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Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires
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 and unreliable leaders and recruits. A twenty year assault against the five families in particular blossomed into the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century.
Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the reader right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.
Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the reader right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.
784 pages, Hardcover
First published August 25, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 385 reviews
January 26, 2024
You can't go wrong with reading this tome about the Mafia. The book was great for readibility and clear information focused within the individual Families but also big picture interactions and tie-in to the Mafia.
Selwyn Raab presented the story of the mafia's creation and roots in Sicily, cultural nuances that developed out of Sicilian/southern Italian influence, and immigration of this social construct to America in the 1920s. The new world presented a preexisting underworld of Jewish and Irish gangsters, mobsters, and bootleggers. The Dirty Thirties of the 1930s Depression-era created a new social and cultural version of organized crime with Lucky Luciano's remodeling of the mafia by drawing Sicilian traditions, keeping the omertà code among its members, and expanding its nexus of power throughout major American cities. At this point, the book really took off.
Selwyn Raab literally discusses everything mafia-related in this beefy book. The Five Families, important bosses, consigliere's, capo's, soldiers, associates, and affiliates. The book was well written to show the interactions of the Families, their vie for power, and the golden age of the mafia from the 1960s through the 1980s. Some standout events in the reading for me were the business approach of Mafia by Lucky Luciano and his creation of the Commission of the Five Families in 1931 (pg 32-3), US Attorney Rudy Giuliani and the creation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act of 1970) (pgs 171-83),
the 1957 assasination of Albert Anastasia (seen in The Irishman)
the 1979 assassination of Bonnano family boss Carmine Galante (pgs 205-7), countless FBI surveillances and wire taps, John Gotti, and Paul Castellano's assassination (372-8) & the Gambino Family
Overall this was great in my opinion. It was broken up into 60 chapters of roughly 10-12 pages and reading went by very quickly. This is definitely recommended to anyone who enjoyed the Netflix documentary Fear City: New York vs. the Mafia. Thanks!
Selwyn Raab presented the story of the mafia's creation and roots in Sicily, cultural nuances that developed out of Sicilian/southern Italian influence, and immigration of this social construct to America in the 1920s. The new world presented a preexisting underworld of Jewish and Irish gangsters, mobsters, and bootleggers. The Dirty Thirties of the 1930s Depression-era created a new social and cultural version of organized crime with Lucky Luciano's remodeling of the mafia by drawing Sicilian traditions, keeping the omertà code among its members, and expanding its nexus of power throughout major American cities. At this point, the book really took off.
Selwyn Raab literally discusses everything mafia-related in this beefy book. The Five Families, important bosses, consigliere's, capo's, soldiers, associates, and affiliates. The book was well written to show the interactions of the Families, their vie for power, and the golden age of the mafia from the 1960s through the 1980s. Some standout events in the reading for me were the business approach of Mafia by Lucky Luciano and his creation of the Commission of the Five Families in 1931 (pg 32-3), US Attorney Rudy Giuliani and the creation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act of 1970) (pgs 171-83),
the 1957 assasination of Albert Anastasia (seen in The Irishman)
the 1979 assassination of Bonnano family boss Carmine Galante (pgs 205-7), countless FBI surveillances and wire taps, John Gotti, and Paul Castellano's assassination (372-8) & the Gambino Family
Overall this was great in my opinion. It was broken up into 60 chapters of roughly 10-12 pages and reading went by very quickly. This is definitely recommended to anyone who enjoyed the Netflix documentary Fear City: New York vs. the Mafia. Thanks!
November 8, 2021
This biography explains the roots and crimes of the American mafia. It's well written with loads of historical facts. 8 of 10 stars
December 14, 2011
A more accurate title would have been "New York: A History of Law Enforcement Tactics Used Against the Mafia in the 20th Century". There were too many important Mafia events that were glossed over or omitted for this to truly have been a book about the five families. The primary focus seemed to be on the response that state and federal governments had to the Mafia and the tactics that were used to combat them. It was an interesting read and certainly well researched, although the editor should be very embarrassed. There were many obvious typos and name switches throughout, basic errors that an editor is supposed to correct and yet failed to do so. If you are looking for books that are actually about the five families, I would suggest something more along the lines of "Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia" by Joseph Pistone or "Boss of Bosses: The FBI and Paul Castellano" by Joseph F. O'Brien and Andris Kurins. Those are both still written by federal agents (or former federal agents) and are, of course, written from that perspective, however, in my opinion they give more information about the families and how they operate than this book did. Read this book if you want to know more about law enforcement tactics and the RICO law.
May 31, 2019
Firstly, thanks to my friend Christian for lending me this book, this was a challenge !
A challenge as I have never read a novel with 784 pages and read in 7 days.
Well I think just for the research of this book it deserves four stars, the information is incredible, theis has taken many years of research and knowledge.
