The epic inside story of Joseph Massino, the mob boss of New York's Bonanno crime family for more than 20 years, who was betrayed by his closest friend, underboss and brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale. Based on interviews with Massino's family and friends, as well as law enforcement officials and confidential sources, The Last Godfather reveals the truth behind incidents made legend in gangster films like Donnie Brasco and The Godfather.
The Last Of The Old-World Mob Bosses--And The Ultimate Betrayal For more than twenty years, Joseph "Big Joey" Massino ran what was called the largest criminal network in the U.S., employing over two hundred and fifty made men and untold numbers of associates. The Bonanno family was responsible for over thirty murders, even killing a dozen of its own members to enforce discipline and settle scores. He would be brought down by Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale, the underboss who was not only Massino's closest and most trusted friend, but also his brother-in-law. In the end, facing the death penalty and the prospect of leaving his family penniless, Massino started talking to the FBI--the first Mafia Godfather to break the sacred code of omerta, and the end of a centuries-old tradition. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony DeStefano, who interviewed Massino's family and friends as well as law enforcement officials and confidential sources, King of the Godfathers is the story of the brutal mob war that made Massino head of the Bonanno family and the most powerful gangster in America. "The best and last word on the subject." --Jerry Capeci, Gangland News.com and bestselling co-author of Murder Machine With 16 Pages of Revealing Photos! Anthony Destefano was part of the team of New York Newsday reporters who won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the August 1991 subway crash in Manhattan. He covers organized crime for Newsday and was the lead reporter on several major criminal trials, including that of subway gunman Bernhard Goetz. He lives in New Jersey.
A vain man of good looks but no family ties to the Mob, Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano worked his way up to acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, becoming its leader when official boss Joseph Massino went to prison in 2003. When the Mafia was crawling with secret operatives and informants caving to government pressure to flip, Basciano steadfastly obeyed the code of La Cosa Nostra. “I got faith in one guy,” he said during a secretly taped meeting. That man was Massino, head of the Bonanno borgata. But for all his loyalty, Basciano was still a hot-headed, cold-blooded killer, which ultimately led to his arrest and downfall. Then in a remarkable betrayal that rocked the Five Families to their foundations, Massino secretly cooperated with the FBI—the first head bossever to roll over. As a result, Basciano faced the death penalty, but a federal jury, disturbed by the prosecution’s use of deadly criminal informants, reached a surprising verdict. Here from veteran crime author Anthony M. DeStefano comes the riveting story of the last true believer in the Mob’s cult of brotherhood and his betrayal at the hands of the only man he ever trusted.
Anthony Raimondi was born into a world that most people would never venture into or experience or be part of. He was born into the world of organized crime. In this book, he tells of rampant corruption, payoffs, and bribes and of treachery and deceit and assassinations in the Vatican and of the biggest heist in mob history. Look for Part 2 - When the Bullet Hits the Bone : The Dead Don't Walk
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "King of the Godfathers" comes the chilling and astonishing story of Charles Carneglia--executioner for the Gambino family--in a horrifying account of drugs, extortion, and murder. Original.
PEABODY, Mass. (Release Date TBD) In the grand manner of Mario Puzos The Godfather, BUTCHIE, a novel by Anthony C. Tripari, will draw readers into a complex labyrinth of crime, revenge and retribution. This literary foray into the mafia underworld is the thrilling follow-up to the events in Triparis previous book, Fast Ball. Dante Panarelli, a player and a pawn in a sinister game of power, is killed in a motorboat explosion. The suspicious circumstances that surrounded his death left room for doubt among those he left behind. Was it an accident? Or was it a well-executed murder? Dantes uncle, Bruno Panarelli, will do anything to find out; even seek the help of Giulio Butchie Frischetti, a close friend of the Panarelli family. Intimidating and clever, Butchie is a made man who has carved his niche within Boston crime circles; leaving a trail of blood in his rise to power. Together they pick up the pieces of the puzzle behind Dantes untimely death but they must do so with extreme caution if they want to remain on top of their game. Roiling on a narrative that is riddled with unexpected dangers and twists, "BUTCHIE" will absorb readers into a shady world governed by crime families; a world reeking with treason and where the laws of the game are constantly broken and changed. Once started, this novel will be hard to put down.
