American Mafia
A History of Its Rise to Power
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American Mafia
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Narrated by:
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Paul Costanzo
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By:
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Thomas Reppetto
About this listen
Organized crime - the Italian American kind - has long been a source of popular entertainment and legend. Now Thomas Reppetto provides a balanced history of the Mafia's rise - from the 1880s to the post-World War II era - that is as exciting as it is authoritative.
Structuring his narrative around a series of case histories featuring such infamous characters as Lucky Luciano and Al Capone, Reppetto draws on a lifetime of field experience and access to unseen documents to show us a locally grown Mafia. It wasn't until the 1920s, thanks to Prohibition, that the Mafia assumed what we now consider its defining characteristics, especially its octopus-like tendency to infiltrate industry and government. At midcentury, the Kefauver Commission declared the Mafia synonymous with Union Siciliana; in the 1960s, the FBI finally admitted the Mafia's existence under the name La Cosa Nostra.
American Mafia is a fascinating look at America's most compelling criminal subculture from an author who is intimately acquainted with both sides of the street.
©2004 Thomas Reppetto (P)2017 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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4 out of 5 stars
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2 out of 5 stars
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5 out of 5 stars
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Critic reviews
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-
Story4 out of 5 stars 179
Midcentury Los Angeles: A city sold to the world as "the white spot of America", a land of sunshine and orange groves, Midwestern values, and Hollywood stars, protected by the world's most famous police force, the Dragnet-era LAPD. Behind this public image lies a hidden world of "pleasure girls" and crooked cops, ruthless newspaper tycoons, corrupt politicians, and East Coast gangsters on the make. Into this underworld came two men - one L.A.'s most notorious gangster, the other its most famous police chief - each prepared to battle the other for the soul of the city.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A good (but a little corny) history of LA
- By Jimmy on 10-23-12
By: John Buntin
-
Paddy Whacked
- The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster
- By: T. J. English
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 589
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 521
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 520
In Paddy Whacked, best-selling 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; and James "Whitey" Bulger, the ruthless and seemingly untouchable Southie legend.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
First Half - 4 Stars - Second Half - 2 Stars
- By Lulu on 08-29-16
By: T. J. English
-
Tong Wars
- The Untold Story of Vice, Money, and Murder in New York's Chinatown
- By: Scott D. Seligman
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
Nothing had worked. Not threats or negotiations, not shutting down the betting parlors or opium dens, not throwing Chinese offenders into prison. Not even executing them. The New York DA was running out of ideas, and more people were dying every day as the weapons of choice evolved from hatchets to automatic weapons and even bombs. Welcome to New York City's Chinatown in 1925.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Valuable Imformation! Fascinating History.
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 05-21-18
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The Mob and the City
- The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York
- By: C. Alexander Hortis
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 523
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 459
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 456
Forget what you think you know about the Mafia. After reading this book, even life-long mob aficionados will have a new perspective on organized crime. Informative, authoritative, and eye-opening, this is the first full-length book devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s through 1950s.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Hard one to rate....
- By Jeffery D. Giuliani on 09-24-20
-
Get Capone
- The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster
- By: Jonathan Eig
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 177
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 85
Acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Jonathan Eig blows the lid off the Al Capone story. Based on never-before-seen government documents and newly discovered letters written by Al Capone himself, Get Capone presents America's greatest gangster as you’ve never seen him before.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Get this book
- By Jonathan on 05-13-10
By: Jonathan Eig
-
Gangsters of Harlem
- The Gritty Underworld of New York City's Most Famous Neighborhood
- By: Ron Chepesiuk
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
Author Ron Chepesiuk chronicles the little known history of organized crime in Harlem.
African American organized crime has had as significant an impact on its constituent community as Italian, Jewish, and Irish organized crime has had on theirs. Gangsters are every bit as colorful, intriguing, and powerful as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, and have a fascinating history in gambling, prostitution, and drug dealing. In the late 1800s, Harlem became a highly fashionable neighborhood.
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3 out of 5 stars
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weak --reader is terrible!
