Mr. -

I was in Barnes and Noble earlier and I came across this book and bought it. I was just going to post asking if anyone is reading this book, and I find your post here about the book.

I'm going to start reading it as soon as I finish another book that I am currently reading. How is it so far?


Don Cardi

Reas the first 200 pages,so far.A lot of stuff about the history of the mob,stuff we all read before.But Raab wrote it in a way that it doesn't irritate.I find it hard to put away,let me know what you think,when you start reading it,ok

Interesting read so far

anyone read the book Gangsters and Goodfellas?

Okay Guys.

I really need your help on this.

I am writing my University Dissertation on the American Mafia. My title is "What are the socio-economic and political impacts of the American Mafia on American Life in the 20th Century?".

It has to 10,000 words and i have to have a literature review by next week. I only just had my title approved hence the rush for literature.

Please give me your oppinions of the most salient and credible books i should buy!!

I thank you all in advance.

BB Ben!

1. Do a Google search on Ralph Salerno, and you will find excerpts of testimony that he provided to various Congressional committees on the Mafia's economic impact.
2. Buy "Five Families" by Selwyn Raab--a new book that's comprehensive on the Mafia, and that has economic impact info scattered in many chapters (the money is VERY big).

Turnbull.

Thank you. I really do appreciate your post.

For my Dissertation i want to separate the various impacts the mafia has had into more manageable chunks. i HAVE to relate everything to the title of course...the social and economic impacts on american society and of course some political stuff would be good...my degree is "European Politics" (i had to beg them to let me write about the USA).

I am thinking

1: General Structure and Origins of "The Mafia"
2: The Unions (good stuff economically here i would say)
3: Drugs (Social impacts)
4: Political impacts (the efforts of The Kennedys and the JFK hit)
5: The Mafia in the late C20th. (again social issues etc)
6: Gneral conclusion...evalution of the overall influence of the mafia.

If you know any books or resources online that can help with any of these areas i would be greatly appreciative....this of course goes out to anyone!

Many thanks.

Ben

Holy shit BB Ben. I'm assuming you've got until May/April to do this. You better not be like my mate and leave it too late. I'm lucky I shouldn't be touching my dissertation till next year with Lincoln.

First up. Turnbull is the man when it comes to the USA Mafia. I suggest you make a note of his member no. 474 and whatever you need make a search (from this site) using it. Apologies to Turnbull but at this stage in your studies you can't really reference this message board but I'd suggest taking his word and most of the time he provides references of where his information has come from. Use that.

I understand you'll have a ton of reading to do for this. So, first off I'd suggest a lot of backround reading for the Mafia. What it is, where it's come from - the generic stuff. You'll find some incredible information here but obviously you'll need to reference it for it to be credible.

For your question I'd suggest trying to get Crime Inc. - The True Story Of The Mafia. It's available on DVD, a wee bit old (mid 80's), but about 6 hours long. What's a half hour a night? There's plenty of information covering your topics. Obviously the DVD wont be enough but get what you can from it and if you come back here we'll hopefully be able to point you in the right direction regarding literature.

Yes thanks v much for your post my friend.

I already have Crime Inc on DVD. I also have Mafia Empire which is a superb DVD that chronicles both the US and Sicilian mafias and is more up to date.

Based on Turnbulls reccomendation i have bought Five Families by Selwyn Raab and also another two books that i am yet to own.

I also have Mafia: The First 100 years, Mobstar: The rise and fall of John Gotti, Cosa Nostra and a couple of other mafia books. I also downloaded the testimony to the US sentate from that website Turnbull mentioned and am trying to get hold of personal email addressed for various authors and journalists in the US in order to try and arrnage meetings and interviews....(i am going to NYC in February i hope...with the specific intent to meet people for first hand interviews which are considderred fantastic source material!)

I have untill May to finish this dissertation and am quite confident i can write an excellent piece. I have a good knowledge on the mafia anyway, i bought these dvds and books long before i decided to write my dissertation on the mafia.

Again, thanks for your post. Anything anyone can offer me with regards help to my dissertation would be greatly appreciated.

Regards.

Ben.

I picked up several books at a Barnes and Noble.

The Most Evil Mobsters In History by Lauren Carter
for $7.98 a bunch of short stories about mobsters like Carlo Gambino, Frank Costello, Dutch Shultz, John Gotti, etc. A really great reference book.

