Originally Posted By: Ivan
Originally Posted By: Daco
Which book should i take to help me start knowing mafia structure?If you could recommend couple of them,and i'm interested mostly in structure and mafia business,behavior ..


You could start off with "Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia" (note: the "complete idiot" thing in the title is an ironic joke in case you aren't aware). It has a couple of mistakes in it, and the "current" information is a bit dated, but it is a good primer on everything.

After that, check out "Blood and Honor" and "Wiseguy" to get a good representative view from inside a family from the soldier and associate perspectives, respectively. You'll get a thorough sampling of the rackets, scams, violence, betrayal, politics, and the like from those two books.

These three books will give you a good foundation of knowledge on which to build.

Good advice, Ivan.

I'll just add that "Five Families," by Selwyn Raab, is probably the most thoroughly researched and complete book I've ever read on the history of the New York mafia. In my opinion, Raab's background in journalism is what sets this book apart from most of the other "true crime" writers. They try too hard to make the books dramatic.

For example, when I see dialogue that we know has been made up, I want to set the book on fire.

"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.