- By Meyer Rosenbloom on 10-18-13
By: Ron Chepesiuk
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Satan's Circus
- Murder, Vice, Police Corruption, and New York's Trial of the Century
- By: Mike Dash
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 133
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 61
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 64
They called it Satan's Circus, a square mile of Midtown Manhattan where vice ruled, sin flourished, and depravity danced in every doorway. At the turn of the 20th century, murder was so common in the vice district that few people were surprised when the loudmouthed owner of a shabby casino was gunned down on the steps of its best hotel.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
New York, N.Y
- By Robert on 07-11-07
By: Mike Dash
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The Brothers Bulger
- How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century
- By: Howie Carr
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 136
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 92
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 91
This fresh account of Massachusetts' infamous Bulger brothers unveils a stunning criminal alliance, and with its dual biography format, goes deeper than the New York Times best-selling Black Mass. For the first time, journalist Howie Carr reveals the real story behind the infamous Bulgers, two brothers from South Boston who grew up to control a state.
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2 out of 5 stars
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ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz
- By Tory on 11-18-06
By: Howie Carr
-
The Quiet Don
- The Untold Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino
- By: Matt Birkbeck
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 195
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 172
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 172
Secretive - even reclusive - Russell Bufalino quietly built his organized crime empire in the decades between Prohibition and the Carter presidency. His reach extended far beyond the coal country of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and quaint Amish farms near Lancaster. Bufalino had a hand in global, national, and local politics of the largest American cities, many of its major industries, and controlled the powerful Teamsters Union. His influence also reached the highest levels of Pennsylvania government and halls of Congress, and his legacy left a culture of corruption that continues to this day.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Important But Edited By Lawyers?
- By Ted on 04-03-14
By: Matt Birkbeck
-
Mafia Summit
- J. Edgar Hoover, the Kennedy Brothers, and the Meeting That Unmasked the Mob
- By: Gil Reavill
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 291
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 247
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 246
In a small village in New York, mob bosses from all over the country - Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Joe Bonanno, Joe Profaci, Cuba boss Santo Trafficante, Jr., and Paul Castellano - were nabbed by Sergeant Edgar D. Croswell as they gathered to sort out a bloody war of succession. For years FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had adamantly denied the existence of the Mafia, but Robert Kennedy immediately recognized the shattering importance of the Apalachin summit....
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4 out of 5 stars
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Something I Didn't Know
- By Kevin on 03-29-13
By: Gil Reavill
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Havana Nocturne
- How the Mob Owned Cuba...and Then Lost It to the Revolution
- By: T. J. English
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,327
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 935
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 945
Havana Nocturne takes listeners back to Cuba in the years when it was a veritable devil's playground for mob leaders Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Thanks to strong ties with the island's brutal dictator, President Batista, the mob soon owned the biggest luxury hotels and casinos and launched an unprecedented tourist boom. But their dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Not for reactionaries
- By sunsolid on 02-17-09
By: T. J. English
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Animal
- The Bloody Rise and Fall of the Mob's Most Feared Assassin
- By: Casey Sherman
- Narrated by: Jim Goad
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 166
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 141
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 137
Joe Barboza knew that there were two requirements for getting inducted into the Mafia. You had to be Sicilian. And you had to commit a contract killing. The New Bedford-born mobster was a proud Portuguese, not Sicilian, but his dream to be part of La Cosa Nostra proved so strong that he thought he could create a loophole. Barboza’s legacy, buried for years thanks to the murders or deaths of its participants, is finally coming to light and being told in its unvarnished brutality by one of America’s most respected true crime writers.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Well done. 5 stars.
