rest of her life. Come along with James Tucci as he takes you directly inside the lives of a Mafia Princess and her calculating father, who combine through their blind love for one another to fight the forces that try to break them apart and the world they have created.




  • Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish-American Gangster
    by T. J. English
         In PADDY WHACKED, bestselling author and organized crime expert T. J. English brings to life nearly two centuries of Irish American gangsterism, which spawned such unforgettable characters as Mike "King Mike" McDonald, Chicago's subterranean godfather; Big Bill Dwyer, New York's most notorious rumrunner during Prohibition; Mickey Featherstone, troubled Vietnam vet turned Westies gang leader from Hell's Kitchen; and James "Whitey" Bulger, the ruthless and untouchable Southie legend. This is an epic story of corrupt politics, wanton murders, gambling empires, notorious brothels, tough women, and hard-drinking pugilists from the underbelly of America's most dangerous cities -- including New York, Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, and Cleveland.




  • Police Heroes: True Stories of Courage About America’s Brave Men, Women, and K-9 Officers
    by Chuck Whitlock (Author)
         Investigative reporter Whitlock (MediScams) switches from his usual subject of crime to crime-busting as he "honors and celebrates members of the law enforcement community who have distinguished themselves and their departments by acting in a courageous manner under extraordinary circumstances."
    ... From Publishers Weekly



  • Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America
    by Robert I. Friedman
         Amid his efforts to expose the Russian mob, Robert I. Friedman learned from the FBI that "the most brilliant and savage Russian mob organization in the world" had put a $100,000 price on his head. Reading "Red Mafiya," it's not hard to see why: this is a brave book about a troubling subject. Friedman, a freelance journalist, describes the research behind it: "I ventured into the Russians' gaudy strip clubs in Miami Beach; paid surprise visits to their well-kept suburban homes in Denver; interviewed hit men and godfathers in an array of federal lockups; and traveled halfway around the world trying to make sense of their tangled criminal webs, which have ensnared everyone from titans of finance and the heads of government to entire state security services. Their racket involves heroin smuggling, weapons trafficking, mass extortion, and casino operation, among other activities." Blending financial sophistication with bone-crunching violence, the Russian mob has become the FBI's most formidable criminal adversary, creating an international criminal colossus that has surpassed the Colombian cartels, the Japanese Yakuzas, the Chinese triads, and the Italian Mafia in wealth and weaponry," writes Friedman. They've even penetrated professional hockey, as Friedman shows in an eye-opening chapter ("Federal authorities have come to fear that the NHL is now so compromised by Russian gangsters that the integrity of the game itself may be in jeopardy").
         "Red Mafiya" benefits from a breezy narrative in detailing a master criminal operation whose influence on the United States is growing rapidly. Russian mobsters already have siphoned off millions of dollars in foreign aid meant to prop up their country's economy--and they may have a more direct impact on American national security concerns in the years ahead: "The Russian mob virtually controls their nuclear-tipped former superpower," writes Friedman. Now, there's a scary thought. Lifting the Iron Curtain seems to have been a mixed blessing: it let freedom in, and organized crime out.

  • The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia : Corn Sugar and Blood
    by Rick Porrello
         The story of Angelo "Big" Ange Lonardo (mob boss and one-time highest ranking government cooperating witness) and the rise of the once-mighty Cleveland La Cosa Nostra. Centered around the author's descendants, the Porrello brothers - early mob leaders and Prohibition era bootleg battles.






  • The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America
    by Albert Fried
    The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America      Albert Fried's book recalls the rise and fall of an underworld culture that bred some of America's greatest racketeers, bootleggers, gamblers, and professional killers, spawned by a culture of vice and criminality in New York's Lower East Side and similar environments in Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Detroit, Newark, and Philadelphia. An important dimension is added to this story as the author discusses Italian gangs who teamed up with their Jewish counterparts.







  • Secrets of Life and Death : Women and the Mafia
    by Renate Siebert, Liz Heron (Translator)
         Midwest Book Review: ...Secrets Of Life And Death is the first book to focus on the women whose lives are entangled in the workings of the mafia. Drawing on courtroom testimonies, interviews, and recent research, Siebert cuts through the mafia's myth of honouring women to expose the harsh reality for women living with, and fighting against, the mafia. With careful attention to the social realities of southern Italy, she looks at what it means to live in the mafia's shadow...Secrets Of Life And Death is a critically important and essential addition to any organized crime reference collection, women's studies reading list, and an astonishing book for any non-specialist general reader as well.

