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Rating: 
Summary: A Man of Tradition
Review: An excellent book on what a Man of Honor is really about. The clash of old world tradition and the world of new American vaules can be readily seen here. You come to appreciate the values born in Sicily to these family men. The reasons this kind of man followed those values and the way in which he managed his American Family. This is a very refreshing change from the normal MOB/Mafia books that have been published previously. A must read for those was really want to understand of the true meaning of a Man of Honor.
Rating: 
Summary: great book, this is a milestone!!!
Review: Are you tired of reading books written by the FBI /or DEA? Get this autobiography written by the boss himself. Many details, many photos just great. Be careful, some information might not be correct (Joe was not stupid and wrote stuff that could have caused trouble!!!)
Rating: 
Summary: Revealing... to a point
Review: Mr. Bonanno provides an insider's view of organized crime - particularly the variety imported from Sicily - in the United States. It is a subject on which he is a unique authority as the longtime head of one of the country's major crime "families" and a Castellamarese Sicilian immigrant. He also enlightens readers somewhat with regard to what he perceives to be Sicilian traditions and the concept of "honor."Of course, Mr. Bonanno does not illuminate much of his own involvement in illegal enterprises, which is certainly extensive. The reader is forced to assume that the criminal activities described in great detail are ones Mr. Bonanno oversaw himself. A great many recognizable names are mentioned, but the boss took care not to seriously offend anyone who was still alive and kicking at the time the book was published. The book reaches back into the author's personal history from about the dawn of the 20th Century (some family history predates that) and the history of organized crime since the bootlegger wars of the Prohibition days. It advances into more modern times, though the recent information becomes sketchy. As a first-hand account by a "don," this is a must-read for those deeply interested in the history of the American "Mafia." But it may disappoint more casual readers. And some may find objectionable the author's insistence that his criminal activity has been "honorable," his often sexist and racist views and his tendency to flatter himself (a tendency that was apparently passed on to his son, who also wrote a glowing autobiographical account of his work in the "family").
Rating:
Summary: How a true GodFather thinks about his world
Review: Mr.Joseph T. Bonanno has written a great book about his world.A once honorable society.He had been a GodFather in.And about how it has now been truned into something other than it's supposed to be.In the last years the so-called men of honor have truned it into something diffrent.
Rating:
Summary: Self-serving, yet illuminating...
Review: Of course, he doesn't tell about the times he had to order that someone be "whacked." But he does go deeper than any other "Mafia memoirs" such as _The Valachi Papers_ ever did. Or did he? Towards the end, I began wondering if, in his effort to portray himself merely as a misunderstood Sicilian businessman, his book proved that Mario Puzo had done extensive research for _The Godfather_, of if Bonanno had simply used that saga to explain the Mafia's history. Either way, it's very readable, and very entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: more to the matter
Review: The book is well written and very interesting. But it seems to sugarcoat the "mafiaoso" world. Where are the stories of violence that the "Tradition" is known for? Incidents like cutting off ears and fingers, horseheads in beds, general thievery and intimidation. Is all that just Hollywood embellishment or did Mr. Bonanno perfer to leave the
unsavory side of Mafia life out of his book?
Rating:
Summary: more to the matter
Review: The book is well written and very interesting. But it seems to sugarcoat the "mafiaoso" world. Where are the stories of violence that the "Tradition" is known for? Incidents like cutting off ears and fingers, horseheads in beds, general thievery and intimidation. Is all that just Hollywood embellishment or did Mr. Bonanno perfer to leave the
unsavory side of Mafia life out of his book?
Rating:
Summary: more to the matter
Review: The book is well written and very interesting. But it seems to sugarcoat the "mafiaoso" world. Where are the stories of violence that the "Tradition" is known for? Incidents like cutting off ears and fingers, horseheads in beds, general thievery and intimidation. Is all that just Hollywood embellishment or did Mr. Bonanno perfer to leave the
unsavory side of Mafia life out of his book?
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