Five Families: The Rise, Decline, And Resurgence Of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
You Wanna Know About the America Mafia? Look No Further … Capisce?As I was totally immersed watching episodes of “Inside the American Mafia” on Netflix, I realized that Selwyn Raab’s interesting and invaluable commentary was what made the series so great. His authoritative knowledge and storytelling ability compelled me to order his book, FIVE FAMILIES, as I was watching the series. If there is one source I would recommend about understanding the “nuts and bolts” of Mafia in America, it would certainly be FIVE FAMILIES.The basic premise of FIVE FAMILIES is to illustrate how the crux of the American Mafia evolves around the happenings of the five major crime families in New York City (Luchese, Gambino, Genovese, Colombo and Bonnano). Paralleling the families’ stories is the gradual acceptance of the US government to acknowledge the Mafia’s existence and eventually formulate a plan to combat it. Raab does a magnificent job in presenting the birth, rise, decline (and likely resurgence) of these families and does so in a manner that is both entertaining and absorbing. Even more impressive is that FIVE FAMILIES manages to simplify the massive, interweaving complexities associated with these organizations to a level that most readers will appreciate. This meaty volume of 700+ pages provides an abundance of detailed information, but Raab graciously divides the material into 60 digestible (10-12 page) chapters that keeps readers focused. Miraculously, the book never became a tedious grind; I find it rare to read books this size that don’t either bore me to tears or eventually challenge my will to finish. FIVE FAMILIES is pretty much a chronological affair through the 1960s, when the families began to exploit their power. The period from the 1970s to the early 2000s, Raab informally groups chapters by family to better illustrate their peaks and subsequent downfalls in a more concise manner. This 70s-00s era provides much more intricate and juicy storylines as the US government’s willingness to fight the mafia resulted in a number of Mafiosi willing to violate their codes of silence. Much of the book describes the nitty-gritty of the violence perpetuated by the families (both within and outside the families) and the shady rackets that pretty much explains why everything in New York City costs so much (even candy bars). The power and the reach exerted by these families is eerily shocking. Ironically, the pages of mindless bloodshed is accompanied by stories that are both humorous and quirky. The plethora of gangster nicknames peppering each page (and the rationale behind the names) is a gem in-and-of itself. It was easy to see the basis for almost every significant Hollywood presentation of the Mafia being outlined in the book … even the fictitious “Sopranos”. What I appreciated most about FIVE FAMILIES is that it easily presents itself as being an authority on anything-everything related to the American Mafia. No stone is left unturned in this book as every major gangster from Luciano to “the last Don” Joe Massino (and everyone in-between) is addressed. Additionally, every significant mafia-related event is covered in satisfactory detail. Whether it be the famous Apalachin bust in 1957, the Kennedy assassination(s), the brutality of “Gaspipe” Casso, “Chin” Gigante’s decades-long mental illness ruse or the Teflon-turned-Velcro John Gotti trials … FIVE FAMILIES covers it ALL. More interesting is how the federal government went from turning its back to the Mafia’s existence to aggressively tackling each one of the five families by using the most powerful and effective tool in its armory: RICO. Each subsequent chapter is as engrossing as the previous.For anyone interested in the American Mafia, I cannot think of a better primer than FIVE FAMILIES as it provides such a comprehensive understanding of the entire organization (as a whole and each individual family) … it’s a one-stop-shop type of resource that entertains from beginning to end. While I have read several books that focus on specific mafia stories or individuals (Roy DeMeo, Nicky Scarfo or Richard Kuklinski), I have yet to see a book that ties everything together as well as FIVE FAMILIES manages to do … Selwyn Raab bats this one out of the park.
So I am FINALLY done with this book. It was very good, but at times I felt like I was slogging through it. Considering how much I generally enjoy slog-worthy books (the denser the better), I'm not sure what my issue is with this one. First of all, it was well-written and the information was really interesting. Secondly, I learned a lot of details on mob history I didn't know. But that's it. I didn't look forward to reading it. I certainly didn't choose to read it over knitting or doing something else, like listening to my audiobook on the Gulag (it's awesome, but a bit of a slogger, too, in parts). I didn't dread reading Five Families either. It just "was." Kind of like having to read ethnography upon ethnography in graduate school, or worse, articles and more articles on archaeological studies of hunters and gatherers in the prehistoric past. I'm an archaeologist. I should love that shit no matter what. But at times, that shit (coprolites anyone?) was torture. (Good thing I'm a historical archaeologist - no hunter gatherers in places like Louisville and Lexington in the late nineteenth century). Anyway, enough rambling. I guess my point is (finally), that I would recommend this book if you are really interested in the history of the mafia; in particular, the events that occurred from the 1970s through the 1990s. The court case histories probably were my favorite part of the book. It's good. Just don't anticipate anything too sensational. You'll just be disappointed and start watching reruns of The Sopranos, dripping tears onto your biscotti, hoping to finally get your "mob fix" (I didn't do that by the way - it's just with all the mafia stuff on TV these days [Mafia Wives, anyone?], people can't get enough of the sensationalism).
What do You think about Five Families: The Rise, Decline, And Resurgence Of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires (2005)?
A more accurate title would have been "New York: A History of Law Enforcement Tactics Used Against the Mafia in the 20th Century". There were too many important Mafia events that were glossed over or omitted for this to truly have been a book about the five families. The primary focus seemed to be on the response that state and federal governments had to the Mafia and the tactics that were used to combat them. It was an interesting read and certainly well researched, although the editor should be very embarrassed. There were many obvious typos and name switches throughout, basic errors that an editor is supposed to correct and yet failed to do so. If you are looking for books that are actually about the five families, I would suggest something more along the lines of "Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia" by Joseph Pistone or "Boss of Bosses: The FBI and Paul Castellano" by Joseph F. O'Brien and Andris Kurins. Those are both still written by federal agents (or former federal agents) and are, of course, written from that perspective, however, in my opinion they give more information about the families and how they operate than this book did. Read this book if you want to know more about law enforcement tactics and the RICO law.
—Gere Lewis
A poorly edited headache of a book with little to offer on top of its primary sources in the LCN non-fiction canon as to be a near-total waste of time. Somehow includes less material on the pre-Apalachin period than your average Wikipedia article, but packs in more sensational junk about John Gotti than the New York Post and all the books written by his family combined. Departures from its chronological organization are frequent, making an already long and complex history even harder to follow than necessary (even for someone familiar with the subject matter). On top of this a sanctimonious, law-enforcement-triumphalist tone I find unwelcome. I put this thing down after finishing about 70% and read _Donnie Brasco_ instead: I recommend you skip it altogether and go straight to the primary sources.
—EOB
Thorough history. A few things stood out: a) As a business enterprise, the familes operated on an economical scale apparently bigger than any US corporation, yet this was denied by the FBI, especially by J.Edgar Hoover, who revused to involve much FBI resources into investigating the NY Commission until Kennedy forced him to b) lower level people need to be effective criminal entrepeneurs, because they need to be kicking some money up the line. The historical/journalistic level of detail is interesting for much of the book, but eventually there weren't many more insights, just facts to be documented.
—Bob