  • Sharks in the Desert
    by John L. Smith
    Sharks in the Desert      By now, everyone knows the story of the mob’s involvement in Las Vegas’s growth from quiet desert town to “Sin City”—the gambling capital of the world, and the fastest growing cities in the country. There have been countless movies glamorizing Vegas’s early years. At the end of one of those movies, Casino, you see a hotel come down and a voice describe the end of the mob-era in Vegas. That was hardly the end of the Las Vegas story; in fact, it was probably just the beginning.
         Consider Sharks in the Desert, a sequel to Casino. It tells the story of the corporate raiders who moved in to the city—the Kirk Krekorians and the Steve Wynns—who came moved in as the mob-era crumbled (literally) and forcibly cleaned up the Vegas image.
         Now Las Vegas is a place for “family entertainment.” The theme park-feel of the city has been carefully crafted by a handful of very savvy corporate moguls who use that image to extract the maximum profit out of all kinds of people who are drawn to Vegas each year. Sharks in the Desert is the story of these men. It provides the who, what, when, and where of the renaissance that has occurred in Las Vegas over the past few decades.
    JOHN L. SMITH is an award-winning columnist for The Las Vegas Review-Journal.




  • The Sicilian Mafia : The Business of Private Protection
    by Diego Gambetta
         Draws on economic analysis and on the confessions of eight Mafiosi and the trials their revelations triggered to reshape traditional interpretations of the Mafia's origins, functions, and social consequences. Translated from the Italian original (publication date not stated). Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
    --This text refers to the hardcover edition of this title

  • The Sins of the Father : Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded
    by Ronald Kessler
    Sins Of The Father      A detailed biography based on extensive research and interviews with Kennedy family members and intimates recounts the sex life of patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy, the story behind his daughter Rosemary's illness, and his anti-Semitism and Nazi sympathies.






  • Stilleto
    by Harold Robbins
         A young Italian aristocrat and member of the mafia, Caesar Cardinal is out to kill four men awaiting trial, but Special Agent George Baker has his own motives for wanting them alive, and so the cat-and-mouse game between the two men begins. The classic tale of crime, money and power is now available in hardcover for the first time. Caesar Cardinal owes his lush lifestyle to the favors of a Mafia overlord. In order to keep those favors, Cardinal has to kill four men awaiting trail in a sensational case against organized crime. And once he has begun to savor the encompassing rush of killing, nobody is likely to stop him from knowing it again.

  • Stricken Yet Crowned
    by Michell Spoden
    Stricken Yet Crowned      Stricken Yet Crowned is the true story of one woman's heroic journey through life carrying the terrible burden of having been raped as a child. Author Michell Spoden speaks very candidly about how somebody broke into her Cleveland, Ohio home one night and brutally took her innocence. Nothing would ever be the same in her life. Throughout her search for the truth about who the perpetrator was, many years passed without a definite answer. Her number one suspect was the Mafia, due to her step father's involvement and the very fact that he was under FBI investigation after the murder of the infamous Danny Greene. Despite being led down one dead end after another, the time and barriers to her cold case being solved did not stop her from finding out what actually happened. Today, Michell Spoden claims that ÒVictory is now,Ó through the healing power of God and a strong conviction to not be silenced. Michell has even decided to come forward and speak about her experience and what it means to be a rape victim and constantly struggle with reality. She is in the prime of her life and her message is one of hope and empowerment, not self-pity. This is a must read book for anyone who has ever known somebody that has been raped or experienced rape themselves



  • Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire
    by Douglas Century, Rick Cowan
    Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire      Rick Cowan was a young NYPD detective in 1992 when he dropped by a Brooklyn waterfront warehouse to investigate a recent fire bombing-only one in a string of interviews he considered routine. But what he found there was far from routine, for it would take him on a five-year odyssey and nearly cost him his life. In fact, he had stumbled upon the lead of a lifetime-the suspicion that he might unearth the hard evidence police and federal agencies alike had been chasing for decades: the proof of collusion among the mob families to extort billions from the nation's most influential corporations that call New York their home.

         Featuring eccentric, larger-than-life New York characters and an undercover cop on the brink of being discovered-and murdered-at every step, Takedown is a riveting real-life procedural and one of the most important investigative books of the season.




  • There's More Bodies Out There: the true story of a Mafia associate and a police officer who emerge as suspected serial killers
    by Rick Porrello
    There's More Bodies Out There: the true story of a Mafia associate and a police officer who emerge as suspected serial killers      "At first, Henkel politely declined my request," Rick Porrello said. "Six months later, I persisted and sent him a page of questions based on three years of investigative research. He claimed there were significant inaccuracies about him, his crew members, and even some of his alleged victims.
    This book is the true story of one of the country's most dangerous con artists, his police officer partner, the men and women who fell victim to his venom, and the lawmen who persevered to serve justice.




