I know we have a section for this, but it is real life organized crime. I was wondering what is everyones best and worst Mafia books? Mine are as follows:

BEST: Five Familes by Selwen Raab
WORST: Making Jack Falcone

Close seconds to best: Underboss, Gaspipe and Murder Machine

BEST: It's a tie between The Brotherhoods (by Guy Lawson and William Oldham) and Blood And Honor (by George Anastasia).
WORST: Philip Carlo's Gaspipe was really bad. You can't write a book with that many errors.

I agree with you 100 percent about the errors. You know, its weird for me. I freaking HATE phillip Carlo but I loved Gaspipe, That has more to do with my fascination of Casso more than anything though.

What were the errors in Gaspipe? I thought Carlo sat down with Casso to get his info. Is Casso or Carlo lying, or both?

I really don't know what happened, but I know Philip Carlo was very sick when he wrote the book. He was a true hero who fought like a goddamn Comanche. RIP Philip Carlo.

This is a great post to sum up Phillip Carlo. The ONLY issue I have with Phillip Carlo is not checking his sources. The Iceman was the BIGGEST lying, false piece of shit book Ive ever read. He basically sat down and let Kuklinski vomit from his mouth and put it to paper, slapped some numbers on the pages and binded it with a cover and called it a "true Crime" book.

One thing Carlo can do is spin something though. I loved his saying which we have all read a million times....The La Costa Nostra drums resonated throughout the concrete world of Mafiadom"

Best: A tie between "Five Families," by Selwyn Raab, and "Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life," by Robert Lacey.

Worst: There are SOOOOO many bad ones it's hard to really say which is the worst. The Carlo books are awful (although I did respect the man for the way he fought his illness). The Bill Roemer books are a disgrace, even if they do make for interesting historical fiction. The problem is, they weren't marketed that way. He'd have you believe they were the Gospel truth. And pretty much anything written by a relative of a dead wiseguy (the Giancanas, the Capones, the Gottis, et al.) Those people deserve a special place in Hell just for trying to justify the lifestyles of their lost loved ones, then trying to cash in on the family name.

"The Brotherhood" was my favorite book too. It had a lot of info about Casso and Kaplan that I wasn't aware of, I had a hard time putting this book down. I also liked "Gaspipe" a lot despite the errors. Murder Machine and Underboss were great books too, I just hated how they tried to make the rats ( Montiglio and Gravano) out to be sympathetic and heroic characters. The first mafia book I read was "Boss of Bosses" years ago, and from what I remember it was a good read.

The worst I've read are "Double Cross" and "Made Men."

my personal fav was murder machine true page turner. for the sins of my father sucked

I honestly have over 70-80 True Crime Mafia books and I have never heard of either, would love to purchase them though. I am assuming I would have to do it online though as I go to Barnes and Nobles every Sunday and I have not seen them there yet.

My favorites after "Five Families" are:
Gaspipe- Carlo is terrible at facts though, my goodness.
UnderBoss
Mafia son-about teh scarpa family
The Good Rat- Mob cops and Burt Kaplan book. This is actuially a VERY VERY good read now that I think about it. Alot of court transcripts from the Mob Cops trial from Burt Kaplan, VERY good read.
Mob Cops: Another very good read
Donnie Brasco
Donnie Brasco Unfinished Business
Murder Machine

And one no one has mentioned that is FANTASTIC:
King OF Godfathers: The story of Big Joey Massino by Anthony Destefano.

also another good one no one has mentioned:
The Enforcer: The true story of Tony "the Ant" Spilatro

I can see I'm not adding anything new, but here goes:

Best: Five Families/Murder Machine
Worst: Gaspipe was hot garbage.

I'm with PB all the way here. I'd just add "King of the Godfathers" by Anthony DiStefano, and "Capone" by John Kobler, to the "best" list. The bads are too numerous to mention.

The worst I ever read was the Sam and Chuck Giancanna book. It was absolutely ridiculous. They claimed he was responsible for Vietnam, had Hoover in their pocket, had all the presidents in their pocket, killed JFK and RFK, had the Catholic church in their pocket, and on and on and on. I can't even remember all the garbage in that one.

