The epic inside story of Joseph Massino, the mob boss of New York's Bonanno crime family for more than 20 years, who was betrayed by his closest friend, underboss and brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale. Based on interviews with Massino's family and friends, as well as law enforcement officials and confidential sources, The Last Godfather reveals the truth behind incidents made legend in gangster films like Donnie Brasco and The Godfather.
The Last Of The Old-World Mob Bosses--And The Ultimate Betrayal For more than twenty years, Joseph "Big Joey" Massino ran what was called the largest criminal network in the U.S., employing over two hundred and fifty made men and untold numbers of associates. The Bonanno family was responsible for over thirty murders, even killing a dozen of its own members to enforce discipline and settle scores. He would be brought down by Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale, the underboss who was not only Massino's closest and most trusted friend, but also his brother-in-law. In the end, facing the death penalty and the prospect of leaving his family penniless, Massino started talking to the FBI--the first Mafia Godfather to break the sacred code of omerta, and the end of a centuries-old tradition. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony DeStefano, who interviewed Massino's family and friends as well as law enforcement officials and confidential sources, King of the Godfathers is the story of the brutal mob war that made Massino head of the Bonanno family and the most powerful gangster in America. "The best and last word on the subject." --Jerry Capeci, Gangland News.com and bestselling co-author of Murder Machine With 16 Pages of Revealing Photos! Anthony Destefano was part of the team of New York Newsday reporters who won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the August 1991 subway crash in Manhattan. He covers organized crime for Newsday and was the lead reporter on several major criminal trials, including that of subway gunman Bernhard Goetz. He lives in New Jersey.
As head of the Bonanno clan, Joey Massino was the last don, and ran his world with an iron hand--until he got hit with a murder rap, and turned on his own people. Here, for the first time, is his shocking true story--a glimpse inside the world of organized crime that we may never see again.
A Crazed Killer He dissolved the bodies of some of his victims in acid and poured them down the sewer. He hung grisly souvenirs on nails in his junkyard. La Costra Nostra Charles Carneglia was a stone-cold killer who fell in with the bloodthirsty John Gotti crew. As the infamous crime family rose to power with their murderous trail of sex, jealousy, greed, and revenge, Carneglia rose with them. Mafia, Madness And Murder This is the horrifying story of a misfit who fit perfectly into the New York mafia. In a harrowing journey inside a ruthless criminal underworld, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony M. DeStefano chronicles one man's life in a world of depraved acts of violence and the horrors that went with being a member of the Gambino family. "Thrilling American crime writing." -Jimmy Breslin on King of the Godfathers Includes 16 Pages of Shocking Photos
Don Corleone is the Godfather, head of one of the richest families in New York and a gangster. His favourite son Michael is a lawyer who wants to lead a quiet life, but when Don Corleone is nearly killed by a rival Mafia family, Michael is soon drawn into the family business.
Pulizter Prize-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano’s latest in-depth history of organized crime exposes the truth behind the mafia crew that took down John Gotti. THE BOSS OF BOSSES Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano exposes the rise and fall of Vito Genovese in this first comprehensive biography of the legendary mafioso—from his childhood in Naples, Italy, and the beginnings of his bullet-ridden criminal career on lower Manhattan’s mean streets, through his self-exile in the mid-1930s back to his homeland where he ran a black market operation under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, and his return to New York where Genovese made a fortune as the head of an illegal narcotics empire. As a member of Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria’s gang in New York City, Genovese ran rackets before joining forces with Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, and Bugsy Siegel as bootleggers during Prohibition. He helped orchestrate Masseria’s slaughter on behalf of Brooklyn crime lord Salvatore Maranzano, consolidating his position and power before ensuring Maranzano, too, was knocked off. For the next three decades, Vito Genovese—shrewd, merciless, and utterly savage—killed countless gangsters in his bid to become the capo di tutti i capi—boss of bosses—in the American Mafia. Don Vito would betray some of the mafia’s most notorious bosses, including Albert Anastasia and Frank Costello, to eventually seize control of the Luciano crime family, one that still bears the Genovese name today. Praise for Anthony M. DeStefano’s Gotti’s Boys “DeStefano explores John Gotti’s rise to the head of the Gambino family . . . Aficionados are sure to relish the finer, exhaustively researched details.” —Publishers Weekly “A thrilling ride . . . DeStefano has written another excellent biography of a memorable group of gangsters and an excellent addition to the history of the Teflon Don.” —Booklist
