American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power

By William Serrin

"Reppetto's book earns its place among the best . . . he brings fresh context to a familiar story worth retelling." --The New York Times Book Review Organized crime--the Italian American kind--has long been a source of popular entertainment and legend. Now Thomas Reppetto provides a balanced history of the Mafia's rise--from the 1880s to the post-WWII era--that is as exciting and readable as it is authoritative. Structuring his narrative around a series of case histories featuring such infamous characters as Lucky Luciano and Al Capone, Reppetto draws on a lifetime of field experience and access to unseen documents to show us a locally grown Mafia. It wasn't until the 1920s, thanks to Prohibition, that the Mafia assumed what we now consider its defining characteristics, especially its octopuslike tendency to infiltrate industry and government. At mid-century the Kefauver Commission declared the Mafia synonymous with Union Siciliana; in the 1960s the FBI finally admitted the Mafia's existence under the name La Cosa Nostra. American Mafia is a fascinating look at America's most compelling criminal subculture from an author who is intimately acquainted with both sides of the street. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567319580
• ISBN13: 9781567319583
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: MJF Books
• Length: 318 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Maybe not a definitive history, but good series of tales

I enjoyed this book for the most part. Part of the strength of the book is also its weakness. Thomas Reppetto is a former detective, and brings in a law enforcement perspective to the history that a jounalist or historian probably couldn't achieve. The result is more insiders view of the various investigations into mob activity, and also the surprisingly strong relationship the American mafia had with local police departments...

A solid historical perspective

Readers interested in this genre should have this book in their collection. Rita Schiano, author "Painting The Invisible Man" Painting the Invisible Man

REPPETTO'S CLASSIC ON THE AMERICAN MAFIA

[...] There was a time when a working man heavy with dinner could sit in his cold water flat and savor his evening paper's reports of criminals like Kit Burns, given to biting off the heads of live rats, or Monk Eastman, leader of a gang of twelve hundred, to say nothing of misunderstood fraternal associations like the Gophers, Dead Rabbits, Bowery Boys, and the Five Pointers. That time is long gone. We live in the age of...

Good overview of the Mafia, though lacking depth

For anyone wishing an introduction to Mafia history in the United States this book is an excellent primer. Reppetto traces the rise of the American Mafia from late 19th century New Orleans to the heyday, just before the U.S. government started paying organized crime their due in attention and resources in the early '60's.We are introduced to various luminaries of the underworld, their crimes and their fates (not surprisingly...