- By robert price on 03-03-19
By: Casey Sherman
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Queen of Thieves
- The True Story of "Marm" Mandelbaum and Her Gangs of New York
- By: J. North Conway
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 101
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 94
Queen of Thieves is the gritty, fast-paced story of Fredericka "Marm" Mandelbaum, a poor Jewish woman who rose to the top of her profession in organized crime during the Gilded Age in New York City. During her more than twenty-five-year reign as the country’s top receiver of stolen goods, she accumulated great wealth and power inconceivable for women engaged in business, legitimate or otherwise.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
a bit repetitive
- By Andy on 09-19-14
By: J. North Conway
-
The Tangled Web
- The Life and Death of Richard Cain—Chicago Cop and Mafia Hitman
- By: Michael Cain
- Narrated by: Clinton Wade
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 197
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 180
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 180
The Tangled Web tells the dramatic story of detective Richard Cain's criminal career as revealed by his half-brother, Michael. Cain led a double-life—one as a well-known cop who led raids that landed on the front pages, and the other as a "made man" in one of Chicago's most notorious mob families.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Reviews
- By G. D. Hoppe on 11-19-20
By: Michael Cain
-
The First Family
- Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia
- By: Mike Dash
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 143
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 98
Before the Five Families who so notoriously dominated U.S. organized crime for a bloody half-century, there was the one-fingered, surpassingly cunning Giuseppe Morello and his murderous coterie of brothers. Born into a life of poverty in rural Sicily, Morello became an American nightmare, pioneering the bizarre initiation rituals, imaginative protection rackets, influential underworld reigns, and Mafia wars later popularized by countless books, television shows, and movies.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The truth about the origins of the American mafia
- By J. Sovar on 01-09-13
By: Mike Dash
-
Freedom's Detective
- The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the Man Who Masterminded America's First War on Terror
- By: Charles Lane
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 129
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 115
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 116
Freedom’s Detective reveals the untold story of the Reconstruction-era US Secret Service and their battle against the Ku Klux Klan, through the career of its controversial chief, Hiram C. Whitle.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Evan Review
- By Evan on 06-23-19
By: Charles Lane
-
Undisclosed Files of the Police
- Cases from the Archives of the NYPD from 1831 to the Present
- By: Bernard Whalen, Philip Messing, Robert Mladinich
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 121
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 110
More than 175 years of true crimes culled from the city's police blotter, told through an insightful text by two NYPD officers and a NYC crime reporter. From atrocities that occurred before the establishment of New York's police force in 1845 through the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 to the present day, this audio is an insider's look at more than 80 real-life crimes that shocked the nation, from arson to gangland murders, robberies, serial killers, bombings, and kidnappings.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Good History of Crime in NYC
- By Bob Shinders on 03-10-17
By: Bernard Whalen, and others
-
Kings of Cocaine
- Inside the Medellin Cartel - An Astonishing True Story of Murder Money and International Corruption
- By: Guy Gugliotta, Jeff Leen
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 220
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 193
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 193
This is the story of the most successful cocaine dealers in the world: Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez, Carlos Lehder Rivas, and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. In the 1980s, they controlled more than 50 percent of the cocaine flowing into the United States. The cocaine trade is capitalism on overdrive - supply meeting demand on exponential levels. Here you'll find the story of how the modern cocaine business started and how it turned a ragtag group of hippies and sociopaths into regal kings.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Almost Perfect.
- By Nick on 10-31-18
By: Guy Gugliotta, and others
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Gaspipe
- Confessions of a Mafia Boss
- By: Philip Carlo
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 653
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 506
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 509
Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the boss of New York's Lucchese crime family, was a Mafia superstar, responsible for more than 50 murders. Currently serving 13 life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado, Casso has given journalist and New York Times best-selling author Philip Carlo the most intimate, personal look into the world of La Cosa Nostra ever seen.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
The author fails the objectivity test
- By William on 11-29-08
By: Philip Carlo
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Cosa Nostra
- A History of the Sicilian Mafia
- By: John Dickie
- Narrated by: Tom Lawrence
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 19
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 16
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 16
Hailed in Italy as the best book ever written about the mafia in any language, Cosa Nostra is a fascinating, violent, and darkly comic account that takes us deep into the inner sanctum of this secret society. John Dickie uses startling new research to reveal the inner workings of this secret society with a murderous record. He explains how the mafia began, how it responds to threats and challenges, and introduces us to the real-life characters that inspired the American imagination for generations, making the mafia an international, larger than life cultural phenomenon.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Lots of detail
- By B. Anderson on 11-18-24
By: John Dickie
-
The Deadly Don
- Vito Genovese, Mafia Boss
- By: Anthony M. DeStefano
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano presents the rise and fall of Vito Genovese in this first comprehensive biography of the legendary mafioso - from his childhood in Naples, Italy, and the beginnings of his bullet-ridden criminal career on lower Manhattan's mean streets, through his self-exile in the mid-1930s back to his homeland where he ran a black market operation under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, and his return to New York where Genovese made a fortune as the head of an illegal narcotics empire.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Borderline fiction
- By Luke Murphy on 07-31-21
-
The Last Gangster
- From Cop to Wiseguy to FBI Informant: Big Ron Previte and the Fall of the American Mob
- By: George Anastasia
- Narrated by: Chris Monteiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
As a cop, Ron Previte was corrupt. As a mobster, he was brutal. And in his final role, as a confidential informant to the FBI, Previte was deadly. The Last Gangster is his story—the story of the last days of the Philadelphia Mob, and of the clash of generations that brought it down once and for all. Convinced that the honor of the "business" was gone, he became the FBI's secret weapon in an intense and highly personalized war on the Philadelphia mob, operating with the same guile, wit, and stone-cold bravado that had made him a force in the underworld.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautifully done! Exceptional.
