@ Alfa

I think you took that book way too PERSONALLY, lol. They are CANADIAN WRITERS AND REPORTERS, this is going to skewer the perspective a little, but none of the information is made up, or blatantly fabricated, good lord man.


The book plainly states that Vito ran into a wall in Ontario, they had to hit Paniepento? I probably butchered the name....

See part of this is like so many others, you make this revolve around the entrenched strenghth of a family, and not about WHO IS CONTROLLING THE DOPE, who is importing the dope, who has the connections to the suppliers and producers, who are the distributors. Literally, NY was the distribution hub, not the Production center, or the transit point like Montreal was. And the trade is controlled from the supply end in a city like NY.

You ever read Blood and Honor? It's from the perspective of a low level soldier in the Philly family. If you listen to this guy, the whole mob world of philly was Camac and Moore, I think the corner was? And it was, to a STREET LEVEL guy like him. Read Leonettis book and AC is the center of the Philly mob universe. I bet Brooklyn was ground zero for Henry hill with the Lucheses, but we KNOW the power in the family was in Manhattan and jersey, maybe the Bronx too.

Valachis perspective was skewered, so was the guy who wrote Mob Summit. He was from upstate NY, to him Buffalo was like, the top of the mountain. You gotta read between the lines, it's like a cop debriefing an informant. He's gonna know what he knows from HIS perspective inside the life. His perspective might be totally different from a another guy involved in the same criminal organization.


You gotta take this into consideration before you read ANY mob book. Who wrote it, and what's the agenda behind it. You read Murder Machine, then read Sins of My Father and it's like literally about two different people.


It's like Sinatra said' you really don't have to take the word of Sixth Family, there are plenty of books, articles and whatnot on the subject.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend you read about Sicily, because you kinda want to make the heroin trade revolve around NY, but like I've said before, there are no opium poppies in NY. Only the NY based gangsters WHO HAD DIRECT TIES TO SICILY AND THE OPIUM FIELDS OF THE MIDDLE EAST, and Corsican refiners controlled the dope trade. You seem to think the BONNANOS ,OWNED IT, because they were the Bonnano Family?

Look at the calabrians today in NY. Do the NY families provide initial financing ( probably for fronts) and logistical support, as well as money laundering services? I'm positive. But I don't think ANYONE would say the Genovese OWN the Calabrian cocaine trade. How would they, if they don't have a relationship with Colombian producers? John Roberts was mafia royalty, and he didn't kick up much to his uncles. HE was in with the Colombians. Not the Gambino family.

The Gambinos have a larger stake, but they have DIRECT TIES to South America, AND Sicily, AS WELL as the NY base.

Luciano's domination of drugs wasn't due to the fact he was in NY, and the Maseria family owned the dope trade ( that to me is the critical flaw of you analysis..) it was due to the fact HE HAD CONTACTS IN CHINA, first through Rothstein, then on his own. It wasn't a MAFIA THING, ( Not until he got deported, and even then you couldn't say it was a LUCIANO FAMILY thing, cause Lucky was supplying Costa Nostra as a whole, well him and Coppola..)I seriously think it's the major racket he brought to the table, not fuckin whiskey. Who couldn't import whisky back then?





@ Moe

That is a great book, but a book I always found very confusing.
WERE THE GUYS CASSO WACKED OUT RATS FOR REAL? The author seems to think so, ( perspective, see?) but a lot of mob historians and researchers say he was branding guys rats to kill em. What's the truth?
( I always wanted to get Pizzaboys take on that book, never remembered..)

Also, to the author, Kaplan was a fuckin criminal mastermind, but I've heard others say he was basically Cassos lackey. Again, WHATS THE TRUTH?

I coulda sworn they called the guy Dracula because he was pale as fuck, but with that crew, who knows. But at the same time, again WHOES WRITING THIS? A cop, who want to make these guys look as sinister as possible for his book. Not a disparagement to the work, but this is just how it goes.

Try Mafia Inc, or Business or Blood...