Mob: Stories of Death and Betrayal From Organized Crime

Rating:
Summary: Strong Addition to a great series.
Review: Clint Willis has stuck with the formula that propelled this series to success by locating writings on Organized Crime that we probably would never see otherwise - and it's all great stuff. It would have been easy to pull excerpts from sensationalized tell-alls on the True Crime shelf, but luckily that's NOT where Mr. Willis takes us. The writing of Peter Maas takes us into a money-making scheme gone bad, "Joey" explains how to set up a hit. For the story of Donnie Brasco, instead of going the easy route and plugging in an action chapter, the editor took an opening section from the book, on the mundane things that the FBI agent had to do to be accepted in his undercover role - fascinating. A mafia wife gives us a look from her perspective. The chapter from Casino avoids the casino itself and shows us instead how organized crime launders its money through semi-legitimate sources to get control of the casinos. One chapter discusses the tightrope relationship of a Don and his lawyer, another one shows the interplay between a mob informant and his FBI handler. It's all great stuff that you probably haven't seen before, and will likely motivate you to buy some of the source books. Only two excerpts are fiction and one, from the Godfather, is from a pivotal movie scene. This book is a great gift for any true-crime reader.

Rating:
Summary: Read it or else....
Review: Fans of The Sopranos, the Godfather, and mob/crime fiction/nonfiction will find this Clint Willis-edited book a virtual Hometown Buffet of delicious crime treats. If you like mob fiction/nonfiction and don't read this you deserve to wake up with a horse's head in your bed.

A sign of this book's huge success is that it truly leaves you wanting more. You'll be so fascinated that you'll DEFINITELY want to go to each of the primary sources and read them too. It's a fast, fascinating read: chapters comprised of well-edited excerpts from books, magazine articles and two works of fiction.

I was especially fascinated (and motivated) by the excerpt from the fictional (I think) Godfather. I read the book when I came out, saw the flicks a zillion times but realized in reading this excerpt how great the original book was and how it differs from the movie (the Michael character actually seems stronger in the original story). I'll be re-reading that book soon.

Every chapter is a gem and there are too many to go into here. My favorites included Peter Maas' excerpt from Underboss, the story of Sammy the Bull Gravano; an excerpt from mob hitman "Joey's" book Killer (the code of honor, precisely how he makes a hit with such efficiency and low risk); part of Nicholas Pileggi's Casino, describing how a horrified businessman one day found himself cemented to mob-connected business partners; Defending the Mafia, the eye-opening and ultimately sad story of mob lawyer Gerald Shargel's use of his considerable talent to keep mafiosos out of jail; part of Boss of Bosses, the bittersweet saga of aging Don Paul Castellano, eventually murdered by ambitious John Gotti's skilled associates; and the saddest and most poignent piece of all, Jeffrey Goldberg's The Don Is Done, about the lives of children of bigwig mafiosos.

This book MOVES. And it'll send you scrambling to read more. A MUST to read or to gift.

Rating:
Summary: Nice sampler from the mob buffet
Review: Only the most ardent organized crime reader probably won't find something new in this collection of short stories dealing with reader fascination with dangerous lifestyles. This sampler of mob-lore covers stories allegedly by the folks who lived and died it, and some history to add dessert to your meal.

For those who like the relative safety of their reading chair, we get a step-by-step process of the so-called "hit men" of the mob. They are so-called because most members who have reached any decent level of leadership have all done at least one hit, so the true full-time professional is not that common. For this profession though, we do get an evolution of the man, and his general techniques.

The stories here are excerpts from other works, so if your a mob junkie, you might have read a lot of it already. I previously had read the Sammy Gravano book that contributed this excerpt. You not only get a sample of the self-admitted bad man, but also a taste of what I didn't like in the full-length book, which was a constant jabbering of what a decent, honorable guy Sammy really is. This book, was, of course, before the guy got busted out West for running meth labs while in witness protection.

My favorite of the "true life" stories was the one that inspired the movie "Donnie Brasco". Here we have the story of how a guy had to sacrifice a lot of family time over a period of years to do his undercover work, even once having to spend Christmas with mobsters when he promised his own family some quality Holiday time. The book I'm reviewing is good because now I want to read the whole "Brasco" saga.

In the history part, we do get a brief glimpse of how this whole type of society came about. True, the people of Italy were extremely oppressed at the time of it's formation, but it also tells how the local culture first establishes male "honor", then expects him to prove it via competition, and if you won by using your own rules, that made you that much more of a worthy opponent. To his credit, the editor of this compilation does not glorify this behavior, and makes it clear to the audience that any honorable "codes" only last as long as is convenient for anyone involved.