- By none on 12-15-23
By: George Anastasia
-
The First Family
- Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia
- By: Mike Dash
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 143
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 98
Before the Five Families who so notoriously dominated U.S. organized crime for a bloody half-century, there was the one-fingered, surpassingly cunning Giuseppe Morello and his murderous coterie of brothers. Born into a life of poverty in rural Sicily, Morello became an American nightmare, pioneering the bizarre initiation rituals, imaginative protection rackets, influential underworld reigns, and Mafia wars later popularized by countless books, television shows, and movies.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The truth about the origins of the American mafia
- By J. Sovar on 01-09-13
By: Mike Dash
-
The President Street Boys
- Growing Up Mafia
- By: Frank DiMatteo
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 183
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 160
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 160
Frank DiMatteo was born into a family of mob hit men. His father and godfather were shooters and bodyguards for infamous Mafia legends, the Gallo brothers. His uncle was a capo in the Genovese crime family and bodyguard to Frank Costello. Needless to say, DiMatteo saw and heard things that a boy shouldn't see or hear. He knew everybody in the neighborhood. And they knew him...and his family. And does he have some wild stories to tell....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Real Deal
- By Stef on 04-04-18
By: Frank DiMatteo
-
Gaspipe
- Confessions of a Mafia Boss
- By: Philip Carlo
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 653
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 506
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 509
Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the boss of New York's Lucchese crime family, was a Mafia superstar, responsible for more than 50 murders. Currently serving 13 life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado, Casso has given journalist and New York Times best-selling author Philip Carlo the most intimate, personal look into the world of La Cosa Nostra ever seen.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
The author fails the objectivity test
- By William on 11-29-08
By: Philip Carlo
-
Cosa Nostra
- A History of the Sicilian Mafia
- By: John Dickie
- Narrated by: Tom Lawrence
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 16
Hailed in Italy as the best book ever written about the mafia in any language, Cosa Nostra is a fascinating, violent, and darkly comic account that takes us deep into the inner sanctum of this secret society. John Dickie uses startling new research to reveal the inner workings of this secret society with a murderous record. He explains how the mafia began, how it responds to threats and challenges, and introduces us to the real-life characters that inspired the American imagination for generations, making the mafia an international, larger than life cultural phenomenon.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Lots of detail
- By B. Anderson on 11-18-24
By: John Dickie
-
The Deadly Don
- Vito Genovese, Mafia Boss
- By: Anthony M. DeStefano
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano presents the rise and fall of Vito Genovese in this first comprehensive biography of the legendary mafioso - from his childhood in Naples, Italy, and the beginnings of his bullet-ridden criminal career on lower Manhattan's mean streets, through his self-exile in the mid-1930s back to his homeland where he ran a black market operation under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, and his return to New York where Genovese made a fortune as the head of an illegal narcotics empire.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Borderline fiction
- By Luke Murphy on 07-31-21
-
The Last Gangster
- From Cop to Wiseguy to FBI Informant: Big Ron Previte and the Fall of the American Mob
- By: George Anastasia
- Narrated by: Chris Monteiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
As a cop, Ron Previte was corrupt. As a mobster, he was brutal. And in his final role, as a confidential informant to the FBI, Previte was deadly. The Last Gangster is his story—the story of the last days of the Philadelphia Mob, and of the clash of generations that brought it down once and for all. Convinced that the honor of the "business" was gone, he became the FBI's secret weapon in an intense and highly personalized war on the Philadelphia mob, operating with the same guile, wit, and stone-cold bravado that had made him a force in the underworld.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautifully done! Exceptional.