This really is a "History" book of the Five Families of the mafia in New York...
A book that as you read you see so many names that sound so familiar, especially for myself after reading books on The Iceman, Richard Kuklinsky, and Gaspipe, Anthony Masso.
Familiar names like Paul Castellano, John Gotti, Lucky Luciano, Bugsy Siegel, Joseph Colombo, Vincent Gigante, Joe Bonanno, Carmine Galante, Joe profaci, Tommy Lucchese, Anthony Corallo.
The History of the "Five Families of the Cosa Nostra in New York, from the 20's to 2003/2005.
The careers of the boss's of the families, the downfalls.
The amazing thing here is when reading the book is , how many of these famous mafia members when arrested talked and then took Witness Protection. We must have in USA many mafia members living under the Witness Protection Programme, maybe more than those who end up in prison.
How many top mafia members snitched/talked about the boss's of the five families.
Also how many mafia members are buried and hidden never to be found, hundreds I am sure.
This book is like reading a history book, well it was I guess.
It is tense and exciting, thrilling, no, but interesting, shocking and brutal.
Four stars.
A challenge as I have never read a novel with 784 pages and read in 7 days.
Well I think just for the research of this book it deserves four stars, the information is incredible, theis has taken many years of research and knowledge.
This really is a "History" book of the Five Families of the mafia in New York...
A book that as you read you see so many names that sound so familiar, especially for myself after reading books on The Iceman, Richard Kuklinsky, and Gaspipe, Anthony Masso.
Familiar names like Paul Castellano, John Gotti, Lucky Luciano, Bugsy Siegel, Joseph Colombo, Vincent Gigante, Joe Bonanno, Carmine Galante, Joe profaci, Tommy Lucchese, Anthony Corallo.
The History of the "Five Families of the Cosa Nostra in New York, from the 20's to 2003/2005.
The careers of the boss's of the families, the downfalls.
The amazing thing here is when reading the book is , how many of these famous mafia members when arrested talked and then took Witness Protection. We must have in USA many mafia members living under the Witness Protection Programme, maybe more than those who end up in prison.
How many top mafia members snitched/talked about the boss's of the five families.
Also how many mafia members are buried and hidden never to be found, hundreds I am sure.
This book is like reading a history book, well it was I guess.
It is tense and exciting, thrilling, no, but interesting, shocking and brutal.
Four stars.
August 20, 2019
Would have gave 20 stars if possible. What an amazing epic tale. I was so sad when I finished reading this book. I didn't want it to end. The most in-depth telling of the five families. I don't ever expect to find a more authoritative book about the American Mafia. I knew nothing of the more "recent" mafia figureheads. This book even goes fairly in-depth about them. Jaw-dropping from start to finish, I was totally blown away. (Maybe a poor choice of words considering the aforementioned subject matter but hey what can ya do?)
Shelved as 'wishlist'
March 12, 2022Moreeeee research. Holy shit this book is long.
February 25, 2021
Some years ago curiosity led me to dine at a longtime, local Italian Pitza-rea that I'd passed by many times but never patronized. It was the lunch hour, but as I entered the door the vast place was completely empty of patrons. Expecting a first-class lasagna from the proprietor -- a heavy set fellow with jowls and eyebrows who stood resolutely behind the counter, possibly wondering who this unknown customer was -- I was instead served what was clearly a second-rate soggy thing that had been stored in a freezer and tasted warmed in a microwave. I began to wonder how the guy managed to stay in business so long serving up such disappointing fare, when my answer came strutting through the door in the form of a youngish man with slicked back, Brill-creamed raven hair and an impeccable black tailored pinstripe suit. Plunking himself down at a table like he owned the place, the guy haughtily proclaimed in a staccato voice lifted straight from The Godfather: "Geez, I just played the track and lost a bundle." As he let out a low-key wheezed laugh, I thought: "Holy shit, I've just landed myself into a hive of scum and villainy; this is a Mafia money laundering front business!"
I gladly paid the bill and left with a substandard meal in my belly and a prayer to the Saints that I'd escaped with my life. But it was all worth it, just to have a nice little story to tell you guys.
This book, Five Families is kind of like that meal, at least in the sense that I was left wanting by its execution, but filled with too many amazing stories.
It's a big book about little men who were big bullies.
So, reading this massive, sweeping account of the history of the American Mafia, and the vast cast of characters who made up the mafiosi of mid- to late- 20th-century New York, was akin to being at the best Italian wedding meal of your life -- with all the variety arrayed across countless tables ready for delectation but having it served in the wrong order: like having the aperitivo served third, the antipasti served last, the primo piatto served second to last, the secondo piatto served whenever, and dolce -- dessert -- served in dollops randomly in between. It was offputting in the way it was served, but was still the best meal you've ever had. For the record, I've only been to one Italian wedding dinner -- the nuptials of a college friend some years ago -- and it was heavenly; and served in the correct order.