Rating:
Summary: Nice sampler from the mob buffet
Review: Only the most ardent organized crime reader probably won't find something new in this collection of short stories dealing with reader fascination with dangerous lifestyles. This sampler of mob-lore covers stories allegedly by the folks who lived and died it, and some history to add dessert to your meal.

For those who like the relative safety of their reading chair, we get a step-by-step process of the so-called "hit men" of the mob. They are so-called because most members who have reached any decent level of leadership have all done at least one hit, so the true full-time professional is not that common. For this profession though, we do get an evolution of the man, and his general techniques.

The stories here are excerpts from other works, so if your a mob junkie, you might have read a lot of it already. I previously had read the Sammy Gravano book that contributed this excerpt. You not only get a sample of the self-admitted bad man, but also a taste of what I didn't like in the full-length book, which was a constant jabbering of what a decent, honorable guy Sammy really is. This book, was, of course, before the guy got busted out West for running meth labs while in witness protection.

My favorite of the "true life" stories was the one that inspired the movie "Donnie Brasco". Here we have the story of how a guy had to sacrifice a lot of family time over a period of years to do his undercover work, even once having to spend Christmas with mobsters when he promised his own family some quality Holiday time. The book I'm reviewing is good because now I want to read the whole "Brasco" saga.

In the history part, we do get a brief glimpse of how this whole type of society came about. True, the people of Italy were extremely oppressed at the time of it's formation, but it also tells how the local culture first establishes male "honor", then expects him to prove it via competition, and if you won by using your own rules, that made you that much more of a worthy opponent. To his credit, the editor of this compilation does not glorify this behavior, and makes it clear to the audience that any honorable "codes" only last as long as is convenient for anyone involved.

Rating:
Summary: MOB is the best book I've ever read.
Review: Overall, I think that this book was exceptional. The stories contained are, for the most part, gripping and real. I couldn't put the book down when I read the story by "Joey", the anonymous hitman. The most exciting thing about this book is the reality of it. The mojority of stories contained are about real people and real things. I recommend this book to everyone

Rating:
Summary: A realistic, thrilling story
Review: Overall, I think that this book was exceptional. The stories contained are, for the most part, gripping and real. I couldn't put the book down when I read the story by "Joey", the anonymous hitman. The most exciting thing about this book is the reality of it. The mojority of stories contained are about real people and real things. I recommend this book to everyone

Rating:
Summary: A realistic, thrilling story
Review: Overall, I think that this book was exceptional. The stories contained are, for the most part, gripping and real. I couldn't put the book down when I read the story by "Joey", the anonymous hitman. The most exciting thing about this book is the reality of it. The mojority of stories contained are about real people and real things. I recommend this book to everyone

Rating:
Summary: MOB is the best book I've ever read.
Review: This book is great,it is what got me hooked on stories about the mob and mafia. I would recomend it to any one who is intrested in organized crime.

Rating:
Summary: A Fine Collection
Review: This is, for a "fan" of the Mafia, is almost a must own. It is filled with book excerpts and magazine articles and 2 works of fiction, the rest is all "true". Or at least as true as Mafia stories go. My favorite excerpts from this book were the brief portion of Donnie Brasco. It showed just how mundane going undercover in the Mob can be. I also quite enjoyed the section from "Killer". We get to see the mob through a hitmans eyes. He tells you how cold he is and how after the first couple of hits, he could murder someone then go spend a quiet evening with his family. He never felt remorse because in his mind "You must have done something pretty bad to bring em to your door." Also the excerpt from "Boss of Bosses" is comical in the sense that the Mafia Don of the Gambino crime family convinced the 2 FBI agents that had him in custody, to take him out to lunch. All in all this a fascinating collection that shows the dark side of the mob that tends to get glossed over by the Hollywood productions.
Thanks for your time.
T

Rating:
Summary: A Fine Collection
Review: This is, for a "fan" of the Mafia, is almost a must own. It is filled with book excerpts and magazine articles and 2 works of fiction, the rest is all "true". Or at least as true as Mafia stories go. My favorite excerpts from this book were the brief portion of Donnie Brasco. It showed just how mundane going undercover in the Mob can be. I also quite enjoyed the section from "Killer". We get to see the mob through a hitmans eyes. He tells you how cold he is and how after the first couple of hits, he could murder someone then go spend a quiet evening with his family. He never felt remorse because in his mind "You must have done something pretty bad to bring em to your door." Also the excerpt from "Boss of Bosses" is comical in the sense that the Mafia Don of the Gambino crime family convinced the 2 FBI agents that had him in custody, to take him out to lunch. All in all this a fascinating collection that shows the dark side of the mob that tends to get glossed over by the Hollywood productions.
Thanks for your time.
T