- By none on 12-15-23
By: George Anastasia
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The First Family
- Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia
- By: Mike Dash
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 143
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 98
Before the Five Families who so notoriously dominated U.S. organized crime for a bloody half-century, there was the one-fingered, surpassingly cunning Giuseppe Morello and his murderous coterie of brothers. Born into a life of poverty in rural Sicily, Morello became an American nightmare, pioneering the bizarre initiation rituals, imaginative protection rackets, influential underworld reigns, and Mafia wars later popularized by countless books, television shows, and movies.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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The truth about the origins of the American mafia
- By J. Sovar on 01-09-13
By: Mike Dash
-
The President Street Boys
- Growing Up Mafia
- By: Frank DiMatteo
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 183
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 160
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 160
Frank DiMatteo was born into a family of mob hit men. His father and godfather were shooters and bodyguards for infamous Mafia legends, the Gallo brothers. His uncle was a capo in the Genovese crime family and bodyguard to Frank Costello. Needless to say, DiMatteo saw and heard things that a boy shouldn't see or hear. He knew everybody in the neighborhood. And they knew him...and his family. And does he have some wild stories to tell....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Real Deal
- By Stef on 04-04-18
By: Frank DiMatteo
-
Top Hoodlum
- Frank Costello, Prime Minister of the Mafia
- By: Anthony M. DeStefano
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 140
Using newly released FBI files, eyewitness accounts, and family mementos, Top Hoodlum takes you inside the Mafia that Frank Costello helped build from the ground up, from small-time bootlegging and gambling to a nationwide racketeering empire. Sometimes shocking, sometimes amusing, and always riveting, these are the stories that have inspired American crime classics like The Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos. This is the man who made the Mafia such a powerful force in our nation's history. This is Top Hoodlum.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book!
- By Arthur F. on 07-13-18
-
Lord High Executioner
- The Legendary Mafia Boss Albert Anastasia
- By: Frank Dimatteo, Michael Benson
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 146
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 128
Umberto "Albert" Anastasia was born in Italy at the turn of the century. Five decades later, he would be gunned down in a barber shop in New York City. What happened in the years in between is one of the most brutal and fascinating stories in the history of American organized crime. This in-depth account of the man who became one of the most powerful and homicidal crime bosses of the 20th century from Mafia insider Frank Dimatteo is the first full-length book to chronicle Anastasia's bloody rise from immigrant to founder of the notorious killer's club Murder, Inc.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book
- By Christina Fox on 06-03-20
By: Frank Dimatteo, and others
-
Sonny
- The Last of the Old Time Mafia Bosses, John "Sonny" Franzese
- By: S.J. Peddie
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 79
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
John "Sonny" Franzese reportedly committed his first murder at the age of fourteen. As a "made man" for the Colombo crime family, he operated out of his Long Island home specializing in racketeering, fraud, and other illicit deeds he would deny to his dying day. His career in organized crime spanned over eight decades - and he was sentenced to fifty years in prison for robbery. This is the true story of an old-school Mafioso as it's never been told. Newsday reporter S. J. Peddie interviewed Franzese in prison and uncovered a lifetime of shocking secrets from the legend himself.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Absolute BS
- By Brianicole on 04-20-22
By: S.J. Peddie
-
Double Cross
- The Explosive Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America
- By: Sam Giancana, Chuck Giancana, Tim Newark - foreword, and others
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 563
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 494
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 490
One of the most feared Chicago mobsters, Sam Giancana, clawed his way to the top of the Mafia hierarchy by starting as a hit man for Al Capone. He was known as one of the best vehicle escape artists, a tenacious business man, and a ruthless killer. He partied with major stars such as Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe and did business with agents ranging from the CIA to the Vatican to the shah of Iran. When politician Joe Kennedy gave Giancana the chance to use mob muscle to get his son John elected, Giancana jumped at the task.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Kennedy Assassination Solved
- By Darlene A. Geloso on 05-30-20
By: Sam Giancana, and others
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The Sinatra Club
- My Life Inside the New York Mafia
- By: Sal Polisi, Steve Dougherty
- Narrated by: Pete Simonelli
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 443
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 391
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 390
The Mob was the biggest, richest business in America...until it was destroyed from within by drugs, greed, and the decline of its traditional crime family values. And by guys like Sal Polisi. As a member of New York's feared Colombo Family, Polisi ran the Sinatra Club, an illegal after-hours gambling den that was a magic kingdom of crime and a hangout for up-and-coming mobsters. But the nonstop thrills of Polisi's criminal glory days abruptly ended.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The gangster with a heart of gold...
- By Rodney on 03-03-18
By: Sal Polisi, and others
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King of the Godfathers
- “Big Joey” Massino and the Fall of the Bonanno Crime Family
- By: Anthony M. DeStefano
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
For more than 20 years, Joseph "Big Joey" Massino ran what was called the largest criminal network in the US, employing over 250 made men and untold numbers of associates. The Bonanno family was responsible for over 30 murders, even killing a dozen of its own members. He would be brought down by Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale, the underboss who was not only Massino's closest and most trusted friend but also his brother-in-law. King of the Godfathers is the story of the brutal mob war that made Massino head of the Bonanno family and the most powerful gangster in America.
