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Amazon.com Review
The Mafia has long held a spot in the American imagination. Despite their earned reputation for brutality, the Mafia has been glorified in countless movies, books, and television shows. Not so in this book. Selwyn Raab makes no attempt to perpetuate myths about the Mafia; instead, he exposes them as a serious threat to honest citizens: "The collective goal of the five families of New York was the pillaging of the nation's richest city and region," he writes. These five families--Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese--were responsible for corrupting labor unions in order to control waterfront commerce, garbage collection, the garment industry, and construction in New York. They also ran illegal gambling operations, engaged in stock schemes, and initiated the widespread introduction of heroin (among other drugs) into cities of the East and Midwest in the 1950s, leading to "accelerated crime rates, law-enforcement corruption, and the erosion of inner-city neighborhoods in New York and throughout the United States." Five Families offers a comprehensive look at the inner workings of the various clans along with vivid profiles of the gangsters who led--and continue to maintain--this criminal empire.

Beginning with a brief history of the Sicilian origins of the Mafia, Raab exhaustively explains how the Mob took over New York before spreading to cities across America, particularly Las Vegas, their most successful outside venture. He also shows how the New York Mafia lost a great deal of power in the 1980s and '90s due to many significant busts and effective plea-bargaining. However, since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the F.B.I. has been focused mainly on external threats, leaving the Mafia room to regain some lost turf by moving into new avenues of crime. An investigative reporter for 40 years, Raab interviewed dozens of prosecutors, law enforcement officers, Mafia members, informants, and "Mob lawyers," providing anecdotes and inside information that tell the true story of the Mafia and their influence over the past 80 years. --Shawn Carkonen

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Former New York Times crime reporter Raab sets a new gold standard for organized crime nonfiction with his outstanding history of the Mafia in New York City. Combining the diligent research and analysis of a historian with the savvy of a beat journalist who has extensive inside sources, the author succeeds at an ambitious task by rendering the byzantine history of New York's five families—Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese—easily comprehensible to any lay reader. Of necessity, Raab also illuminates the Mafia's origin in 19th-century Sicily and its transition to this country. Throughout his survey of the mob's evolution—from simple protection rackets to pump-and-dump stock schemes—Raab renders the mobsters (including men less well known than John Gotti, but no less significant) as three-dimensional figures, without glossing over their vicious crimes and their impact on honest citizens. Law enforcement's varying responses as well as society's view of gangsters enrich the narrative, which merits comparison with the classic true-crime writing of Kurt Eichenwald. While Raab surprisingly gives short shrift to the 1980s pizza connection case, which revealed the growing influence of the Sicilian Mafia on America's heroin trade, he otherwise demonstrates mastery of his subject. This masterpiece stands an excellent chance of becoming a bestseller with crossover appeal beyond devoted watchers of The Sopranos. 24 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Beginning with its 1931 organization into five gangs, the history of the Sicilian Mob in New York unfolds in Raab's riveting reportage. To be sure, that history has been explored in numerous books, but Raab drills deep into the investigations and trials that have taken place over the past 20 years. Until adoption of the RICO law (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations), mobsters weren't much bothered by law enforcement, Raab explains, before turning to a dramatic recounting of key investigations that led to RICO indictments. The narrative kicks into high gear as Raab describes how one leg-breaker or another, confronted on tape with his crimes, breaks the Mob's code of silence and starts singing for the feds. Eventually resulting in the imprisonment of all five godfathers of the recent past--"Gaspipe" Casso, Joe Massino, John Gotti, "Chin" Gigante, and Carmine Persico--these investigations solved a number of murders and exposed the Mob as never before. With vivid characterizations of a cavalcade of thugs, Raab's account is the most lively and informative Mafia history in years. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Great Book
If your interested in the Mafia this is a great book. I have read over 50 books regarding Organized Crime, specifically the Italian Mafia and I still found this book a good read.

A Mafia Encyclopedia
I am very interested in Italian Mafia history, and this is the perfect book to read if you want to understand every angle of the five most prominent Families in U.S. History. This book provides a great foundation of facts of the five Families as well as illustrates in great detail how each borgata came to power. I highly recommend this book to any Mafia guru as well as the occasional reader interested in the subject.

One of the Finest Mafia Histories Written in Recent Time...
I started reading this book a while back... Only reading two chapters as I have a tendency to read parts of a book then put it down for various time periods... I recently finished the book reading it within a 4 day time frame... I have to say this is one of the most complete up to date historical narratives I have read on Organized Crime... It starts with the early years dating back to the teens and roaring twenties then ends around the early 2000's... It talks in great detail about the families, key players, murders, scams, etc...

Being that I'm mostly interested in the early years of Organized Crime I was fascinated with what was said about mafiosi's such as Gaspipe Casso, and the turncoat mafia boss Massino, as well as others some info I already knew about but most was new to me... This book is interesting and will keep you on your feet and wanting the desire to read more... Be sure to check out the various charts and notes in the appendix...