Taking into account other justifiable criticisms from other reviewers of the book here on Goodreads, I find myself not disagreeing about the book's dizzying organization of the material, as if author Raab and his editors were a bit intimidated by the task in front of them. But then, intimidation may be apt, given the subject.
Raab tries to present this material in a roughly linear order, but does tend to repeat himself, finally doubling back and presenting the stories of the five families in the second half after having introduced them and presented various accounts of their doings, and those of law enforcement, earlier in the text. It's kind of like a Pimsleur language course presentation, layering the material so as to aid in comprehension. I'm not sure it entirely works, but the stories are so engrossing and the grisly doings so wincingly fascinating that the accumulation of it all ends up being a memorable reading experience. This is the difference between a book getting five stars, as opposed to getting five stars plus my personal Silver and Holy Grail awards, designations I only award to perfect or nearly perfect books.
Obviously, no one book is going to do justice to the giant story of the American mob, and that's why you need to go to individual accounts of specific mobsters for more detail -- and, of course, there are tons of those books out there.
But, for a one-stop, one-source overview, this book is it: a great place to become familiar with the whole crazy quilt kaleidoscope.
Even if most of us haven't paid with our lives at the hands of the Mob, we have paid out of our pocketbooks. There is not one American who has not, directly or indirectly, filled the coffers of organized crime, typically through the inflated costs of goods resulting from criminal hands in the till of the most mundane services we all use and depend on. One of the interesting aspects of the book is how clueless and in denial law enforcement, particularly Hoover's FBI, were for decades about the mob and its influence. Only after the efforts ot JFK and RFK and the later advent of the RICO laws did various levels of the law finally begin to catch up to the vastness of the problem and be able to do something about it.
As Raab has pointed out, the Mob were the mirror image of capitalism. They just managed to cut out the various inconveniences of legality. Which begs a lot of questions about how irresponsible and inhumane our "legal" businesses operate while exploiting the public welfare within the thin shell of bought-off laws. Unfortunately, it seems, there is always going to be a "mob" of sociopathic elites hellbent on keeping us under their thumbs. They may not "whack" us, necessarily, but they sure as hell will make our lives unduly miserable.
That is another subject...
KR@KY 2021
I gladly paid the bill and left with a substandard meal in my belly and a prayer to the Saints that I'd escaped with my life. But it was all worth it, just to have a nice little story to tell you guys.
This book, Five Families is kind of like that meal, at least in the sense that I was left wanting by its execution, but filled with too many amazing stories.
It's a big book about little men who were big bullies.
So, reading this massive, sweeping account of the history of the American Mafia, and the vast cast of characters who made up the mafiosi of mid- to late- 20th-century New York, was akin to being at the best Italian wedding meal of your life -- with all the variety arrayed across countless tables ready for delectation but having it served in the wrong order: like having the aperitivo served third, the antipasti served last, the primo piatto served second to last, the secondo piatto served whenever, and dolce -- dessert -- served in dollops randomly in between. It was offputting in the way it was served, but was still the best meal you've ever had. For the record, I've only been to one Italian wedding dinner -- the nuptials of a college friend some years ago -- and it was heavenly; and served in the correct order.
Taking into account other justifiable criticisms from other reviewers of the book here on Goodreads, I find myself not disagreeing about the book's dizzying organization of the material, as if author Raab and his editors were a bit intimidated by the task in front of them. But then, intimidation may be apt, given the subject.
Raab tries to present this material in a roughly linear order, but does tend to repeat himself, finally doubling back and presenting the stories of the five families in the second half after having introduced them and presented various accounts of their doings, and those of law enforcement, earlier in the text. It's kind of like a Pimsleur language course presentation, layering the material so as to aid in comprehension. I'm not sure it entirely works, but the stories are so engrossing and the grisly doings so wincingly fascinating that the accumulation of it all ends up being a memorable reading experience. This is the difference between a book getting five stars, as opposed to getting five stars plus my personal Silver and Holy Grail awards, designations I only award to perfect or nearly perfect books.
Obviously, no one book is going to do justice to the giant story of the American mob, and that's why you need to go to individual accounts of specific mobsters for more detail -- and, of course, there are tons of those books out there.
But, for a one-stop, one-source overview, this book is it: a great place to become familiar with the whole crazy quilt kaleidoscope.
Even if most of us haven't paid with our lives at the hands of the Mob, we have paid out of our pocketbooks. There is not one American who has not, directly or indirectly, filled the coffers of organized crime, typically through the inflated costs of goods resulting from criminal hands in the till of the most mundane services we all use and depend on. One of the interesting aspects of the book is how clueless and in denial law enforcement, particularly Hoover's FBI, were for decades about the mob and its influence. Only after the efforts ot JFK and RFK and the later advent of the RICO laws did various levels of the law finally begin to catch up to the vastness of the problem and be able to do something about it.
