Make no mistake- dispite its flaws, I love the Valachi Papers (the book, of course). But there are SO many times I wish Maas would have asked Valachi for more detail. My favorites:

1. Valachi says that a later time he'll talk about how Tony Bender "got his", but that he wasn't losing any sleep over it. He never does, or if he did it was edited out. That was a pretty big oversight because I've never read anything about Bender that said anything but "he walked out of his house and was never seen again".

2. The murder of Steve Franse. Wasn't Valachi a bit annoyed that they would do the deed in his restaurant kitchen when they already had Franse in the car to bring him to the restaurant? They murdered him, and then had to drag him back outside to his car and drive him away. We'll never know...

3. What happened to the 3 painters working in the ground floor apartment who they lined up against the wall prior to shooting Joe Baker? Buster said "come here, Joe". Nice.

I got more, but that rant will do for now.

All autobiographies and "as-told-to's" are self-serving. Mob autobiographies and "as-told-to's" are notoriously unreliable on top of that, for obvious reasons. Valachi's revelations were sensational at the time, but Valachi was a basic workin' stiff Mob guy, without much access to higher-ups. Maybe he really didn't know what happened? Or, maybe Maas didn't think the info was important enough to include--or his editors took it out?

I read somewhere that some of Valachi's revelations were actually spoonfed to him by the FBI.

Anyone else hear that? That could explain some of the discrepancies and loose ends (along with the fact that he was after all a criminal, albeit not a very successful one). I also read suspicions that he was an informer before the prison incident in Atlanta..

I remember that being talked about in a documentary. The FBI used Valachi to reveal info that they got illegally, wiretaps I guess. The explaination was since it was a congressional hearing and not a court of law that it was ok.

Ron

BTW - Since the subject came up, anyone seen the movie with Charles Bronson? Any good? Remember reading somewhere that it was pretty horrible.

During the Hoover years, the FBI gathered a lot of information from illegal wiretaps and other electronic surveillance. They couldn't use it in court, but they'd use it to confront a criminal or potential witness and make them dance to their tune. So, yes, it's entirely possible the FBI used Valachi to reveal what they couldn't reveal in a Senate hearing without revealing their illegal surveillance.

Much as I admired Charles Bronson, "Valachi Papers" wasn't one of his best vehicles. It was a cheap production, and it shows: in once scene, set in the early Thirties, Valachi is driving a '34 Ford at night--and is passed by a '70's-vintage Ford station wagon. In a later scene, he's driving a '40 Buick, and a modern Checker cab passes by. At the opening of the famous Apalachin NY Mob conference, the title says, "November 1957"--and the cops show up in '59 Fords.

Valachi is driving a '34 Ford at night--and is passed by a '70's-vintage Ford station wagon. In a later scene, he's driving a '40 Buick, and a modern Checker cab passes by. At the opening of the famous Apalachin NY Mob conference, the title says, "November 1957"--and the cops show up in '59 Fords. [/quote]


That's funny....

Maybe they figured people interested in Mob stuff wouldn't notice....