Underboss

Rating:
Summary: best book on cosa nostra i've ever read
Review: When I first decided to get this book and read it, I had my doubts.. because of my contempt for anyone who becomes a rat, but once I started reading it I really couldn't put it down. I LOVE this book. I have read it many times, and I'm still not sick of it. The beauty of this book is it is all told in Gravano's own words, quoted. Hearing Sammy tell the story word for word is just great. This book isn't just about the Gotti era, and that's good.. theres enough books that focus only on that... this is Sammy's life story. No matter how much you dislike rats, it's hard to dislike Sammy after reading this. It seems really honest, he doesn't try to seem like a good guy, he says how he really feels about things (usually after whacking someone out, 'it's cosa nostra, what can you do' haha).. and you gotta respect that. After reading this, you don't feel as sorry for Gotti. Sammy stayed loyal to this close to him, he refused to testify against anyone in his old crew. Interestinly enough (this isn't in the book, it's recent news) the government recently indicted someone from Sammy's old crew on charges of conspiring to murder Sammy.. What does Sammy do? He testifies on the defenses behalf, saying that Toddo would never try to kill him! Truely a man's man! Still, though, you gotta keep in mind how many people the guy brought down other than Gotti... I think it's a shame he testified against Vicent "The Chin" Gigante, boss of the Genovese family. The Chin was a much more interesting boss than Gotti.. the difference is he didn't have the same pathetic affection for the media that Gotti had. Anywy, I don't think Sammy was the one who brought Gotti down.. Gotti's ego brought Gotti down, Sammy may have just helped speed up the process. Read this book, it's better than wiseguy 5++ stars.