As Raab has pointed out, the Mob were the mirror image of capitalism. They just managed to cut out the various inconveniences of legality. Which begs a lot of questions about how irresponsible and inhumane our "legal" businesses operate while exploiting the public welfare within the thin shell of bought-off laws. Unfortunately, it seems, there is always going to be a "mob" of sociopathic elites hellbent on keeping us under their thumbs. They may not "whack" us, necessarily, but they sure as hell will make our lives unduly miserable.
That is another subject...
KR@KY 2021
July 8, 2013
This book attempts to cover a wide period in the history of the New York Mafia - from the days of Prohibition, when the streets of the city were awash with illicit booze and the Mafia was coalescing into an organisation from the disparate rabble that it previously was, to the turn of the twenty first century, when many of the old values put in place by Lucky Luciano in the early thirties were being dismissed by a new brand of more selfish, individualistic mafioso.
It is probably the most comprehensive book I've read on the topic, not only in the period of history it covers, but also in the depth of information which it provides. It would therefore be fair to say that it is rich in information and very educational for anyone interested in the subject.
My main criticism would be that it is not always the easiest book to follow, skipping over some aspects which would perhaps benefot from further explanation. I still do not have a full understanding of how unions and the construction industry were manipulated. A lot of the discussion on the Mafia's influence on blue collar industry were sketchy, making the pages which did contain information less valuable than they would have been had this been delved into in more detail. This only serves to prolong the book unnecessarily.
Nonetheless, historical explanation of the origins of the mafia, the lawless escapades of some of the early bosses and descriptions of how mafioso thought and operated were fascinating and made this book well worth the effort required to complete it.
It is probably the most comprehensive book I've read on the topic, not only in the period of history it covers, but also in the depth of information which it provides. It would therefore be fair to say that it is rich in information and very educational for anyone interested in the subject.
My main criticism would be that it is not always the easiest book to follow, skipping over some aspects which would perhaps benefot from further explanation. I still do not have a full understanding of how unions and the construction industry were manipulated. A lot of the discussion on the Mafia's influence on blue collar industry were sketchy, making the pages which did contain information less valuable than they would have been had this been delved into in more detail. This only serves to prolong the book unnecessarily.
Nonetheless, historical explanation of the origins of the mafia, the lawless escapades of some of the early bosses and descriptions of how mafioso thought and operated were fascinating and made this book well worth the effort required to complete it.
February 17, 2023
Five Families by Selwyn Raab is a comprehensive and gripping account of the rise and fall of the Mafia in the United States. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with former Mafia members, law enforcement officials, and other insiders, Raab provides a detailed and fascinating history of the five major Mafia families in New York City: the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese families.
The book takes the reader on a journey from the early days of the Mafia in the late 19th century to the present day, chronicling the various power struggles, alliances, and betrayals that have defined the Mafia's history. Raab delves into the inner workings of the Mafia, revealing the tactics and strategies used by the families to gain and maintain power, as well as the violence and corruption that characterized their activities.
One of the book's strengths is its focus on the role of law enforcement in the fight against the Mafia. Raab examines the various tactics and strategies used by law enforcement officials over the years, from wiretapping and surveillance to the use of informants and the witness protection program. He also provides a critical analysis of the effectiveness of these tactics and the challenges that law enforcement faced in their efforts to dismantle the Mafia.
Overall, Five Families is a well-written and informative book that provides a fascinating look at the world of organized crime in the United States. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of the Mafia or the challenges faced by law enforcement in combating organized crime. Raab's insights and analysis make the book a valuable resource for scholars and researchers, while the engaging narrative style and colourful anecdotes make it accessible to a general audience
The book takes the reader on a journey from the early days of the Mafia in the late 19th century to the present day, chronicling the various power struggles, alliances, and betrayals that have defined the Mafia's history. Raab delves into the inner workings of the Mafia, revealing the tactics and strategies used by the families to gain and maintain power, as well as the violence and corruption that characterized their activities.
One of the book's strengths is its focus on the role of law enforcement in the fight against the Mafia. Raab examines the various tactics and strategies used by law enforcement officials over the years, from wiretapping and surveillance to the use of informants and the witness protection program. He also provides a critical analysis of the effectiveness of these tactics and the challenges that law enforcement faced in their efforts to dismantle the Mafia.
