
The Mob and the City
The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York
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Narrated by:
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LJ Ganser
About this listen
Forget what you think you know about the Mafia. After listening to 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. Based on exhaustive research of archives and secret files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, author and attorney C. Alexander Hortis draws on the deepest collection of primary sources, many newly discovered, of any history of the modern mob.
Shattering myths, Hortis reveals how Cosa Nostra actually obtained power at the inception. The author goes beyond conventional who-shot-who mob stories, providing answers to fresh questions such as:
- Why did the Sicilian gangs come out on top of the criminal underworld?
- Can economics explain how the Mafia families operated?
- What was the Mafia's real role in the drug trade?
- Why was Cosa Nostra involved in gay bars in New York since the 1930s?
Drawing on an unprecedented array of primary sources, The Mob and the City is the most thorough and authentic history of the Mafia's rise to power in the early-to-mid 20th century.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2014 C. Alexander Hortis (P)2014 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Story
John Gotti was without a doubt the flashiest and most feared Mafioso in American history. He became the boss of the Gambino Crime Family in spectacular fashion—with the brazen and very public murder of Paul Castellano in front of Sparks Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan in 1985. Not one to stay below law enforcement’s radar, Gotti instead became the first celebrity crime boss. His penchant for eye-catching apparel earned him the nickname “The Dapper Don;” his ability to beat criminal charges led to another: “The Teflon Don.”
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I spoke to soon.
- By Ductman on 04-20-24
By: John Gleeson
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American Mafia
- A History of Its Rise to Power
- By: Thomas Reppetto
- Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Mob at its best
- By Thomas on 02-14-23
By: Thomas Reppetto
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Five Families
- The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires
- By: Selwyn Raab
- Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
- Length: 33 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo, and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals, and generational changes that produced violent, unreliable leaders and recruits.
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7326451
- By Mark on 10-13-16
By: Selwyn Raab
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Wiseguy
- By: Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese - introduction
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos, Corey Brill, Hillary Huber, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the true crime best seller that was the basis for Martin Scorsese’s film masterpiece GoodFellas, which brought to life the violence, the excess, the families, the wives and girlfriends, the drugs, the payoffs, the paybacks, the jail time, and the Feds...with Henry Hill’s crackling narration drawn straight out of Wiseguy and overseeing all the unforgettable action.
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Finally unabridged
- By Rodney on 12-16-19
By: Nicholas Pileggi, and others
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Mob Star
- The Story of John Gotti
- By: Gene Mustain, Jerry Capeci
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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"Johnny Boy" Gotti burst onto the national scene after a double murder catapulted him to the top of the Gambino family, the largest and most feared Mafia family in the USA. Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci reveal the man behind the headlines.
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Felt like I was listening to court transcript.
- By Former Army Captain on 12-22-20
By: Gene Mustain, 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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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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The gangster with a heart of gold...
- By Rodney on 03-03-18
By: Sal Polisi, and others
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Taking Manhattan
- The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Russell Shorto
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their archrivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, the military officer who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he encountered Peter Stuyvesant, New Netherland’s canny director general.
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Would make a great blockbuster film !
- By Dan L Barton on 05-09-25
By: Russell Shorto
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The Power Broker
- Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 66 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Robert Caro's monumental book makes public what few outsiders knew: that Robert Moses was the single most powerful man of his time in the City and in the State of New York. And in telling the Moses story, Caro both opens up to an unprecedented degree the way in which politics really happens—the way things really get done in America's City Halls and Statehouses—and brings to light a bonanza of vital information about such national figures as Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt (and the genesis of their blood feud), about Fiorello La Guardia, John V. Lindsay and Nelson Rockefeller.
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AMAZING read
- By jeff on 09-15-11
By: Robert A. Caro
Finally Answers!
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WHAT A GREAT LISTEN!!!
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Interesting but redundant
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Hard one to rate....
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In addition, this was a free listen for me as part of the Audible subscription so for those who want yet more info on the mob, this was for me a solid listen.
Surprisingly informative
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Glad it was a freebie
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Insight into the MOB
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Any additional comments?
The book focus on the formation of the early Italian mob and set out to debunk a few myths about the mob in general. It is in no way a comprehensive view of the mafia but looks the mobs early years and how it evolved and changed. Worth while book if you are looking for a fresh perspective on the inner gears of the mob.Interesting look at the early mob
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Very interesting
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A Good Text book
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