The other books that I picked up are in trade paperback fromat and are part of a series of books under the heading of True American Amazing Stories.

Meyer Lansky " The Shadowy Exploits Of New York's Master Manipulator." $7.95

Lucky Luciano "The Father Of Organized Crime." $7.95



Gang Wars "Blood and Guts On The Streets Of New York." $7.95


There are several other books in this series ;

Dutch Shcultz "The Brazen Beer Baron Of New York."

Crime Boss Killings "The Castellmmarese War."

and another coming out in May of 2006 "Benjamin Bugsy Siegel."


Don Cardi

Ben this might be a little late but The Idiot's guide to the mafia, it has sections on almost every one of the pooints you listed.

DMC,

Is that book worth buying?

To me it was actually. It gives a great overview and explanations of how the mafia made its money (loan sharking, betting etc...) It's one thing to hear that so and so made money through collecting bets and it's another to really understand how he did it and what's involved (to me at least).
It's not very in depth but more of just a very good overview from Lucciano to Gotti and everything in between.

Well DMC, you just convinced me to read it. Thanks!

Your welcome. Now I can get my $2 kickback for selling the book, $0.10 cents to me for delivery along with the money the publishing company is paying me for "labor peace".

It's all explained in the book

Did some of you guys read "The Valachi Papers"?
I just bought it. Is it well worth reading??

I'm just finishing up "Mafia Dynasty- The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family"
Or as I like to call it "Mafia Dynasty Dynasy Mafia Dynasty" I have found myself at least 10 times already checking to see if I was on the correct page and not re reading a page I had already read. The author repeats EVERYTHING, to the point where it just gets flat out irritating. John Gotti's "We're gonna, gonna bust him up" line must have been used 10 times in 3-4 pages.

And I thought that it was me. I had the same problem with this book. Pissed me off to no end. While there are many areas of the book that are somewhat interesting and informative, for the most part I too found this book to be very repetative throughout.


Don Cardi

DMC, I don't know if you saw this post that I made earlier about some books that I picked up over in Barnes And Noble. They are in trade paperback fromat and are part of a series of books under the heading of True American Amazing Stories.

Meyer Lansky " The Shadowy Exploits Of New York's Master Manipulator." $7.95

Lucky Luciano "The Father Of Organized Crime." $7.95



Gang Wars "Blood and Guts On The Streets Of New York." $7.95

I am going to pick up the other two books in this series today as they were on backorder.

.


Dutch Shcultz "The Brazen Beer Baron Of New York."

Crime Boss Killings "The Castellmmarese War."

I am interesting in reading the Dutch Shultz book as I have yet to see, before this one, any books out there specifiaclly about Dutch Schultz


Don Cardi

Yay! I've just bought my "Cosa Nostra" by John Dickie! It's finally translated, and I got it. I waited so long! I even considered buying English version through Amazon, but that's too expensive with shipping!
Can't wait to start!

DC, I didn't see your 2nd post before. Have you started reading them? Any thoughts yet?

You won't regret buying it, this book is very good!

You won't regret buying it, this book is very good! [/b][/quote]Thanks Enzo! I'll certainly post my raptures here!

I picked up the last two that I listed above, yesterday. I just started to read the Dutch Shultz one as I have never read anything solely dedicated to Shultz himself. I'll give you an update as soon as I get a little deeper into the book.


Don Cardi

I have in my collection "The Dutch Schultz Story" by Ted Addy. Apparently it was part of a series ("Public Enemies of the 1930's") published by Tower Books. Its a paperback that originally sold for 75¢ back in 1968 when it was first sold as a paperback.

Its an easy read and has 16 pages of pix. Let me know if you wanna borrow it, DC.

I just ordered a few of the ones you suggested above.

SC who else was in the "Public Enemies of the 1930's" collection?

Dunno (unfortunately). I can't find a list, but I'd like to know, too.

I'll give you $1.50 for it, double the cover price!


I may try to locate a copy of it. But if I cannot find one, then I'll take you up on your offer. Thanks.


Don Cardi

I checked the website Bookfinder4u.com - click here to see the results for The Dutch Schultz Story.

Lots of copies available at varying prices.

Signor V.

Grazie Signor. I did find them at abebooks.com and have placed my order. I appreciate it my friend.


Don Cardi