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Thirty-five years ago, Mario Puzo's great American tale, The Godfather, was published, and popular culture was indelibly changed. Now, in The Godfather Returns, acclaimed novelist Mark Winegardner continues the story, the years not covered in Puzo's best-selling book or in Francis Ford Coppola's classic films.
More than 40 years ago, Mario Puzo wrote his iconic portrait of the Mafia underworld as told through the fictional first family of American crime, the Corleones. The leader, Vito Corleone, is the Godfather. He is a benevolent despot who stops at nothing to gain and hold power. His command post is a fortress on Long Island from which he presides over a vast underground empire that includes the rackets, gambling, bookmaking, and unions. His influence runs through all levels of American society, from the cop on the beat to the nation's mighty.
Mario Puzo spent the last three years of his life writing Omerta, the concluding installment in his saga about power and morality in America. In The Godfather, he introduced us to the Corleones. In The Last Don, he told the wicked tale of the Clericuzios. In Omerta, Puzo chronicles the affairs of the Apriles, a family on the brink of legitimacy in a world of criminals.
The last don is Domenico Clericuzio, a wise and ruthless man who is determined to see his heirs established in legitimate society but whose vision is threatened when secrets from the family's past spark a vicious war between two blood cousins. This is a mesmerizing tale that takes us inside the equally corrupt worlds of the mob, the movie industry and the casinos - where beautiful actresses and ruthless hit men are ruled by lust and violence.
Mario Puzo first answered the question 'What is a family?' with the creation of the Corleones in his landmark best seller The Godfather. Now, 30 years later, Puzo enriches us all with his ultimate vision of the subject: the story of the greatest crime family in Italian history, the Borgias.
Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo, and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals, and generational changes that produced violent, unreliable leaders and recruits.
Thirty-five years ago, Mario Puzo's great American tale, The Godfather, was published, and popular culture was indelibly changed. Now, in The Godfather Returns, acclaimed novelist Mark Winegardner continues the story, the years not covered in Puzo's best-selling book or in Francis Ford Coppola's classic films.
More than 40 years ago, Mario Puzo wrote his iconic portrait of the Mafia underworld as told through the fictional first family of American crime, the Corleones. The leader, Vito Corleone, is the Godfather. He is a benevolent despot who stops at nothing to gain and hold power. His command post is a fortress on Long Island from which he presides over a vast underground empire that includes the rackets, gambling, bookmaking, and unions. His influence runs through all levels of American society, from the cop on the beat to the nation's mighty.
Mario Puzo spent the last three years of his life writing Omerta, the concluding installment in his saga about power and morality in America. In The Godfather, he introduced us to the Corleones. In The Last Don, he told the wicked tale of the Clericuzios. In Omerta, Puzo chronicles the affairs of the Apriles, a family on the brink of legitimacy in a world of criminals.
The last don is Domenico Clericuzio, a wise and ruthless man who is determined to see his heirs established in legitimate society but whose vision is threatened when secrets from the family's past spark a vicious war between two blood cousins. This is a mesmerizing tale that takes us inside the equally corrupt worlds of the mob, the movie industry and the casinos - where beautiful actresses and ruthless hit men are ruled by lust and violence.
Mario Puzo first answered the question 'What is a family?' with the creation of the Corleones in his landmark best seller The Godfather. Now, 30 years later, Puzo enriches us all with his ultimate vision of the subject: the story of the greatest crime family in Italian history, the Borgias.
Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo, and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals, and generational changes that produced violent, unreliable leaders and recruits.
Born in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Joseph Bonanno found his future amid the whiskey-running, riotous streets of Prohibition America in 1924, when he illegally entered the United States to pursue his dreams. By the age of only 26, Bonanno became a don. He eventually took over the New York underworld, igniting the "Castellammarese War", one of the bloodiest Family battles ever to hit New York City.
Mafia Prince is the first-person account of one of the most violent eras in Mafia history - "Little" Nicky Scarfo’s reign as boss of the Philly family in the 1980s - written by Scarfo’s underboss and nephew, "Crazy" Phil Leonetti. The youngest-ever underboss at the age of 31, Leonetti was at the crux of the violent downfall of the traditional American Mafia in the 1980s when he infiltrated Atlantic City after gambling was legalized, and later turned state’s evidence against his own.
Tony Spilotro was the Mob's man in Las Vegas. A feared enforcer, the bosses knew Tony would do whatever it took to protect their interests. The "Little Guy" built a criminal empire that was the envy of mobsters across the country, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta, helped him do it. But Tony's quest for power and lack of self-control with women cost the Mob its control of Vegas; and Tony paid for it with his life.
Lucia Santa has traveled 3,000 miles of dark ocean, from the mountain farms of Italy to the streets of New York, hoping for a better life. Instead, she finds herself in Hell's Kitchen, in a bad marriage, raising six children on her own. As Lucia struggles to hold her family together, her daughter confronts the adult world of work and romance while her eldest son is drawn into the Mafia. Meanwhile, her youngest son aspires to American pursuits she cannot understand.
The Mob was the biggest, richest business in America...until it was destroyed from within by drugs, greed, and the decline of its traditional crime family values. And by guys like Sal Polisi. As a member of New York's feared Colombo Family, Polisi ran the Sinatra Club, an illegal after-hours gambling den that was a magic kingdom of crime and a hangout for up-and-coming mobsters. But the nonstop thrills of Polisi's criminal glory days abruptly ended.
This is the true-crime bestseller that was the basis for Martin Scorsese’s film masterpiece GoodFellas, which brought to life the violence, the excess, the families, the wives and girlfriends, the drugs, the payoffs, the paybacks, the jail time, and the Feds... with Henry Hill’s crackling narration drawn straight out of Wiseguy and overseeing all the unforgettable action.