Overall, Five Families is a well-written and informative book that provides a fascinating look at the world of organized crime in the United States. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of the Mafia or the challenges faced by law enforcement in combating organized crime. Raab's insights and analysis make the book a valuable resource for scholars and researchers, while the engaging narrative style and colourful anecdotes make it accessible to a general audience
October 28, 2023
Selwyn Rab wrote both the right and wrong book on the American mafia. I've seen Selwyn many times in documentaries on the mob and as a raconteur of mafia stories of wise guys he has known over the years he is unsurpassed. The best portion of this massive book is devoted to biographies of the rise and fall of La Cosa Nostra bigwigs John Gotti (Gambino family), Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso (Lucchese Family), Vincent "The Chin" Gigante (Genovese Family) and Joey Massino (Bonnano Family) at the height of organized crime in New York during the wild Eighties. Alas, to get to this treasure the reader must march through hundreds of pages of mafia history, from the Castellamarese War to the rise of Carlo Gambino, with little original material and only Selwyn's 20-20 hindsight on what all of this means. If Selwyn Raab had had the courage to write a shorter but more powerful book on how the mafia rose to spectacular power and influence during the Reagan years and then came crashing down just as fast, I would happily award FIVE FAMILIES five stars.
July 13, 2012
So I am FINALLY done with this book. It was very good, but at times I felt like I was slogging through it. Considering how much I generally enjoy slog-worthy books (the denser the better), I'm not sure what my issue is with this one. First of all, it was well-written and the information was really interesting. Secondly, I learned a lot of details on mob history I didn't know. But that's it. I didn't look forward to reading it. I certainly didn't choose to read it over knitting or doing something else, like listening to my audiobook on the Gulag (it's awesome, but a bit of a slogger, too, in parts). I didn't dread reading Five Families either. It just "was." Kind of like having to read ethnography upon ethnography in graduate school, or worse, articles and more articles on archaeological studies of hunters and gatherers in the prehistoric past. I'm an archaeologist. I should love that shit no matter what. But at times, that shit (coprolites anyone?) was torture. (Good thing I'm a historical archaeologist - no hunter gatherers in places like Louisville and Lexington in the late nineteenth century). Anyway, enough rambling. I guess my point is (finally), that I would recommend this book if you are really interested in the history of the mafia; in particular, the events that occurred from the 1970s through the 1990s. The court case histories probably were my favorite part of the book. It's good. Just don't anticipate anything too sensational. You'll just be disappointed and start watching reruns of The Sopranos, dripping tears onto your biscotti, hoping to finally get your "mob fix" (I didn't do that by the way - it's just with all the mafia stuff on TV these days [Mafia Wives, anyone?], people can't get enough of the sensationalism).
December 29, 2010
A poorly edited headache of a book with little to offer on top of its primary sources in the LCN non-fiction canon as to be a near-total waste of time. Somehow includes less material on the pre-Apalachin period than your average Wikipedia article, but packs in more sensational junk about John Gotti than the New York Post and all the books written by his family combined. Departures from its chronological organization are frequent, making an already long and complex history even harder to follow than necessary (even for someone familiar with the subject matter). On top of this a sanctimonious, law-enforcement-triumphalist tone I find unwelcome. I put this thing down after finishing about 70% and read _Donnie Brasco_ instead: I recommend you skip it altogether and go straight to the primary sources.
June 13, 2024
the mafia is just a multi level marketing scheme for men
May 5, 2024
This book was very well written and very informative. Told by an investigative reporter from NYC and compiled from 40 yrs of research, this captivating story tracks the five New York Mafia Families from their early formation to the early 2000s, from Al Capone to John Gotti. It also provides some interesting insight into the FBI hunt for mob leaders.
I don’t normally read/listen to history, but this book was filled with enough plot twists and betrayal to keep me hooked. The author also used real dialogue from the mob leaders caught on wiretaps to add some zest to the story.
I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a more comprehensive book on the Mafia in New York.
I don’t normally read/listen to history, but this book was filled with enough plot twists and betrayal to keep me hooked. The author also used real dialogue from the mob leaders caught on wiretaps to add some zest to the story.
I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a more comprehensive book on the Mafia in New York.
August 5, 2016
This is a pretty comprehensive overview of the mob. It's useful for putting a timeline together in your head and there were a few interesting new stories, but the more exposure you already have to mafia non-fiction the fewer surprises will be in store. As an overview, it never really gets into all that much depth about any particular story or individual (understandably, as it would have required a multi-volume set to do that), so you will find a more complete and complex account in books that focus on one era/event/mobster. I did find out a few things I didn't know before, though - for instance, I didn't know about all the controversy surrounding Kurins and O'Brien's Boss of Bosses or the various ways the mob infiltrated law enforcement (even the FBI!) or all that much about the Gaspipe Casso stuff.
Also the tone can be a bit moral-panicky, especially towards the end. For instance, the commentary on the Sopranos was very silly ("OMG it glorifies the mob" - mmm not really, or at least far less so than the classic mafia films; "a mafia leader could never see a shrink or it would make him look weak" - yep that's a plot point on the show, they deal with that directly; frankly one of the most interesting things about this book was noting which plots from the Sopranos were based on real events!). Similarly, the commentary on gender and the mob seemed like a disingenuous tack-on (it's certainly true that the mob is sexist, but surely the author could have done a better job illuminating that as he told the individual stories of mobsters throughout the book, by mentioning all the cheating and domestic violence and pimping that was happening at the same time as the other crimes and immoralities he found worthy of mention). He does at least occasionally criticize the FBI and the other government investigations, at least.