Hollywood Godfather is Gianni Russo's over-the-top memoir of a real-life mobster-turned-actor who helped make The Godfather a reality, and his story of life on the edge between danger and glamour. Gianni Russo was a handsome 25-year-old mobster with no acting experience when he walked onto the set of The Godfather and entered Hollywood history. He played Carlo Rizzi, the husband of Connie Corleone, who set her brother Sonny—played by James Caan—up for a hit. Russo didn't have to act—he knew the mob inside and out: from his childhood in Little Italy, where Mafia legend Frank Costello took him under his wing, to acting as a messenger for New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello during the Kennedy assassination, to having to go on the lam after shooting and killing a member of the Colombian drug cartel in his Vegas club. Along the way, Russo befriended Frank Sinatra, who became his son's godfather, and Marlon Brando, who mentored his career as an actor after trying to get Francis Ford Coppola to fire him from The Godfather. Russo had passionate affairs with Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minelli, and scores of other celebrities. He went on to become a producer and starred in The Godfather: Parts I and II, Seabiscuit, Any Given Sunday and Rush Hour 2, among many other films. Hollywood Godfather is a no-holds-barred account of a life filled with violence, glamour, sex—and fun.
"The first and only full biography on legendary Harlem gangster, Bumpy Johnson who was depicted in the movies Cotton Club, Hoodlum, and American Gansgster. ... Bumpy was a man whose contradictions are still the root of many an argument in Harlem. But there is one thing on which both his supporters and detractors agree in his lifetime, Bumpy was the man in Harlem." --p. [4] of cover.
A KILLER LINE-UP In his bloody reign as the head of the Gambino crime family, John Gotti wracked up a lifetime of charges from gambling, extortion, and tax evasion to racketeering, conspiracy, and five convictions of murder. He didn’t do it alone. Surrounding himself with a rogues gallery of contract killers, fixers, and enforcers, he built one of the richest, most powerful and violent crime empires in modern history. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano takes you inside Gotti’s inner circle to reveal the dark hearts and murderous deeds of the most remorseless and cold-blooded characters in organized crime. Men so vicious even the other Mafia families were terrified of them. Meet Gotti’s Boys . . . * Charles Carneglia * Gene Gotti * Angelo “Quack-Quack” Ruggiero * Tony “Roach” Rampino * “Sammy the Bull” Gravano * Frank DeCicco * Vincent Artuso * Joe “The German” Watts * THE ULTIMATE MURDERER’S ROW “DeStefano explores John Gotti’s rise to the head of the Gambino family . . . Aficionados are sure to relish the finer, exhaustively researched details.” —Publishers Weekly “A thrilling ride . . . DeStefano has written another excellent biography of a memorable group of gangsters and an excellent addition to the history of the Teflon Don.” —Booklist
A vain man of good looks but no family ties to the Mob, Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano worked his way up to acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, becoming its leader when official boss Joseph Massino went to prison in 2003. When the Mafia was crawling with secret operatives and informants caving to government pressure to flip, Basciano steadfastly obeyed the code of La Cosa Nostra. “I got faith in one guy,” he said during a secretly taped meeting. That man was Massino, head of the Bonanno borgata. But for all his loyalty, Basciano was still a hot-headed, cold-blooded killer, which ultimately led to his arrest and downfall. Then in a remarkable betrayal that rocked the Five Families to their foundations, Massino secretly cooperated with the FBI—the first head bossever to roll over. As a result, Basciano faced the death penalty, but a federal jury, disturbed by the prosecution’s use of deadly criminal informants, reached a surprising verdict. Here from veteran crime author Anthony M. DeStefano comes the riveting story of the last true believer in the Mob’s cult of brotherhood and his betrayal at the hands of the only man he ever trusted.
