Nicolo Gentile wrote his memoirs in the 1960s and provided information about his life in the US Mafia. A copy of the book, "Vita di Capo Mafia" is extremely hard to come by. A manuscript for the book was penned down by a journalist and translated into english by US Authorities who investigated the Mafia at the time.
In the manuscript, Gentile gives his account of historical facts which surrounded the Mafia during the 1920s and 1930s. The Nicolo Gentile manuscript is a unique glimpse into the early years of the American Mafia. For example, he explains what led up to Masseria´s killing, tells about what happened during the infamous Castellamarese War, explains the creation of the Commission, names a bunch of men of honor etc.

If you are interested in getting a photocopy of this manuscript, which I find extremely interesting, contact David Critchley at ukthesis@yahoo.com

And just for the record, this board have nothing to do with the sale of the copies but is entirely attributed to David Critchley.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Gentile

Interesting, Hairy.

I think so too, PB. This Gentile work has been forgotten for so many years not many of the younger generation knows it exists. I think the work should be a corner stone in any mob buff´s book collection. And it definitely should be one major source of info for anybody writing a Mafia book, covering the early days. In many cases (I´m not glad to say) it´s not.