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The Deadly Don  By  cover art

The Deadly Don

By: Anthony M. DeStefano
Narrated by: Danny Campbell
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Publisher's summary

From enforcer to godfather, Vito Genovese rose through the ranks of La Cosa Nostra to head of one of the wealthiest and most dangerous crime families in American history.

In The Deadly Don, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano presents the rise and fall of Vito Genovese in this first comprehensive biography of the legendary mafioso - from his childhood in Naples, Italy, and the beginnings of his bullet-ridden criminal career on lower Manhattan's mean streets, through his self-exile in the mid-1930s back to his homeland where he ran a black market operation under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, and his return to New York where Genovese made a fortune as the head of an illegal narcotics empire. DeStefano reveals the important and terrifying role Genovese played in the creation of the Mafia, detailing his bloody and ruthless lifetime of crime that would put him behind bars for his last 15 years - and securing his infamous place in the history of organized crime.

©2021 Anthony M. DeStefano (P)2021 Tantor

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Yawn

The author is good. Paint dries faster! Too much repetition to the point of redundancy. I like details but too many.

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Excellent Biography

Well written and researched. A definitive and up to date biography long lacking in the literature. Unfortunately, they hired Grandpa Simpson as the narrator. Would have enjoyed the audio version more had they gone with somebody with a more hard boiled style of performance. Either way, great book!

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Good base for the mob

Sets up what became fear city in Netflix documentary. Really fascinating characters and how they worked.

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Borderline fiction

Didn't like narrorator's voice. Too much fiction lifted from other books i.e., Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, presented as fact, which is unusual for this author.

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It’s Decent

A lot of information that is already known. Nothing really new but it is put together well and is quick with not a lot of unnecessary banter. Long live the La Cosa Nostra

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Awful narration

I only made through chapter 7. The story is very good but I could not continue with the reader.

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One of the WORST Mob stories EVER!!!

I pride myself on a higher scale with my knowledge of the New York Mob. And the story of Vito Genovese was a story that ive been waiting on for years! Or at least I thought that I did. Come to find out that Vito's story was actually very boring, and was pretty much summed up in the introduction. The remaining chapters were built off of the stories of the other well known members of the New York Mob, and long drawn out moments in the court room.

The narrator? Wow his voice was irritating!

Bottom line, purchase the Valachi Papers from Peter Maas. Thats a much better story dealing with the same characters.

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1 person found this helpful