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Mar 13th, 2025
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Re: I read 5 families for the 2nd time.
[Re: pizzaboy]
#839216
04/26/15 02:21 PM
04/26/15 02:21 PM
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Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 576
NY
blacksheep
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 576
NY
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I was amazed at how much money they were making on these gas ripoffs, in the tens of millions. If the wiseguys can steal that much in a gasoline racket, how much do you think the Government makes? Why else would we give two shits what goes on in the Middle East? Call me crazy. Saying the government is the 'real mafia' is a cliche at this point, but when u follow the money and consider our involvement in the middle east, it kinda nails that phrase perfectly
Make that coffee to go
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Re: I read 5 families for the 2nd time.
[Re: Walkner]
#839303
04/27/15 08:21 AM
04/27/15 08:21 AM
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 220
BennyB
Made Member
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Made Member
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 220
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Valachi's book, and Valachi himself, gets a lot of criticism, but I like it.
There are a lot of problems with the Valachi book: he actually doesn't know that much, a lot of speculation, also (and most importantly) who was the "Buster from Chicago" character? Was it Valachi himself?
For a lot of people of a certain age, Valachi was the first book they read about the mob. That's too bad because it started them off with a bunch of shaky facts. I was lucky enough to read some great books like Five Families, Wiseguy and Donnie Brasco BEFORE Valachi.
The good thing about that is I already had a bunch of knowledge that allowed me to fish through the shaky facts and enjoy the story. There's so much there. People always say he was a "nobody," just a soldier, etc... But in the story, (true or not) he interacts with so many huge and famous mobsters from those early times. I especially like the first 10 pages or so when he talks about his childhood. A lot like "Angela's Ashes."
The Vinny Teresa book is similar in that way. /end of rant.
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Re: I read 5 families for the 2nd time.
[Re: americafyeah]
#839888
04/29/15 11:05 PM
04/29/15 11:05 PM
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Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 4
BMoney
Associate
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Associate
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 4
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i think you guys kind of overrate his book on this board. raab's writing style seemed pretty dry to me,and he uses a lot of unnecessary big words that no one ever uses in real life,outside of academia maybe. it's also maybe too ambitious. if i want to read a sweeping account of mob history that covers hundreds of years,i prefer something in encyclopedic form like jay Robert nash's books. it just doesn't work as well in the format of a chronology. just one man's opinion,of course. carry on I know in my first post feeding a potential troll isn't the best of starts, but to suggest that Raab uses words that are too big is kind of ridiculous. My vocabulary isn't that expansive but at no point did I feel the need to refer to a dictionary or thesaurus
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Re: I read 5 families for the 2nd time.
[Re: BMoney]
#840348
05/01/15 09:39 PM
05/01/15 09:39 PM
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 423
americafyeah
Capo
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Capo
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 423
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i think you guys kind of overrate his book on this board. raab's writing style seemed pretty dry to me,and he uses a lot of unnecessary big words that no one ever uses in real life,outside of academia maybe. it's also maybe too ambitious. if i want to read a sweeping account of mob history that covers hundreds of years,i prefer something in encyclopedic form like jay Robert nash's books. it just doesn't work as well in the format of a chronology. just one man's opinion,of course. carry on I know in my first post feeding a potential troll isn't the best of starts, but to suggest that Raab uses words that are too big is kind of ridiculous. My vocabulary isn't that expansive but at no point did I feel the need to refer to a dictionary or thesaurus ok,i just turned to a random page in the book to see if I was correct and I saw words like "omnibus" "spurious" "hob-knobbing" sorry,but these aren't regular words people use everyday. not to pass judgment on the author,I kind of get the feeling he's not the most down to earth or street guy ever. working at the ny times for 40 years will do that.
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