Synopses & Reviews
The period from the late 1950s (the time of the Mafia's famous Apalachin summit in upstate New York) through the late 1960s (when The Godfather was published) were a golden age for organized crime in Americaandndash;the era that saw the Meyer Lansky generation give way to the Gambinos and Bonannos, that saw an explosion in narcotics trafficking, and that inspired storytellers like Mario Puzo, Nicholas Pileggi, and Martin Scorsese.
Now, in an unbelievable find, comes the longandndash;buried Bible of the Mafia and all its most storied players, at the height of that watershed era. Some time in the early 1960s, federal investigators compiled every known piece of information on more than 800 members of organized crime in the United Statesandndash;from influential oldandndash;school gangsters like Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Frank Costello to the emerging thugs, like Joe Bonanno, Paul Castellano, and Vincent "the Chin" Gigante, who would dominate the criminal underworld in the 1960s and 1970s.
Only fifty copies of this materialandndash;bound in a threeandndash;ring black binder, labelled simply MAFIA in green lettersandndash;were ever printed, and the book became the mother lode Robert F. Kennedy used to go after the Mob in his years as attorney general.
Review
“For mobheads and true crime fanatics, [Mafia] is the equivalent of a hijacked truck of unmarked bills. Its also a quirky little slice of the American dream.” Salon.com
Review
“A treasure trove for true crime buffs and mob aficionadosthe mug shots alone are worth the price of admission.” Nicholas Pileggi
Review
“Mafia is the Bible for Mafia-watchers and amateur detectives everywhere.” Legs McNeil
Review
“Make room on your true-crime bookshelf for this veritable high school yearbook of Americas criminal class.” T.J. English
Review
“Fascinating . . . . A panoramic view of the American underworldthe national face seen in a fun house mirror.” Rich Cohen, New York Times Sunday Book Review
Synopsis
Some time in the early 1960s, during the golden age of organized crime in America—the era that would inspire
The Godfather;
Goodfellas, and even
The Sopranos—federal investigators pulled every known piece of information on more than 800 Mafia members worldwide into a thick, phone-book-sized directory. From old-school gangsters like Lucky Luciano and Mickey Cohen to young turks like Paul Castellano and Vinny "The Chin" Gigante, the guide offered at-a-glance profiles of small-time thugs and major dons alike... and was allegedly the book Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy used to investigate the mob.
Recently discovered, and published for the first time in this facsimile edition, Mafia is a treasure trove of info on the underworld in mid-century America—a revelatory artifact and an irresistible read.
About the Author
Cheeta the Chimp was just a baby when he was snatched from the Liberian jungle in 1932 by the great animal importer Henry Trefflich. In 1934 Cheeta appeared in his first of many Tarzan movies, Tarzan and His Mate. Cheeta finally retired from the big screen after the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle. The oldest living chimpanzee ever recorded, Cheeta, now seventy-six, is retired in Palm Springs, where he has reinvented himself as a globally acclaimed abstract painter.