Also the tone can be a bit moral-panicky, especially towards the end. For instance, the commentary on the Sopranos was very silly ("OMG it glorifies the mob" - mmm not really, or at least far less so than the classic mafia films; "a mafia leader could never see a shrink or it would make him look weak" - yep that's a plot point on the show, they deal with that directly; frankly one of the most interesting things about this book was noting which plots from the Sopranos were based on real events!). Similarly, the commentary on gender and the mob seemed like a disingenuous tack-on (it's certainly true that the mob is sexist, but surely the author could have done a better job illuminating that as he told the individual stories of mobsters throughout the book, by mentioning all the cheating and domestic violence and pimping that was happening at the same time as the other crimes and immoralities he found worthy of mention). He does at least occasionally criticize the FBI and the other government investigations, at least.
September 12, 2021
A very in-depth and detailed look at the 5 mob families and their cappos, and also from the law enforcement side Dewey Robert Kennedy and Giuliani and some of the FBI are heavily reported on.
November 7, 2017
Perhaps a tad bit wordy for what it was.
September 23, 2023
3.5 stars. An interesting Wikipedia rabbit hole made me pick this up., and while reading it I went down even more Wikipedia rabbit holes, so it was very profitable over all. When reading Mafia adjacent romance (which I don't do often, but I do sometimes) I get frustrated by how sanitised and skewed it can be, and so it was refreshing to read something stark and factual about it, that talks about the history and the development and the crimes and the often heinous people behind them, and it reads exactly how I hoped it would: like a textbook. Of course, as anything written by a human being, this was skewed in its own way, and there were a lot of unnecessary political details and extremely in-depth legal foundation that became a little tiresome to me. But it was still really interesting. I don't know/care a lot about the mafia in real life or pop culture, and seeing the origins of certain names and cultural things that I'm tangentially familiar with was kind of cool.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Paul Costanzo, and it was good. Pretty dry, but serviceable. Made for an engrossing week of listening/reading. Ironically, this has made me want to pick up more mafia fiction? Maybe I'll appreciate it more.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Paul Costanzo, and it was good. Pretty dry, but serviceable. Made for an engrossing week of listening/reading. Ironically, this has made me want to pick up more mafia fiction? Maybe I'll appreciate it more.
July 4, 2023
It’s been a long 2 months but I finally finished this monstrous book. This has to be the longest nonfiction I’ve ever read and by the end I was exhausted and half confused. I listened to this on audio and past the half way point there were so many names I couldn’t keep anyone straight. That being said it was interesting and informative. I never thought about the mafia past movies and tv so it was cool to hear about the history. If this was 300 pages shorter it would have been a 5 star but since I’m mentally exhausted I’ll give it a 4.
March 28, 2020
At its best, Five Families reads like a textbook, presenting interesting and exciting events in the dullest manner imaginable. The rest of the time, the book is simply a disorganized mess. Raab obviously did a tremendous amount of impressive research and is able to relate individual incidents in a cogent--albeit tedious--manner. However, Five Families lacks any sort of macro structure. The narrative constantly jumps from one incident or mobster to another. These transitions routinely also involve a time shift with events in one section often taking place decades earlier than those covered in the previous segment. Getting through this poorly written and terribly edited 785 page behemoth was a true choir.
February 13, 2015
This is a good book about the Five Families in New York. It focuses on the past fifty years, so if you want a book that covers the 20's and 30's look elsewhere. The author argues that the FBI did not focus on the mafia until Hoover was out. He gives a lot of credit to the Kennedy's in the 60's, the FBI in the 70'-90s and Giuliani as police commissioner and mayor. He thinks 9/11 has undermined efforts as the focus has shifted towards counter terrorism.
December 9, 2019
The definitive book on the mafia. A comprehensive, thoughtful and well-researched look into La Cosa Nostra from its birth until the early days of the century.
August 31, 2024
The definitive Mafia history. A doorstopper of a tome, but outlines the entire history of La Cosa Nostra from its Sicilian origins to the mid-2000s. Extremely well-sourced and researched, the author takes a lot of time to dismantle some long-lasting myths. There are a LOT of names to remember, and the author does his best to remind the reader of who is who, but the human brain can only remember so many nicknames. Around the middle of the book, the author starts getting away from the chronological narrative of the Mafia to explain what is happening to each family at a time - this is very useful to get a microscope-view of history, but it helps to keep notes for when the narratives criss-cross. Ends with a prediction/warning of the future of the Mafia, and is very much due for a 2024 edition with a chapter on what has changed in 15 years.
Would highly recommend for anyone at all interested in a scholarly accounting of Mafia history, or someone who just wants a massive collection of gangster stories.
