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