Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family
by HarperTorch

	Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family
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Book Description

The Gambinos--they arrived in America from Sicily when the `20's roared with bootleg liquor. For thirty years they fought a bloody battle for control of New York's underworld to emerge as the nation's richest and most powerful crime family. Now Mafia expert John H. Davis tells their compelling inside story. <P>Here are the chilling details and deceptions that created a vast criminal empire. Here are six decades of the uncontrolled greed and lust for power of such men as Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Carlo Gambino, Paul Castellano, and John Gotti--men for whom murder and betrayal were business as usual. From the Gambinos' powerful stranglehold on New York's construction, garment, and waterfront industries to the government's onslaught against them in the `80s and `90s, <I> Mafia Dynasty </I> takes you into the mysterious world of blood oaths, shifting alliances, and deadly feuds that will hold you riveted from the first page to the last.<P>

Reader Reviews

This is a well researched,highly readable book.It was interesting to see the mobsters own confessions via wiretaps by the FBI.The FBI was also able to uncover a mole working for the mob on the NYPD payroll.The language of these mobsters behind closed doors was appalling,not the 4 letter word cursing, but the sociopathic ramblings about murder and extortion.Those wiretaps definitely denied the mob their layer of deniability. the author gives a good account of mob extortion in the building trade,a 1% mark-up which seems scarcely noticeable turns into multi-millions on large scale building contracts.As Mr. Davis points out very coherently,the mob's main method of winning these contracts is violence or even more fearful the "threat of violence " as an option.
It was a real eye opener about "mob charites" or the mob paying a mortgage for an elderly widow.The odds are about the same as winning in a gambling casino.For every widow who had her mortgage paid by a mobster dozens more lost their mortgages due to mob crimes.It was inspiring to see how many Italian-Americans worked overtime to help bring down the Gambino crime family.If nothing else this book gives a real respectful view of hard working honest Americans and I gave kudos to the priest who refused to do a mobster's funeral.I realize however that some of the priests do the masses out of respect for the mobster's families who are often mob victims also.Really this book does not glorify the Gambino's and there is nothing good said about any of their members.Gotti is portrayed as the final deevolution of the Gambino's "family" and ironically it took the US government to straighten out some of the mess which still isn't entirely cleaned up yet.
One thing in this book really impressed me. The mob itself is nothing but a glorified pyramid scheme and actually exploits the underpriveliged instead of helping them.Short term the "worker" may get a new car but long term he gets a "long term" that is if he's lucky.The Gambino's retirement program seemed to be a mob "bodybag" or one other way. That is,having the government pick up the tab by sponsoring a criminal in the "Witness Protection Program" at 5 grand a month(at least in 1990).Gotti spent most of his time as Gambino manager trying to figure out who was going to turn up next as a government witness.That in itself would definitely be a full time job.The book makes me wonder what would have been revealed about Al Capone had the government had wiretaps in the 1930's.