Would highly recommend for anyone at all interested in a scholarly accounting of Mafia history, or someone who just wants a massive collection of gangster stories.
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December 11, 20234/5. Quite interesting and very detailed
January 21, 2020
Loved it
January 18, 2024
Ok I'll say it this is really long but it is a very well researched history of the five New York mafia families from the thirties forward. Unfortunately I liked it less than I thought I would, it reads a lot like a text book and there's quite a bit of repetition, so a good editor might have made it better. I did like appendices A and B at the back of the book or it would been been impossible to keep up with who was boss when. It's worth the read of you're into this type of book.
September 7, 2014
Letto fino agli anni 80, poi il mio interesse è calato.
La prima metà di questo libro racconta la nascita dell’organizzazione criminale chimata Cosa Nostra grazie al genio di Lucky Luciano, che con le sue regole ferree è diventata la piaga degli Stati Uniti dagli anni venti agli anni ottanta, quando le forze dell’ordine hanno iniziato a prendere sul serio il fenomeno. Si raccontano anche gli albori siciliani che somigliano al banditismo sardo e di altri paesi vessati da continue conquiste. Una nascita che potrebbe definirsi nobile che poi è degenerata.
C’era scetticismo, non si credeva fosse possibile che esistesse una tale organizzazione. Solo in pochi tentarono di far aprire gli occhi ai piani alti, dove troneggiava Edgar J. Hoover, sordo alle richieste di intervento. Preferendo gli arresti facili, i risultati certi, a indagini lunghe e senza sicurezza di risultati. Impegnandosi a fondo e impiegando le preziose risorse contro una minaccia peggiore (secondo loro): I Comunisti!
A quanto dice Raab, l’FBI fino agli anni ottanta era praticamente una barzelletta. Con Task Force che non avevano nulla da fare e impegnavano il tempo a far cruciverba.
Tra intercettazioni, folklore e aneddoti Raab ridimensiona Al Capone e ci spiega chi erano i veri pezzi grossi. I padri delle cinque Famiglie di New York.
Affascinante leggerlo dopo aver seguito tre stagioni del telefilm della HBO: “Boardwalk Empire”, dove compaiono molti dei personaggi citati, romanzati, tra i quali spiccano i giovani Luciano e Capone — qui agli inizi di carriera — ma anche Joe Masseria, protagonista della guerra dei castellamaresi. Guerra che causò l’ascesa al potere di Luciano e in seguito la nascita della cupola, che servì a metter fine alle guerre tra borgate.
Interessanti anche i risvolti storici della nascita del crimine organizzato siciliano in Italia che a quanto pare si deve ancora a Luciano, che esiliato in Sicilia insegnò alle cosche locali quel sistema che poi avrebbe funzionato per anni, dove il gruppo centrale del potere: la commissione, rimane intoccabile grazie a una gestione oculata delle sostituzioni degli uomini venuti a mancare per svariati motivi, rendendo difficile — se non impossibile — distruggere l'organizzazione dalle fondamenta. Una vera organizzazione “politica” del potere criminale.
La prima metà di questo libro racconta la nascita dell’organizzazione criminale chimata Cosa Nostra grazie al genio di Lucky Luciano, che con le sue regole ferree è diventata la piaga degli Stati Uniti dagli anni venti agli anni ottanta, quando le forze dell’ordine hanno iniziato a prendere sul serio il fenomeno. Si raccontano anche gli albori siciliani che somigliano al banditismo sardo e di altri paesi vessati da continue conquiste. Una nascita che potrebbe definirsi nobile che poi è degenerata.
C’era scetticismo, non si credeva fosse possibile che esistesse una tale organizzazione. Solo in pochi tentarono di far aprire gli occhi ai piani alti, dove troneggiava Edgar J. Hoover, sordo alle richieste di intervento. Preferendo gli arresti facili, i risultati certi, a indagini lunghe e senza sicurezza di risultati. Impegnandosi a fondo e impiegando le preziose risorse contro una minaccia peggiore (secondo loro): I Comunisti!
A quanto dice Raab, l’FBI fino agli anni ottanta era praticamente una barzelletta. Con Task Force che non avevano nulla da fare e impegnavano il tempo a far cruciverba.
Tra intercettazioni, folklore e aneddoti Raab ridimensiona Al Capone e ci spiega chi erano i veri pezzi grossi. I padri delle cinque Famiglie di New York.
Affascinante leggerlo dopo aver seguito tre stagioni del telefilm della HBO: “Boardwalk Empire”, dove compaiono molti dei personaggi citati, romanzati, tra i quali spiccano i giovani Luciano e Capone — qui agli inizi di carriera — ma anche Joe Masseria, protagonista della guerra dei castellamaresi. Guerra che causò l’ascesa al potere di Luciano e in seguito la nascita della cupola, che servì a metter fine alle guerre tra borgate.