On top of it being absolutely stupid, it was vile because there was really a trashy kind of mentality behind it. The subtext was that, yeah, Giancana was a pyschopathic monster, which he most assuredly was--but he was also kind of a hero who could do anything he wanted to anyone at any time. You must fear Giancana! He was a piece of trash.

Jonathan Eig's "Get Capone" was not too good either, the theory it advanced on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre was absolutely ludicrous and I have a hard time believing that Eig himself believed it when he published it. John Binder demolished it in 30 seconds, almost apologetically. But Eig had the right publisher and the book sold, a bunch of know-nothing reviewers gave it the green light.

My favorite book on the mob is "Family Secrets" because it gives such a crystalline view into the recent goings-on of the Outfit. No one had ever, at least in Chicago, spilled it like Nick Calabrese did. And it's also a story about the city, a story about the Chicago of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, that, simply, no longer exists. It's a story about guys who were essentially dinosaurs, living in a different age, long after the world around them had changed.

Binder's "Chicago Outfit" is excellent, a thoroughly researched and succinct history of the Chicago mob from a real expert.

I read a biography on Jack McGurn that was pretty good, no idea how the writer pieced that together. They did a good job though.

I want to read Murder Machine. I'm not that interested in the East Coast mob primarily because it's opening another can of worms and I already waste too much time reading about the Chicago mob, but DeMeo definitely captured my imagination. I Googled some images of the old Gemini lounge, that place is now a church for immigrants!

That's one thing interesting about reading about the mob, it tells the stories of cities, and how they change.

Little Man was beautifully written. Lacey definitely knows how to put together elegant sentences, but I felt he didn't understand the subject. He did not understand how Lansky operated and the importance of the men that were around him. Lacey looks at Lansky's bank account, talks to the heavily medicated son Buddy and assumes Lansky was just a poor old man who had merely been a victim of flaky journalists looking to cash in on his name. I am not someone who buys into conspiracy theories or the legends of these men, but the truth is Lansky was much more complex than Lacey would have his readers believe. Meyer Lansky never owned property. He, however owned people who owned property.

I know that shortly before Lansky got in trouble with the IRS in the early 1970s, he had about $15 million in accounts that he had direct access to. Almost every penny of that was transferred to his brother Jake. Now $15 million in 1972 is $78 million in today's money. That is a lot of money and needless to say, Jake's family remains filthy rich. It is very ironic, considering the fact that Meyer's son, Buddy died choking on his own vomit in some very lonely circumstances.

"The Brotherhoods" is by Guy Lawson and William Oldham, it is about the Mafia Cops, many believe it is the best book written on the subject. You can pick it up at Barnes and Nobles, that is where I got it a little over a month ago. Oldham played a major part in bringing the case to court and flipping Burt Kaplan.

"Double Cross" is about Sam Giancana, it is written by his brother Chuck. This book is pure sensational garbage, it is truly unreadable in my opinion, I put it down after a couple dozen pages. The good thing is I didn't spend no money on it, I found it tucked away in my basement, one of my old brothers must have left it when they moved out. Johnnynonos gives a very accurate description of the book in his post.

You mention the book about Joey Massino, King of the Godfathers. Somehow that book passed my mind when I first responded to the topic, that book is definately in my top 3, it is probably the most well researched mafia book I've read, an absolute masterpiece.

Yes, Anthony DeStefano's King Of The Godfathers is definitely worth mentioning. He is an extremely thorough guy and of very few mafia writers I hold in high regard.

Wiseguy is a classic.

I also love the books that get more into the nuts n' bolts business of the mob. Books like Gotham Unbound, Takedown, Vicious Circles, etc.