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5 out of 5 stars
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a great book
- By tim on 04-11-22
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Boston Mob
- The Rise and Fall of the New England Mob and Its Most Notorious Killer
- By: Marc Songini
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 61
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Story4 out of 5 stars 60
The New England Mafia was a hugely powerful organization that survived by using violence to ruthlessly crush anyone that threatened it, or its lucrative gambling, loansharking, bootlegging, and other enterprises. From information based on newly declassified documents and the use of underworld sources, Boston Mob spans the gutters and alleyways of East Boston, Providence, and Charlestown to the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C., and Boston's Beacon Hill. Its players include governors and mayors, and the Mafia Commission of New York City.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Entertaining
- By joeyg1963 on 12-07-19
By: Marc Songini
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The Quiet Don
- The Untold Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino
- By: Matt Birkbeck
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 195
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 172
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Story4 out of 5 stars 172
Secretive - even reclusive - Russell Bufalino quietly built his organized crime empire in the decades between Prohibition and the Carter presidency. His reach extended far beyond the coal country of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and quaint Amish farms near Lancaster. Bufalino had a hand in global, national, and local politics of the largest American cities, many of its major industries, and controlled the powerful Teamsters Union. His influence also reached the highest levels of Pennsylvania government and halls of Congress, and his legacy left a culture of corruption that continues to this day.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Important But Edited By Lawyers?
- By Ted on 04-03-14
By: Matt Birkbeck
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The Last Godfather
- The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino
- By: Simon Crittle
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 99
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Story4 out of 5 stars 99
As head of the Bonanno clan, Joey Massino was the last don, and ran his world with an iron hand - until he got hit with a murder rap, and turned on his own people. Here, for the first time, is his shocking true story - a glimpse inside the world of organized crime that we may never see again.
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1 out of 5 stars
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the 6th family
- By chris torkelson on 05-16-20
By: Simon Crittle
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Gangsters and Organized Crime in Buffalo
- History, Hits and Headquarters
- By: Michael F. Rizzo
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 13
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 12
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Story4 out of 5 stars 12
Buffalo has housed its fair share of thugs and mobsters. Besides common criminals and bank robbers, a powerful crime family headed by local boss Stefano Magaddino emerged in the 1920s. Close to Canada, Niagara Falls and Buffalo were perfect avenues through which to transport booze, and Magaddino and his Mafiosi maintained a stranglehold on the city until his death in 1974. Local mob expert Michael Rizzo takes a tour of Buffalo's mafia exploits everything from these brutal gangsters' favorite hangouts to secret underground tunnels to murder.
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4 out of 5 stars
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pretty
- By Anonymous User on 06-06-24
By: Michael F. Rizzo
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A Man of Honor
- The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno
- By: Joseph Bonanno
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 499
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 436
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 434
Born in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Joseph Bonanno found his future amid the whiskey-running, riotous streets of Prohibition America in 1924, when he illegally entered the United States to pursue his dreams. By the age of only 26, Bonanno became a don. He eventually took over the New York underworld, igniting the "Castellammarese War", one of the bloodiest Family battles ever to hit New York City.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A must read
- By E. Orlando on 05-03-17
By: Joseph Bonanno
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The Five Families of New York
- 5 Books in 1: The Complete History of America's Notorious Mafia Organizations
- By: Mafia Library
- Narrated by: John Raynar, Lee Sterry, Daniel Winski, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 13
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13
In "The Five Families of New York," Mafia Library presents a gripping account of the ascension and decline of New York's foremost crime syndicates, from the legendary Lucky Luciano to the notorious Paul Castellano and John Gotti, and beyond. Through vivid storytelling, the book chronicles the relentless assault waged against these five families over two decades, a campaign that stands as the most successful law enforcement effort of the last century.
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5 out of 5 stars
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What stood out was some of the narrators were better than others
- By Jamie Abbott on 10-02-24
By: Mafia Library
What listeners say about American Mafia
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-03-22
Full of new information
I’ve read a lot of books on the Cosa nostra, but this had a lot of things I had never heard before. It goes beyond the usual synopsis, and explains the influences behind the events that happened. One thing that particular interest is the first few chapters talk about the evolution of the Sicilian mafia, to provide an in-depth understanding of the influences behind the development of the American mafia. Along with “The Five Families” by Raab, this book is essential to understanding the development of the American phenomenon.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Thomas
- 02-14-23
Mob at its best
Great listen and very informative. Keeps you on the edge of what you thought you knew
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