  • Thief! The Gutsy, True Story of an Ex-Con Artist
    by William 'Slick' Hanner and Cherie Rohn
    Thief! The Gutsy, True Story of an Ex-Con Artist      Author Cherie Rohn divulges the true story of William Slick Hanner, and how he gained insider access to the Mafia. Slick's adventures run the gamut as he becomes a poker cheat bordello chauffeur, and eventually, Jerry Lewis's bodyguard.







  • Thy Father’s Son
    by Leo Rutman
    Thy Father’s Son      A different breed of Mafia novel, a young Italian prizefighter, the son of a Mafia don discovers his real father was a Jewish gangster murdered by the dons he has known all his life. Davey Rossi is forced to choose between who he was and who he is. Leo Rutman's literary style re-awakens the old Jewish and Italian ganglands of early 1960s New York City with a tough, gritty, yet romantic atmosphere.






  • Tough Jews: Fathers, Sons, and Gangster Dreams
    by Rich Cohen
    Tough Jews      When we think gangster, hood, or wiseguy, we often associate these characters with such names as Capone, Luciano, or even Corleone. However, when organized crime reared its ugly head in the late 1920s in Brooklyn, at the foundation were men like Meyer Lansky and Ben Siegel--both Jews. Rich Cohen's romantic account of Jewish gangsters, Tough Jews, brings to life the story of Jewish involvement in the world of organized crime







  • Underboss : Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia
    By Peter Maas
         The real-life account of the mob by one of its former leading denizens, Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, who spent his entire life in the mob, his loyalty unswerving until the moment he realized crime boss John Gotti was about to sell him down the river in order to save his own neck. At that point Sammy the Bull "switched governments" and turned state's evidence. His reasons make for compelling, disturbing reading.

  • Vinny Gorgeous: The Ugly Rise and Fall of a New York Mobster
    By Anthony M. DeStefano
    Vinny Gorgeous: The Ugly Rise and Fall of a New York Mobster Book Description
         A vain man of good looks, small means, and no family links to the mob, Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano steadily worked his way up to acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, becoming its leader when official boss Joseph Massino went to the clink in 2003. But at a time when the Mob was crawling with secret operatives and informants caving to government pressure to flip, Basciano obeyed the code of La Cosa Nostra. “I got faith in one guy,” he told a group of mobsters during a secretly taped meeting. That man was Joseph Massino, head of the Bonanno borgata. But for all his loyalty, Basciano was still a hot-headed, cold-blooded killer, which led to his arrest. Then, in a remarkable betrayal that shook the Five Families to their foundation, Massino secretly cooperated with the FBI—the first official boss ever to roll over. As a result, Basciano faced the death penalty, but a federal jury, disturbed by the prosecution's use of criminal informants, reached a surprising verdict. Veteran crime author Anthony M. DeStefano tells the riveting story of the last true believer in the Mob’s cult of brotherhood and how he was betrayed by the only man he ever trusted. .


  • The Way of the Wiseguy
    By Joe Pistone
    The Way of the Wiseguy Book Description
         Here's the first nonfiction work from author Joe Pistone since his New York Times #1 bestseller and hit movie, Donnie Brasco. Perhaps no man alive knows the inner workings and lifestyle of wiseguys better than Pistone does, having spent six years infiltrating the Mafia as an undercover FBI agent. Now, years later, Pistone reassesses what the underworld was really about. Occasionally poignant, always in shocking detail, The Way of the Wiseguy gives readers a first-hand look at the thinking, psychology, and customs that make wiseguys a unique breed. The book is divided into anecdotes that reveal key principles of wiseguy life, including "Don't Volunteer You Don't Know Something," "Be a Good Earner," "Look Like You Mean Business, "It's Your Best Friend Who Will Kill You," and much more. The stories-more than 80 of them-are spellbinding, and the insights into this lawless realm of badguys are often uncannily relevant to the workings of the legitimate world of big business and everyday social discourses. Includes CD with shocking undercover surveillance audio from the Donnie Brasco operation (with commentary by author Joe Pistone).


  • Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family
    By Nicholas Pileggi
         Amazon.com readers reviews: This book gives incredible insight to the inner workings of the Mafia, as well as being a fantastic read. This book, the basis for the movie "GoodFellas" puts the reader into the daily life of a "half-assed Mafia wiseguy" (it explains this terminology too)....If you have any interest in mafia-related topics, this book is a must read... the best mafia book ever I loved Goodfellas so I read Wiseguy.I am not big on reading but I could not put this book down. I've seen and read every movie, and book about the mafia I could find ,and this is the best... Brutally honest and to the point Wiseguy, is a well written work. We get to see first-hand the ups and downs of life for a wiseguy. By giving us Henry Hill's life stroy, Pileggi gives us an insite to the mob that was never seen before. A great book.



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