Gaspipe

Confessions of a Mafia Boss

By: Philip Carlo

Narrated by: Alan Sklar

Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the boss of New York's Lucchese crime family, was a Mafia superstar, responsible for more than 50 murders. Currently serving 13 life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado, Casso has given journalist and New York Times best-selling author Philip Carlo the most intimate, personal look into the world of La Cosa Nostra ever seen. By pure happenstance, Casso had lived next door to the family of young Philip Carlo, who was able to get into the mind, heart, and soul of one of the most cunning, ruthless mob bosses in the annals of crime history. In Gaspipe, Casso reveals the shocking details behind headline-making crimes and crime figures, such as:

The mob's decision that John Gotti had to be taken out after whacking Big Paul Castellano without approval - and how Casso got the order to hit Gotti

A fly-on-the-wall view of the Mafia commission sit-down at which John Gotti was made capo di tutti capi, the boss of all bosses

The insidious relationship between La Cosa Nostra and the Russian Mafia, and how the Lucchese family murdered the most-feared assassin in the Russian mob

Details of secret sit-downs with mob bosses Vincent "The Chin" Gigante and John Gotti, and the notorious Sammy "The Bull" Gravano

How Gravano made fools of the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI

The real story of the Mafia Cops and the revelations of other law enforcement personnel on Casso's payroll

How the Mafia managed to get a tight stranglehold on most unions in America

The truth behind the Mafia's real role in bringing huge amounts of narcotics into the United States

How federal prison officials were bought and sold by the Mafia

The intimate details of the women behind the Mafiosi

The truth behind the assassinations of JFK and RFK

Who killed Jimmy Hoffa, and where his body is

©2008 Philip Carlo (P)2008 Tantor

Decent book, poor narration

The book was pretty good but the guy reading it should learn how to pronounce peoples names correctly. It hurts my ears to hear him constantly calling Al D'Arco "Al Darko" Most everybody in the book gets their names butchered by the narrater including Anthony Casso..

Disjointed, standard Mafia fare

I, like many others, am fascinated by the inner workings of La Cosa Nostra. Although the late author gives us some revealing, behind-the-scenes views, his writing style leaves much to be desired. He would tell us something and then, a few minutes or pages later, he would tell us the same thing. Did he forget that he already mentioned what had transpired? He also made some assumptions (such as what someone was thinking moments before his death) that he had no way of knowing. Most readers will likely be conflicted at the end wondering whether to feel sorry for Casso or thinking that he got exactly what he deserved. I believe he got what he deserved, but that doesn't excuse the methods applied by law enforcement if, in fact, they acted in the manner described by Carlo. If you like stories about the Mafia you will probably enjoy this book.

A COMEDY

This is a story about a group / culture that got the idea they would live happily every after, running all over dead bodies, stealing, lying, killing, torturing and setting others up for loss pain and misery. Then they all turned on one another and gobbled each other up. That includes the U.S. Government.

a tour de force

Carlo has a unique and refreshingly real take. he is missed. the narrator is good, if a bit too fructose, especially given what a pig Casso was.

Great Book about mob

Very good never realized how powerful Gaspipe was. Casso was the real godfather. Loved this book.

Reading was a little dry

Great complete story of Anthony Casso. The reading performance seemed a little dry at times, but overall a great read.

The author fails the objectivity test

Gaspipe uses the author to tell his cherished view of his life. This is more like an autobiography. In this story Gaspipe is a criminal's criminal. He's loyal to his loving family, always keeps his word, protector of the downtrodden, and devoted to the rules of omerta. The author seems oblivious that this gold plated presentation runs contrary to the very facts he presents. Gaspipe is a vicious narcissistic murderer who in the end screws everybody he comes in contact with. He unfaithful to his personal family, his crime family, and his closest friends. Like Sammy Gravono's book, he presents himself as a victim of those that ratted him out. So he rats them out too, Omerta be damned. But you ignore the self-serving fluff the book is quite listenable to. In its favor is it names names & dates and does show the inner machination of the mafia world. If you are an aficionado of the NY families it doesn't break much new ground.

Great book

Be patient this book starts slow. Once your past his youth it really heats up!

Great book

Very interesting insight into how gaspipe Phil’s story intervenes with all the mob families. Highly recommend this

Good read

Held my interest throughout the whole book I thought it was near narrated well glad I better be