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

Good book, incredibly biased

It took a while to get going but was very everything once it did. Gaspipe was one of the most ruthless, cold blooded killers there was but the author goes out of his way to paint him as a lovely family man and a great business man and just credits all the killings as just part of the life. Once you realized how biased this is, it's hard to ignore. At times, it seems as if Gaspipe himself if writing the book.

A good read with a grain of salt...

Entertaining and informative. Author writes the book more like an auto-biography vs that of an objective biography. However, it still provides interesting story lines about organized crime syndicates, mob life, and the government's treatment of the subject after his capture. Personally, I could not bring myself to empathize with Casso's reported 'unfair' treatment at the hands of the government given his life of crime. Ultimately, Casso's chickens come home to roost in a way you do not wish upon anyone. The book was worth the credit!

Interesting perspective from an insider

Having read quite a few books on the subject of the mafia, I found that this book gave a new perspective in some ways. The narrative is simple and easy to listen to. The later part of the book held some surprises for me in terms of just how many people turned state's evidence and Carlo explains what was done with that evidence.

Informative, Interesting

Not on a par with "I Heard You Paint Houses" but quite another inside story that will hold your attention, your ear and your imagination! It all started so honorably and is made, quite clear, how "this thing of ours" devolved into chaos and treachory. Well read by Alan Sklar too!!

Gaspipe-

Would you consider the audio edition of Gaspipe to be better than the print version?

Yes I do.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Author and Gaspipe.

What about Alan Sklar’s performance did you like?

Didn't hold anything back, voice was great. Tone was used the same throughout the story which is great.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Alot of moments. Top 3 are as followed...

Death of Lillian, Gaspipe turning, Gotti & Sammy The Bull started the fuse to the end of the good life.

Any additional comments?

Excellent book a must read for any interest in Mafia. Start to finish could not place the book down. I will make on comment. I believe Gotti and his decision to take out a Boss should have left him dead. I truly believe that him and that idiot the Bull ruined the whole LCN. The Gaspipe followed suit. Gotti wasn't a boss he was a Las Vegas act. Why didn't he end up in a ditch? Blows my mind...Gaspipe was a hero in LCN of course I'm upset with his desception but it was a regular way out by that time. I believe everything that was said in this book.

Super interesting

The life and Times of this particular guy to me was super interesting to hear about in fact I’ve listened to this book more than one time because it is so fascinating it seems there is many facets to this guys personality,
And although he was a bad guy in the big picture you know I believe that he was screwed over and not given the deals that others were given when he decided to cooperate
But of course that’s just conjecture I advise checking it out and reading it especially if you’re into what is now a part of early American crime culture,
I think it’s fascinating stuff I don’t think you’ll regret checking this one out.
Enjoy

If you like Mafia books this one is great

The book takes you into the inner sanctum of the mafia. From the start of Gaspipe's career to the very end when he turns on the LCN.

Not a very good book

Like another reviewer stated I had first read Iceman which is by the same author and it was a great and entertaining book -- in retrospect I'm not sure how true it was but it was still interesting.

This book is not up to those standards -- it's not even close. The book is written like the author is afraid that a contract will be put on him if he is even remotely objective on any point. Additionally the author uses every cliche you can recall.

The story starts off extremely slow, the first quarter or more of this book is very boring. The reason I'll give this book 3-stars is the middle part of the book. During this part the story flows at a good pace, its interesting and it even for the most part seems well written. But then the author returns to the dull, non-objective filler for the final 3-4 hours. In this part you can hear about how unfair the government is not to give him a 6 1/2 sentence, I mean he plead guilty to killing many people, dealing drugs, corruption, etc -- but 6 1/2 years seems fair to me. You'll hear about how the government tricked him into a confession, how they gave him his lawyer, how they took advantage of poor Anthony. It's one of the most dull, boring diatribes I've ever heard and why the author didn't make this part of the book about 12 long is beyond me.

As for the read I'm convinced he's only reading the book in an effort to test the bass of your speakers. His reading style is annoying at best, dangerous to your health at worst. He's not the worst reader I've heard but he is not very good. He could become an acceptable reader if he stopped purposefully trying to make his voice so bassy, it's very annoying.

Overall this book is quite disappointing and worst it makes me think the entire Iceman book, which I did enjoy, is complete fiction.

Interesting, but self-serving and poorly-written

This book did provide some colorful insight into the people and processes of the New York Mafia, so it was worth reading. However, the content was so self-serving and self-glorifying that it almost became a joke at certain points. This is what happens when narcissistic psychopaths authorize their own biography. Then came the writing. So many weak and silly metaphors. This book really deserves a C grade. It's not great, it's barely good, it's almost bad, but it's not horrible.

Lots of whining, not much blood

What did you love best about Gaspipe?

I liked how it tied some stuff together from other books (Mob Boss, The Ice Man).

What other book might you compare Gaspipe to and why?

You should read in order: The Ice Man, Mob Boss. That is as far as I have been.

Which scene was your favorite?

N/A

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Most of this book was Casso whining about how he did not get the deal, 6 1/2 years, that he was promised. No surprise the government "screwed him". But was he really? He killed or had killed 150 people. For decades he stole the pensions from tens of thousands(?) of union workers (I wonder how they would feel about 6.5 years).
He stole millions upon millions from the American taxpayer in crooked bid-rigged deals.
He killed honest, legitimate business competition.

Casso claims he dealt with everyone on the street fairly and honorably (a recurring complaint in the book). Not so, even by his own mafia code. Maybe in the beginning. But in the middle and the end he killed people because they knew too much, he killed or attempted to kill non-crime family members. A boat captain's son, because they got caught. Come on, you are criminals, you get caught some times. Accept it.

The book talked quite a bit about the history and overview of his criminal dealings. But only detailed a little bit one torture-murder and one murder committed by Casso. I'm sure there were many more. It went on to the point of absurdity about what a good family man, husband, and father he was. On and on about how he missed his father. Seems a lot of people were missing their father's because of him.

Casso is upset about 400+ years in prison. Really, he is lucky. Every one of them should have been executed. Collectively those Italian families killed thousands of people, and stole hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. Not just from nameless faceless bank owners, but from real working people. I realize a few plea deals had to be made. I realize that most likely the CRIMINALS involved in those deals probably lie. I have no doubt all involved lie, or at worst, care only about their self-interests, being freedom, or career advancement.

So in short this is a book that is more of an overview of one mob family, with a few sketchy details on crimes thrown in, and a lot of whining about a bad deal in the end. I believe the author set out to do what he, and his childhood friend, Casso, wanted to do. In that, it is a good read. The narrator was awesome.

If you want gore and details read The Ice Man.