Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires

Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals and generational changes that produced violent and unreliable leaders and recruits. A twenty year assault against the five families in particular blossomed into the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century. Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the reader right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.

History

Raab, Selwyn

Americas

Thomas Dunne Books

For half a century, the American Mafia outwitted, outmaneuvered, and outgunned the FBI and other police agencies, wreaking unparalleled damages to America's social fabric and business enterprises while emerging as the nation's most formidable crime empire. The vanguard of this criminal juggernaut is still led by the Mafia's most potent and largest borgatas: New York's Five Families.
Selwyn Raab's Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. This definitive history brings the reader right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law-enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime. The paperback has been revised and updated, with a new epilogue focusing on the trial of the notorious "Mafia Cops."

Reference

In spite of the deadly law of omertà among the "men of honor" of the Mafia, promising swift and fatal retribution to its transgressors, Frank Ragano tells an unrivaled and unmatched insider's story. Never before has someone so highly placed revealed what went on behind the closed doors of organized crime during its most powerful, lucrative, and pervasive years.
This is the unvarnished story of the murders, the fixed juries, the sweetheart deals, and the political corruption that characterized the heyday of the Mafia. Here in unprecedented detail is the day-to-day workings of America's most profitable and influential criminal organizations, huge operations whose tremendous growth from the fifties to the seventies was due in part to brilliant, aggressive, highly paid attorneys who kept the wheels of these drug, and prostitution factories well greased.
Frank Ragano acted as a conduit between the mob and politicians, crooked businessmen, and powerful labor leaders. He provides an enthralling hour-by-hour account of the day Jimmy Hoffa was killed, including who ordered the hit and why. He shows how Hoffa's animus toward Attorney General Robert Kennedy erupted in a brawl between the two men in the offices of the Justice Department, and most shockingly, how Ragano unwittingly delivered the message—from Hoffa to the Mob—that resulted in President Kennedy's assassination. At the very heart of the American Mafia, Frank Ragano was the attorney for Santo Trafficante, Jimmy Hoffa and Carlos Marcello.
With a foreword is by award-winning screenwriter and author Nicholas Pileggi.

Mob Lawyer: The Mafia's Attorney Tells All

Biographies & Memoirs

Ragano, Frank

True Crime

ENIGMA BOOKS +

For half a century, the American Mafia outwitted, outmaneuvered, and outgunned the FBI and other police agencies, wreaking unparalleled damage on America’s social fabric and business enterprises while emerging as the nation’s most formidable crime empire. The vanguard of this criminal juggernaut is still led by the Mafia’s most potent and largest borgatas: New York’s Five Families.
Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York’s premier dons, from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and others. This definitive history brings the reader right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law-enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime. This updated tenth-anniversary edition features a new preface by the author.

A Thomas Dunne Book for St. Martin's Griffin

Product description Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo, and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals, and generational changes that produced violent, unreliable leaders and recruits. A twenty-year assault against the five families in particular blossomed into the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century. Selwyn Raab's Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons, from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the listener right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime. Review "This masterpiece stands an excellent chance of becoming a bestseller with crossover appeal beyond devoted watchers of The Sopranos." ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review About the Author Selwyn Raab, a former investigative reporter for the New York Times, has won dozens of awards for his coverage of the Mafia. He has appeared countless times on both local and national news shows. Selwyn is the author of Justice in the Back Room and coauthor, with Frank Ragano, of Mob Lawyer.

Tantor Audio

Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo, and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals, and generational changes that produced violent, unreliable leaders and recruits. A twenty-year assault against the five families in particular blossomed into the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century. Selwyn Raab's Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons, from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the listener right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Raab, Selwyn. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Raab, Selwyn

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Raab, Selwyn. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires

Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires

Mob Lawyer: The Mafia's Attorney Tells All

Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires

Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires

Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires