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

Good books about the American Mafia are few and far between. Most of the ones I've found seem to be self-serving memoirs by former members and associates of organized crime, written in conjunction with professional ghost-writers. These books are okay, but don't really provide me with what I want: a good, solid, informative history of the American Mob and the efforts of law enforcement agencies to eradicate it.I recently discovered just such a book: "Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires" by Selwyn Raab. Here is a definitive history of the five great crime "families" of New York, written by a former "New York Times" investigative reporter who is also one of the foremost recognized authorities on organized crime in America.In "Five Families," Raab traces the rise and decline of the five most powerful and influential crime borgatas in the United States - so-called "families" named after their most famous bosses: Bonanno, Columbo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese. These five Cosa Nostra "families" gradually became so powerful that they essentially ruled nearly all of American organized crime from the early 1930s until the 1990s, when their influence was severely diminished by the concerted efforts of local, state, and Federal investigators and prosecutors.These families were initially organized in 1931 by Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who was, at the time, one of the most notorious gangsters in America. Luciano proposed dividing criminal enterprises in New York City into five "families," with a governing "commission" of bosses. Each borgata would be organized into crews led by "caporegimes," or "capos." There was also a body of strict rules by which all members would live.Raab points out that for nearly six decades, The Five Families' criminal enterprises ran practically unchallenged in New York. Their power and influence gradually expanded into Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and other major American cities. It was estimated that, during the Five Families' heyday in the 1970s and '80s, billions of dollars were illegally diverted from the American economy through criminal activities that included gambling, loan-sharking, extortion, drug trafficking, fraud, hijacking, robbery, kidnapping, and murder.Raab also traces the efforts of state, local, and Federal law enforcement agencies to bring the Five Families to justice. A heroic and dogged group of investigators and prosecutors, most notably FBI Special Agent Joseph D. Pistone (of "Donnie Brasco" fame) and U.S. Attorneys Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Chertoff, used provisions of the newly enacted Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act to indict, convict, and sentence to long prison terms many of the Five Families' most powerful and notorious gangsters.I found "Five Families" one of the most fascinating books I've read in a long time. The book is packed with information that's presented in an easy to read and understand manner. Selwyn Raab is obviously a gifted writer whose style drew me in from the book's first paragraph.It's unfortunate that the Kindle version of "Five Families" is of such poor quality that it seriously distracts from Raab's outstanding research and writing skills. Nearly every page of the Kindle version contains serious typographical errors like wrongly italicized words, incorrect punctuation, and even misspelled words. These errors occur frequently enough for me to deduct one star from my otherwise five-star rating. They all should have been eliminated by more careful proof-reading and editing.Despite this serious technical flaw, "Five Families" is an important addition to the literature of organized crime, and should not be missed. Highly recommended.

This is the only book you will ever need to learn about the mafia. It is the back story of all the headlines and all those shows about the American mob. I cannot recommend this book more highly.I bought the audio cd version to listen to in my car and the person reading it is fantastic.I grew up in NY during their heyday and cannot believe all this was going on. The NYPD and the FBI was totally incompetent. Especially the FBI. Then came Robert Blakey and his RICO statute. He understood their power structure and as such designed the law they feared most. It took the FBI ten years to use it for the first time! They didn't understand it!This is a fantastic book!

Selwyn Raab’s book is like a special edition of Darwin’s most famous book. It documents the evolution of America’s five mafia families and does so in a way sure to be appreciated by even avid followers of real and fictionalized mob events and characters.As one such follower I learned more than I thought I knew from Raab’s analyses of the inflection points in each families’ evolution. From the history that predestined each of these points to the prevailing political, social and criminal justice attitudes that defined each inflection, I found myself marveling at how much Coppola, Scorsese and Chase got right (but not perfect) about “The Life”--and wanting to re-watch their classics through the lens of "Five Families."

The story of the American Mafia is so extreme---both horrific and glamorous at the same time. I didn't know much about the specifics of the "Five Families," so I bought this book to try to find out more about the "soul" of the Mafia, what made 'em tick. What I found here instead is a dry, pedestrian account of murders, arrests, and FBI deals. I never once got a "feel" for any of the characters involved, whether Mafia or FBI. Author Raab is a former reporter, and his "style" (or lack of) is just to give quotes/info from previously published books and include some new interviews with FBI guys.Also: The book appears to be well-researched (well, at least it's nearly 800 pages long), but just on the surface, I, an ignorant reader, immediately caught silly mistakes like: On p. 358, the name of the driver who killed Gotti's 12-year-old son is "John Favara." On the very next page, the driver is "Anthony Favara." If I can catch such a basic error, who knows what other errors the book contains.Overall, the book is a bore. I started it last night, and continued throughout today. Have fallen asleep at least 3 times while attempting to read (regardless of the time of day). p.s. I have a Master's in English lit, and am used to reading dry texts---this particular text has no excuse for being so dry, given the interesting subject matter. I'd recommend it for your personal library only if you're a "Mafia completist." Otherwise, just check it out from your local library and try to skip around to enjoy the few good parts.

I was interested in reading this book because a few names caught my eye. In the '80's I worked as a buyer for a local department store and went to New York every month to buy merchandise for my departments. I didn't realize it at the time but I inadvertently did business with mob- owned garment manufacturers. There was no pressure on me to do a certain amount of business with these companies, however several of my colleagues were forced to do business with certain companies- to the extent that they were told what and how much to buy. The manufacturers even went so far as to write the purchase orders ! We also DID have to use a specific trucking company. I now know why!This book seemed well-researched, and is very interesting to follow the families from their earliest beginnings to the 2000's; who started the families and who's in charge today. "Donnie Brasco" even gets a mention.I gave it 4 stars because I would've like to have seen photos of the people named in the book. The Kindle version didn't contain any.

Extremely good book, very thick. If you like books on the mafia this is the best one I've read by far in fact I'm still reading it as its such a big book in which I mean the thickness of it. Interesting facts on the main five mafia families.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I have read a lot of books on the Italian-American Mafia and this one is right up there with the best one’s I’ve read. While others I read cover specific times or people this one covers the entire history. The style it’s written in makes is very engaging and easy to read. I’d highly recommend this to any one with an interest in the Mafia whether they have read other books on the topic or not.

The book was great. A fascinating read.a shame the cover was damaged when I received it.

used for pleasure enjoyed

The most comprehensive account of the U.S. mafia from lucky Luchiano to date