Interessanti anche i risvolti storici della nascita del crimine organizzato siciliano in Italia che a quanto pare si deve ancora a Luciano, che esiliato in Sicilia insegnò alle cosche locali quel sistema che poi avrebbe funzionato per anni, dove il gruppo centrale del potere: la commissione, rimane intoccabile grazie a una gestione oculata delle sostituzioni degli uomini venuti a mancare per svariati motivi, rendendo difficile — se non impossibile — distruggere l'organizzazione dalle fondamenta. Una vera organizzazione “politica” del potere criminale.
March 6, 2019
(So I didn’t really finish it, but considering the book was 750 dense pages and I made it through half, I’m counting it.)
I’ll admit I wanted to read this because I was watching The Sopranos for the first time, and became really curious about comparing the show with historical facts. That, and I’ve always been a big lover of mafia films and fascinated by the social concept of “crime as a family”.
The book did not disappoint. Many parts described scenes straight out of a movie, with violent assassinations, sharp-tongued gangsters, corrupt politicians, ethnic rivalries, and all manners of rackets - except that it was all true.
Cool things I learned:
- Italian American organized crime originated with bootlegging during Prohibition
- the social organization of the 5 families and how their central governance allowed for inter-family peace for 70 years
- how the FBI for decades turned a blind eye, even willfully denying the existence of the organization
- how Cosa Nostra at their peak was responsible for 90% of heroin trafficking into the US
- most amazingly, the not terribly crazy conspiracy theory that the organization might have orchestrated the assassination of JFK
I would say that the book was not written not so much for the purposes of entertainment as much as for a comprehensive historical accounting. Readers not as inherently fascinated by the Italian American mafia as I am might find this book to be overly pedantic, but I quite enjoyed the level of detail.
I’ll admit I wanted to read this because I was watching The Sopranos for the first time, and became really curious about comparing the show with historical facts. That, and I’ve always been a big lover of mafia films and fascinated by the social concept of “crime as a family”.
The book did not disappoint. Many parts described scenes straight out of a movie, with violent assassinations, sharp-tongued gangsters, corrupt politicians, ethnic rivalries, and all manners of rackets - except that it was all true.
Cool things I learned:
- Italian American organized crime originated with bootlegging during Prohibition
- the social organization of the 5 families and how their central governance allowed for inter-family peace for 70 years
- how the FBI for decades turned a blind eye, even willfully denying the existence of the organization
- how Cosa Nostra at their peak was responsible for 90% of heroin trafficking into the US
- most amazingly, the not terribly crazy conspiracy theory that the organization might have orchestrated the assassination of JFK
I would say that the book was not written not so much for the purposes of entertainment as much as for a comprehensive historical accounting. Readers not as inherently fascinated by the Italian American mafia as I am might find this book to be overly pedantic, but I quite enjoyed the level of detail.
October 10, 2020
This is pretty much the definitive book about the history of the mafia, so it will hit the spot for any mafia fix you may have, at least as regards the New York families. I do wish it had more about other families in the country, and I wish there were a follow-up edition discussing what has been happening in recent years.
I read some complaints that this was pretty much a summary of law enforcement tactics against organized crime. On the other hand, by definition the Cosa Nostra has been secretive, so the only reliable source is usually what the police can uncover. So I'd much rather have this than rumors and speculation by others. Even with Joe Valachi, we saw how an insider can get many of the facts wrong about things that don't concern him directly. Or the Bonanno soldier who didn't know that Costa Nostra meant Our thing (he thought it meant Friends).
After reading this my respect for Al Capone and John Gotti has plummeted, while that for Chin Gigante and Joseph Massino has increased. It has remained the same for Lucky Luciano and Carlo Gambino.
I read some complaints that this was pretty much a summary of law enforcement tactics against organized crime. On the other hand, by definition the Cosa Nostra has been secretive, so the only reliable source is usually what the police can uncover. So I'd much rather have this than rumors and speculation by others. Even with Joe Valachi, we saw how an insider can get many of the facts wrong about things that don't concern him directly. Or the Bonanno soldier who didn't know that Costa Nostra meant Our thing (he thought it meant Friends).
After reading this my respect for Al Capone and John Gotti has plummeted, while that for Chin Gigante and Joseph Massino has increased. It has remained the same for Lucky Luciano and Carlo Gambino.
March 28, 2018
You could whack somebody with this book, a 750 page history of the mafia in New York that covers eight decades of gang activity and law enforcement's efforts to curtail it. Raab is a thorough writer, a former NYT crime reporter, and this is a lot of material to cover, but he still desperately needs an editor as there is an abundance of needless repetition and some sections should be eliminated completely. The book starts slowly but picks up speed when it reaches the more "modern" events, including the Commission trial in the 80s and the Gotti case in the early 90s.
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