Originally Posted By: jvanley
Originally Posted By: GerryLang
"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."


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



"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.