Pulizter Prize-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano’s latest in-depth history of organized crime exposes the truth behind the mafia crew that took down John Gotti. THE BOSS OF BOSSES Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano exposes the rise and fall of Vito Genovese in this first comprehensive biography of the legendary mafioso—from his childhood in Naples, Italy, and the beginnings of his bullet-ridden criminal career on lower Manhattan’s mean streets, through his self-exile in the mid-1930s back to his homeland where he ran a black market operation under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, and his return to New York where Genovese made a fortune as the head of an illegal narcotics empire. As a member of Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria’s gang in New York City, Genovese ran rackets before joining forces with Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, and Bugsy Siegel as bootleggers during Prohibition. He helped orchestrate Masseria’s slaughter on behalf of Brooklyn crime lord Salvatore Maranzano, consolidating his position and power before ensuring Maranzano, too, was knocked off. For the next three decades, Vito Genovese—shrewd, merciless, and utterly savage—killed countless gangsters in his bid to become the capo di tutti i capi—boss of bosses—in the American Mafia. Don Vito would betray some of the mafia’s most notorious bosses, including Albert Anastasia and Frank Costello, to eventually seize control of the Luciano crime family, one that still bears the Genovese name today. Praise for Anthony M. DeStefano’s Gotti’s Boys “DeStefano explores John Gotti’s rise to the head of the Gambino family . . . Aficionados are sure to relish the finer, exhaustively researched details.” —Publishers Weekly “A thrilling ride . . . DeStefano has written another excellent biography of a memorable group of gangsters and an excellent addition to the history of the Teflon Don.” —Booklist
Get a taste of New York’s underworld by seeing where mobsters lived, worked, ate, played, and died. From the Bowery Boys and the Five Points Gang through the rise of the Jewish “Kosher Nostra” and the ascendance of the Italian Mafia, mobsters have played a major role in the city’s history, lurking just around the corner or inside that nondescript building. Bill “the Butcher” Poole, Paul Kelly, Monk Eastman, “Lucky” Luciano, Carlo Gambino, Meyer Lansky, Mickey Spillane, John Gotti—each held sway over New York neighborhoods that nurtured them and gave them power. As families and factions fought for control, the city became a backdrop for crime scenes, the rackets spreading after World War II to docks, airports, food markets, and garment districts. The streets of Brooklyn, swamps of Staten Island, and vacant lots near LaGuardia Airport hosted assassinations and hasty burials for the unlucky. The bloodlettings, arrests, and trials became front-page fodder for tabloids that thrived on covering Mulberry Street. Chinese, Russian, and Greek mobsters rose to prominence and wrought bloody havoc as well. Each of the book’s five sections—one for each borough—traces criminal activities and area exploits from the nineteenth century to now. Everyone knows about Umberto’s Clam House in Little Italy, but now you can find Scarpato’s restaurant in Coney Island where Joe Masseria was killed by henchmen of Salvatore Maranzano, who in turn died in a Park Avenue office building at the hands of “Lucky” Luciano a few months later. From the Bronx to Brighton Beach, from New Springville to Ozone Park, here is a comprehensive, on-the-ground guide to mob life in the Rotten Apple.
A KILLER LINE-UP In his bloody reign as the head of the Gambino crime family, John Gotti wracked up a lifetime of charges from gambling, extortion, and tax evasion to racketeering, conspiracy, and five convictions of murder. He didn’t do it alone. Surrounding himself with a rogues gallery of contract killers, fixers, and enforcers, he built one of the richest, most powerful and violent crime empires in modern history. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano takes you inside Gotti’s inner circle to reveal the dark hearts and murderous deeds of the most remorseless and cold-blooded characters in organized crime. Men so vicious even the other Mafia families were terrified of them. Meet Gotti’s Boys . . . * Charles Carneglia * Gene Gotti * Angelo “Quack-Quack” Ruggiero * Tony “Roach” Rampino * “Sammy the Bull” Gravano * Frank DeCicco * Vincent Artuso * Joe “The German” Watts * THE ULTIMATE MURDERER’S ROW “DeStefano explores John Gotti’s rise to the head of the Gambino family . . . Aficionados are sure to relish the finer, exhaustively researched details.” —Publishers Weekly “A thrilling ride . . . DeStefano has written another excellent biography of a memorable group of gangsters and an excellent addition to the history of the Teflon Don.” —Booklist
Jimmy Bruno was an ordinary man that lived an extraordinary life. All Roads Lead to Chicago has been under construction for nearly 100 years. From the actual time the events were unfolding in Jimmy's life to the final edit of the book. His start in business came when he asked his boyhood friend, Alphonse Capone to assist with an employment opportunity. Through Al's help, Jimmy became a Chicago cab driver. Later Al would recruit him for an adventure that would take him far from the streets of Chicago, through Canada, and back to his native Italy before returning to Al Capone's Chicago to await other assignments. Jimmy was among a limited few who was able to resign from working for Capone and remain alive. However, trouble was never too far behind. Anthony's Grandmother Gladys, Jimmy's daughter, kept detailed accounts of her father's life. Growing up Anthony listened with excitement as Jimmy told his stories. Along with the notes left by Gladys, Anthony shares stories that have never been told, until now.
Anyone familiar with the history of organized crime knows the names: Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese and Colombo. There have been volumes written about that period, some accurate, some not at all. Anthony Colombo, the son of Joseph Colombo Sr., one of those reputed "crime bosses," has written, along with filmmaker and author Don Capria, what he hopes will be the final word on that turbulent time, the role his father played and finally, the true details of his murder. In "Colombo: The Unsolved Murder," the authors look to do more than set the record straight... "My father, Joseph Colombo Sr., was labeled the boss of one of the most notorious crime families in New York's history. Every news article, magazine article, and every book that references him repeats with little detail this as fact. Who my father really was, and who was truly responsible for his death has always been shrouded in mystery'' Colombo said. "Not to me though, as I know the truth of who he was, what he meant to the Italian-American community, and who should be held accountable for his tragic demise" he continued. On June 28th, 1971, Joseph Colombo Sr was shot and mortally wounded leading the Italian Unity Day rally in Columbus Circle. Now over 40 years later, his son and confidant tells the truth surrounding the shooting, the on-going wars with Joey Gallo and his crew, his father's formation of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, and Colombo Sr consulting on The Godfather.
From modest beginnings in a Pennsylvania coal mine to the height of success in Tampa, Florida, there was one constant threat in the Scarpo family's lives?the mafia. In small-town Pennsylvania, Tony Scarpo's grandfather Antonio, an immigrant from Bari, Italy, ran afoul of a gangster who terrorized the family for months. Antonio's message to his children was: ?Never let them steal your name.? It was a lesson Tony's father, Art Scarpo, took with him into the bar business in Tampa, a lesson he never forgot when the Trafficante crime family came calling. Alongside the Chicago Syndicate and New York's Five Families, the Trafficantes were one of the pillars of the American Mafia. But little Tony had no idea why his father came home beaten and bloodied. He was just a kid growing up on the outskirts of Tampa, with little-boy dreams and calls to adventure. His ?normal? featured sideshow freaks, crime, violence, bizarre deaths?and murder.
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