Ive said many times how much I loved "Gaspipe" and I have also said I think Phillip Carlo is a joke of an Author for not checking his facts. On top of that, his research and errors are a joke. So I was curious about all the mistakes "Gaspipe" had in it so I went back and looked. This one takes the cake my fellow Mafia lovers:

While talking about John Gotti in Gaspipe Phillip Carlo says this:

"John Gotti was well liked by all the Gambino Capos while big Paul was boss except for Neil Delecroce and the Sacillian Faction"

He goes on to say:

"Gotti went around to all 26 Gambino Capos to make sure they would back him as boss, they only faction who would not back Gotti as boss was again Neil and the Sacllian Faction"


1. Neil was the BIGGEST Gotti supporter, we ALL know that. In fact, if it was not for him, Gotti would have been dead!!!

2. Gotti never actually went around to other members of the family for backing of killing Big Paul until Neil was dead. Gotti knew that Neil was so old school he would have not let him do it. Gotti mentioned it in passing to Neil but thats it, Neil of course berated him for even bringing it up.

Gotti's full plan was not even put together yet until AFTER Neil died. The straw that broke the camels back was Big Paul not attending Neils wake. With Neil dead, that was the good reason Gotti needed to whack Big Paul on top of others. Gotti knew as long as Neil was alive he couldnt whack Big Paul.

So as the ESPN Monday Night Countdown crew would say, Phillip Carlo, "C'Mon Man"

carlo also stated that casso is the one that killed roy demeo. i honestly don't believe that either.

Best book five families or black mass. Worst book unlocked by louis ferrante

It does not state that Casso Himself Kill Demeo. It does state that the Gambinos reached out to Casso because he had the Gemeni twins in his back pocket and they obviously could get close enough to kill Demeo.

All of that if factual, Casso did have the Gemeni Twins in his back pocket and the FBI believes that the Gemeni Twins are responsible for Demeos murder.

the only thing no one knows for sure, is if the Gambinos reached out to Gaspipe.

Many think that Nino Gaggi got the order from Big Paul and may have actually shot Roy first and the twins finsihed him off.

2 things are certain though:

1. Casso did not kill Roy himself
2. Kuklinski did not kill Roy as he has claimed.

I've been trying to "legally" get the ebook of "Five Families" but the online stores don't seem to allow people outside the U.S. to buy it...

Does someone know how I can get my hands on this ebook?

I can buy you a copy and my local barnes and nobles ans hip it to you, The book is like 20 or 30 bucks I think plus shipping. I can get you an exact #

That's kind of you, but I'm talking about the ebook which ofcourse has no shipping. The normal book is available for me in the Netherlands, only not the ebook. I prefer an ebook as you can very easily look things up that way.

Here. If eBooks.com won't send it to your isp in the Netherlands, I doubt anyone will.

http://www.ebooks.com/SearchApp/SearchResults.net?term=five+families&RestrictBy=

I already been there.

This book is only available to customers in the following countries: United States.

Mother*******

sorry its been a while since i read it i thought it did state that about casso. kuklinksi's book was sooo horriable. i mean cmon feeding people to man eating alive rats in pennsylvania? ive lived all over pennsylvania and have never seen a man eating rat. ive seen large rats down in the coal mines but not big enough to ever eat a man alive. i do believe that gaggi killed demeo. i believe that the gemini twins were involved in it as well.

Well, I've always thought that Roy was killed by the Gemini twins at Patty Testa's place after the Gambino's reached out to Gaspipe who set the thing up.

But one thing that had bugged me.....
The contract was first given to Gotti who couldnt get to Roy.
DeCicco couldnt get to Roy either so the Gambino;s reached out to Gaspipe.
Hmmmmm.............If I was Paul Castellano I would call in Nino Gaggi and say "you brought Roy into the family - YOU take him out".

I'm certain the twins killed him I just dont know if Nino was actually present or not!
But Richard Bullshitter Kuklinski certainly wasnt there - LOL

Richard couldn't have been there. He was busy planning the murder of Big Paul. Let's keep the facts straight.

yeah he just got done with galante murder and was way too busy to even think about demeo! the guy had way too much on his plate...but i don't know and i guess none of us ever will, i believe that nino did it with the gemini twins. i guess we have came to agreement that all those people were involved one way or another.