I read it, SC.

It was okay but a bit vague. The chapter on Frank Lucas was interesting because it lets you know that most of AMERICAN GANGSTER was fictionalized. It reads more like a collection of short non-fiction than a "tell-all."

Still, if you can pick up a copy that's been priced down, it's worth reading. Better yet, if your library has a copy, just borrow it.

I picked this up last night. It's a new one on the Kennedy assasination and its possible connection to organized crime.

It has received generally good reviews, but I'm hoping its not just "more of the same," because I've read at least half a dozen books on the subject.

I'll let you guys know.

I am close to finishing it this weekend, hopefully. I had heard of some of the bigger names but others were new to me. There was one guy in there called "Preacher" who was like a combination of the worst and most vicious movie gangsters you could imagine-only unfortunately real life. Preacher not only murdered, extorted and robbed some very scary people, he tortured and raped them as well. Real sicko. He frightened other stone killers.

Going a bit further back, nice chapters on Owney Madden, Dutch Schultz, Frank Matthews and Nicky Barnes.

It's worth picking up. I don't know if I'd pay full price but who does pay full price these days.

I finished "The Silent Don". As I didn't know very much about Santo Trafficante at all I was really interested in that story. I think that the author had most of the information I was really interested in in his other book "The Cigar City Mafia" which I haven't read yet. Santo seemingly managed to stay on top with very little muscle and a very amorphous Family structure. He did have a lot of links to other Families. What was intriguing about Santo is how much he stayed out of the spotlight.

I have read "Cigar city Mafia".

It's very good!

How did Santo take over as leader? His father was a leader of course but there were other organized crime elements that didn't answer to his father.

Did Santo ever get his hands dirty in the thirties and forties?

The book says that Santo Jr was hand picked by his father to succeed him.

In the 30's and 40's Jr was groomed by regularly being sent to New York to work with the Luccheses.It was here he was arrested for grand larceny,unlawful entry and bootlegging but nothing he ever served time for.
By the 50's he ran the Tampa bolita empire for his father as a prelude to taking the reins full time.

cause i'm not fluent in english,
mafia's novel is complicated for me...

Don't worry about that my friend!

I'm not fluent in English either....

and i'm from England

P.S. Welcome to the BB

My Crime Book List:

Calling Time on the Krays.
Cocky.
Crime Incorporated.
Death Warrant.
Eddie Richardson: The Last Word.
Essex Boys.
Five Families.
Gangland International.
Gangs.
Gang War.
Ron Kray: My Story.
Stop the Ride, I want to Get Off.
Supergrasses, Informers and Bent Coppers.
Terrace Legends.
The Great Casino Heist.
The Outfit.
Wannabe in my Gang.

I soon am going to get Joe Massino's book, the Last Don.