Having grown up in Minnesota, I didn’t even know about the existence of the Mafia until I saw The Godfather! After I moved to New York to work in journalism, I was stunned to see how intertwined mob guys were with every facet of life, from government to entertainment to grocery stores. I became a passionate reader (and now writer) of Mafia history so that I could understand it. I find mob stories endlessly fascinating because of what they reveal about human nature. Organized crime hasn’t gone away, and we ignore it at our peril. I think you'll enjoy these recommendations.
I wrote...
Sonny: The Last of the Old Time Mafia Bosses, John "Sonny" Franzese
My book is about the life of Colombo underboss, John “Sonny” Franzese. It’s based on exclusive interviews with him, his friends, family members, and enemies. He was made at 14 after committing his first murder. As he rose through the ranks, he enforced his discipline with a bloodlust that terrified even the toughest of gangsters. The one person in his life he couldn’t tame was his beautiful and tempestuous wife, Tina.
Sonny is the reason authorities created the Witness Protection Program–something that would haunt him later in life. Throughout it all, he never ratted anyone out, despite having to serve years in prison because of it. He never talked to anyone about his life until he talked to me.
I loved this book because it put me right there in the life, with all the violence, plots, girlfriends, and craziness. Author Nicholas Pileggi is a master of the craft. He drew me in immediately by capturing the voice of Henry Hill; mob associate turned informant.
I learned things I didn’t know–and some things I didn’t want to know–about the life. When I saw Goodfellas, the Martin Scorsese movie based on the book, it all rang true again.
A longtime member of organized crime recounts his criminal career, his involvement in the six-million dollar Lufthansa robbery, and his decision to become a federal witness.
I couldn’t stop reading this book because I was so captivated by the story of hitman Frank Sheeran, as told by his lawyer, Charles Brandt. Sheeran manages to be both charming and earnest, even as he kills for the mob.
I don’t put much stock in many mobster stories because I know they embroider the truth, but I believed this one. The last chapter of the book literally made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It’s worth reading even if you’ve seen Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, which is based on it.
The book behind the Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated Netflix film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel
'The movie event of the year' - Rolling Stone 'One of Martin Scorsese's best films ever' - Guardian
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The Irishman is an epic saga of organised crime in post-war America told through the eyes of World War II veteran Frank Sheeran, a hustler and hitman who worked for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino alongside some of the most notorious figures of the 20th Century.
Spanning decades, Sheeran's story chronicles one of the greatest unsolved…
I loved this book about Meyer Lansky, the financial wizard of the mob because it is so thoroughly researched. Author Robert Lacey draws on firsthand interviews with family members and friends and archival records. His writing is intelligent and insightful.
This book skips the cliches and goes beneath the surface. Lansky emerges as a complicated, and determined and utterly human gangster. It is impossible to understand organized crime without understanding Meyer Lansky.
The story of Meyer Lansky and the criminal empire he supervised exposes the harsh reality of life in the underworld and demonstrates how Lansky's desire to achieve mythic status as an outlaw ultimately destroyed him
I read this book about the wily and ruthless Genovese mob boss Chin Gigante in one sitting. Veteran New York reporter Larry McShane’s writing is so fluid that he just carries you through the story. He wisely goes well beyond Chin’s well-known ruse of acting crazy by walking the streets in his bathrobe to fool the cops and explains the life that led up to the crazy act—a satisfying read.
He started out as a professional boxer—until he found his true calling as a ruthless contract killer. Hand-picked by Vito Genovese to run the Genovese Family when Vito was sent to prison, Chin raked in more than $100 million for the Genovese family and routinely ordered the murders of mobsters who violated the Mafia code—including John Gotti. At the height of his power, he controlled an underworld empire of close to three hundred made men, making the Genovese Family the most powerful in the U.S.
And yet Vincent “Chin” Gigante was, to all outside appearances, certifiably crazy.…
I found myself fascinated by author Louis Ferrante’s comprehensive history of the Mafia, going back to its origins in Sicily. I found it particularly interesting to read Ferrante’s take on certain major events because he was once in the life himself.
Because of his own experiences, he injects a fresh perspective on well-known events. This is the first volume of his planned trilogy, and I can’t wait for the next volume.
The American mafia has long held powerful sway over our collective cultural imagination. But how many of us truly understand how a clandestine Sicilian criminal organisation came to exert its influence over nearly every level of American society?
In BORGATA: RISE OF EMPIRE, former mafia member Louis Ferrante pulls back the curtain on the criminal organisation that transformed America. From the potent political cauldron of nineteenth-century Sicily to American cities such as New Orleans, New York and the gangster's paradise of Las Vegas, Ferrante traces the social, economic and political forces that powered the mafia's unstoppable rise. We follow the…
I'm the oldest granddaughter of Leora, who lost three sons during WWII. To learn what happened to them, I studied casualty and missing aircraft reports, missions reports, and read unit histories. I’ve corresponded with veterans who knew one of the brothers, who witnessed the bomber hit the water off New Guinea, and who accompanied one brother’s body home. I’m still in contact with the family members of two crew members on the bomber. The companion book, Leora’s Letters, is the family story of the five Wilson brothers who served, but only two came home.
The day the second atomic bomb was dropped, Clabe and Leora Wilson’s postman brought a telegram to their acreage near Perry, Iowa. One son was already in the U.S. Navy before Pearl Harbor had been attacked. Four more sons worked with their father, tenant farmers near Minburn until, one by one; all five sons were serving their country in the military–two in the Navy and three as Army Air Force pilots.
Only two sons came home.
Leora’s Letters is the compelling true account of a woman whose most tender hopes were disrupted by great losses. Yet she lived out four more decades with hope and resilience.
The day the second atomic bomb was dropped, Clabe and Leora Wilson’s postman brought a telegram to their acreage near Perry, Iowa. One son was already in the U.S. Navy before Pearl Harbor had been attacked. Four more sons worked with their father, tenant farmers near Minburn until, one by one, all five sons were serving their country in the military. The oldest son re-enlisted in the Navy. The younger three became U.S. Army Air Force pilots. As the family optimist, Leora wrote hundreds of letters, among all her regular chores, dispensing news and keeping up the morale of the…
