Now available in a sleek, accessible paperback format, MAFIA is the ultimate primary source guide to La Cosa Nostra all its most storied players. With pages pulled directly from a recently unearthed secret government file, MAFIA is perhaps the most comprehensive and authoritative body of information on organized crime in mid-century America-and a window into the real lives of nefarious legends.
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. Only fifty copies of this material-bound in a three-ring black binder, labeled simply MAFIA in green letters-were ever printed, and the book became the mother lode Robert F. Kennedy allegedly used to go after the Mob in his years as attorney general. With its facsimile pages reproduced directly from the original document, Mafia a treasure trove of information, a revelatory artifact, an irresistible read, and a must have for true crime and history buffs.
