For the Sins of My Father

A Mafia Killer, His Son, and the Legacy of a Mob Life

By: Albert DeMeo, Mary Jane Ross - contributor

Narrated by: Andrew J. Andersen

Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Al DeMeo will never forget the day in 1992 when a coworker taunted him with a copy of the hot new book Murder Machine, chronicling the horrific criminal life of DeMeo's father, Roy, the head of the most deadly gang in organized crime. The moment sent DeMeo into a psychological tailspin: How could he have spent his life looking up to, and loving, a vicious killer?

For the Sins of My Father recounts the chilling rise and fall of the man who led the Gambino family's most fearsome killers and thieves, through the eyes of a son who had never known any other kind of life. Coming of age in an opulent Long Island house where money is abundant but its source is unclear, Al becomes Roy's confidant, sent to call in loans at age fourteen and gradually coming to understand his father's job description-loan shark, car thief, porn purveyor and, above all, murderer. But when Al is seventeen, Roy's body is found in the trunk of a car, a gangland slaying that places Al between federal prosecutors seeking his testimony and a mob crew determined to keep him quiet.

With the implacable narrative drive of a thriller and the power of a painfully honest memoir, For the Sins of My Father presents a startling and unprecedented perspective on the underworld of organized crime, exposing for the first time the cruel legacy of a Mafia life.

©2002 Albert DeMeo (P)2022 Tantor

Worth a listen

I wasn't expecting too much , I kinda wanted to vomit as Albert was constantly saying how sweet his dad was . He was a maniac, but hey it WAS his dad so I get it . Oh gea and the narrator mispronounced bunch names .

Had muscle then alone.

Read many books about organized crime never the coolness of being a high ranking capo son and then the total fright of being alone and pitifully on your own with ghosts all around you.

Surprisingly Great

I’ve read a hundred mob books, so it’s something when one of them really stands out . This is one of those books. Although there is plenty of mob intrigue , this book goes beyond the simple times, dates, and names. Because the author is Roy Demeo’s own son , there is a level of closeness and detail here simply not found in other sources. This is Roy Demeo up close , so you will get all sides of him , the father , the husband, the son, the gangster, and the tortured soul. It’s a deeply personal , unsettling journey , part true crime thriller , part heartbreaking memoir , about a boy who first wants to become his father , and a man who struggles to distance himself and become his own person . Use a credit , you’ll enjoy it .

A must read

This book puts you right in the works of one of the most bizarre lifestyles and treachery of the mob during their hay days.

interesting details

honest appraisal by the son about the wrongs of the father. Book was not great but ok

Courage

What a journey for such a young boy to go thru and the insight he eventually learned from that journey. Shame on the justice system for how they treated him.