seems like you guys gotta pretty nice board going on here. I've been getting my feet wet on here the last couple months just lurking around without registering. Today I was bored so I thought I might as well jump right in and register.

As far as my affiliation- I have none. I'm just a neutral civilian who is interested in history and sociology, and that includes gangs and crime.

My username, as you all probably know, is the name of an old Sicilian drug kingpin who was running out of Tampa. There isn't much info on him that I'm aware of, but according to Wikipedia and other sources, he was shotgunned to death back in 1940 at the age of 55. The picture I have below my username is supposedly of him. I had never heard of him until I watched an episode of "Mobsters" that profiled the old Trafficante boys and their gang. I'm sure you all have seen it. Anyway, on one of the segments they gave a brief rundown on the history of some of the old hoods operating at the time. They flashed his mug on the screen and was immediately intrigued by the photo. Its very haunting image. Anyone have any info on this creep?

Also, can anyone give me a heads up on some good books on the American La Cosa Nostra? So far I've read, "Bosses of Bosses," "Double Cross." and "Murder Machine." They were okay, but I felt like they didn't have that much information and that many of the stories were embellished. I don't want to read about the same old stories over and over. Thanks, I look forward to having some intriguing conversations.

Welcome Ignocio. This board is a lot of fun and an amazing resource for information. There are incredible posters here and I'm glad I registered.
As far as some good books,the default go-to one seems to be The Five Families by Selwyn Raab. If you are looking for a basic jumping off point for LCN history,this is a good one.
I would recommend Wiseguy by Nick Pillegi,the book that Goodfellas was adapted from,and Donnie Brasco by Joseph Pistone.
The Pistone book is way more detailed than the movie of the same name,and is hard to put down.
Both of these offer a true life account of day to day life in the Mob world. Wiseguy has some variation from the film,but when you read Donnie Brasco it's like a completely different story. In my opinion the book is ten times better than the movie and contains characters and storylines that were left out of the screen version.
I'll leave it to the other posters to share their favorites with you.
Again,welcome to the board and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Thanks for the info, Lou. I'm gonna check 'em all out. I've been wanting to read Pistone's book, his story always fascinated me.

Anyone read the book about Massino? It looks like it has mixed reviews, like most "Mob" books.

Welcome to the board , there r only 2 or 3 people on here who actually know what they r talking about regarding the mob on here . A lot of them r keyboard warriors who r just out to ridicule u and r looking for a confrontation . If you r not from New York apparantly your clueless about the mob

Ignocio...I don't know the guy you use as your handle, but I do know you misspelled the name "Ignacio".

Theoretically it should be "Ignazio". "Ignacio" seems Spanish.

For the books to recommend, I also liked:

"The sixth family" by Lee Lamothe and Adrian Humphreys (even though I read that "Mafia Inc" by Andre Cedilot and Andre Noel includes more recent events)

"The underboss" by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill (about Jerry Angiulo)

"Gangs of St Louis" by Daniel Waugh (covers until the Prohibition period)

"Nothing personal" by Kenneth Dickson (the Licavoli clan in Toledo)

"Crimetown USA" by Allan May (history of organized crime in Youngstown; there will be a sequel to it later)

Blood & Honor by George Anastasia
Mob Star by Jerry Capeci & Gene Mustain
Underboss by Pete Maas
Five Families by Selwyn Raab

Haha! I was out of it yesterday. Is there anyway to change it? I don't really care though. I doubt this guy could could even spell his own name right.

@dwalin - You are right, this spelling does seem more Spanish. He was from Florida, so its possible he spoke Spanish. I heard somewhere that the Trafficantes also spoke Spanish.

Thanks guys, for all book recommendations. I'm gonna hit up Barnes and Noble and see how many of these I can get . I'm familiar with most of the titles except the one about Jerry Angiulo.