Read it and experience the secret life inside the mob - from one who’s lived it. Now with an introduction by Martin Scorcese.From its inception, Atlantic City has always been a town dedicated to the fast buck, and this wide-reachinghistory offers a riveting account of its past 100 year, from the city's heyday as a Prohibition-era mecca of lawlessness to its rebirth as a legitimate casino resort in the modern era.
A true-crime collection culled from the crime files of the New York Times best-selling series, Notorious USA.
Set within America's golden triangle of corruption and excess—New York, Hollywood, Las Vegas—the novel plunges into the glittering and ruthless worlds of gambling, publishing, and the film industry, where greed, lust, and violence hold sway. As high rollers, hustlers, and scheming manipulators use power, sex, and betrayal to win, the strongest survive—but fools die.
The Mafia in the United States might be a shadow of its former self, but in the New York/New Jersey metro area, there are still wise guys and wannabes working scams, extorting businesses, running gambling, selling drugs, and branching out into white collar crimes. And they are continuing a tradition that's over 100 years old. Some of the most powerful mobsters on a national level were from New Jersey, and they spread their tentacles down to Florida, across the Atlantic, and out to California.
Blow is the unlikely story of George Jung's roller-coaster ride from middle-class high school football hero to the heart of Pablo Escobar's Medellín cartel - the largest importer of the United States cocaine supply in the 1980s. Jung's early business of flying marijuana into the United States from the mountains of Mexico took a dramatic turn when he met Carlos Lehder, a young Colombian car thief with connections to the then newly-born cocaine operation in his native land. Together they created a new model for selling cocaine.
From his heyday to the present moment, Al Capone - Public Enemy Number One - has gripped popular imagination. Rising from humble Brooklyn roots, Capone went on to become the most infamous gangster in American history. At the height of Prohibition, his multimillion-dollar Chicago bootlegging, prostitution, and gambling operation dominated the organized-crime scene.
New York, 1933: The city and the nation are in the depths of the Great Depression. The crime families of New York have prospered in this time, but with the coming end of Prohibition, a battle is looming that will determine which organizations will rise and which will face a violent end.
For Vito Corleone, nothing is more important than his family's future. While his youngest children, Michael, Fredo, and Connie, are in school, unaware of their father's true occupation, and his adopted son Tom Hagen is a college student, he worries most about Sonny, his eldest child. Vito pushes Sonny to be a businessman, but Sonny - 17 years old, impatient, and reckless - wants something else: To follow in his father's footsteps and become a part of the real family business.
An exhilarating and profound novel of tradition and violence, of loyalty and betrayal, The Family Corleone will appeal to the legions of fans who can never get enough of The Godfather, as well as introduce it to a whole new generation.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
Where does The Family Corleone rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This could possibly be the best book I've ever listened to. The writing is excellent, the narrator is amazing and the story is one of the best ever told and is just as good as the other books that were written as part of the Godfather saga.
Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
The plot is superb. Such an interesting take. Doing a prequel for the Godfather was in ingenius idea. The whole time you are just wondering what will happen next and whether or not it will tie into one of the Godfather movies that have already been published. I can't wait for the movie to come out for this version!
Which scene was your favorite?
There isn't one particular scene that is my favorite but I loved learning about Luca Brasi and the smart man he was prior to evolving into the not so smart monster that he was in the original Godfather movie. I also loved learning about how Michael, Fredo and Sonnie were as kids growing up in the Corleone family.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
Becoming the Godfather
Any additional comments?
The narrator truly is one of the best narrators I've heard. Every character he does sounds exactly like the characters sounded in the movies. This is must listen for anyone who likes the Godfather.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful
Would you consider the audio edition of The Family Corleone to be better than the print version?
I read a copy of the book along with the audiobook so i think for The Family Corleone Bobby Cannavale voice is just as good as the print. The way he can switch between voices is great and makes the whole experience that much greater. The thing i like most about the audiobook was that it did not skip any part of the book it was read word for word unlike some audiobooks i have tried in the passed.
Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
A lot, I think Ed Falco's depiction of the how the Corleone family was like before Michael's journey and the way he switches as one characters plot is about to thicken you jump right into to another character story line. He describers how Luca Brasi's life was like before he met Vito and how he can't die.
Which scene was your favorite?
Spoilers!! My favorite scene from the book was when the Corleone family was at a parade and Cork tries to warn Sonny about the Irish going to attack and a intense gun battle brakes out and Cork tries to save Vito and accidentally shoots him but saves Vito because he shot him.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Not one thing wrong with Bobby Cannavale performance.
Any additional comments?
This book is very well done. Ed Falco's take on a book that was written 44 year prior is impeccable. Very well done. Bobby Cannavalle voive is spot on.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
If you could sum up The Family Corleone in three words, what would they be?
drama thrilling and shocking
What did you like best about this story?
i love how the characters seem like their older counterparts.
What about Bobby Cannavale’s performance did you like?
i think his impression of the don was dead-on.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
yes
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
What made the experience of listening to The Family Corleone the most enjoyable?
Being somewhat familiar with the Godfather series this story gets to the early times for Sonny Corleone and his family..
Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
Yes, not a problem wanting to know what came next in the life of Corleone family.
What does Bobby Cannavale bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Liked his tone and correct Italian pronouncment of the words. Wish there was more Italian words added in the story, that seems to bring you in the book even more.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Luca and his girlfriend his storyline in particular moved me.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Loved it!
Narrator was a pleasure to listen to, brilliant with the voice changes of characters.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
story move very fluently and it was exciting characters were great awesome story to read
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
He really sounds like many of the main characters, painting a scene as you listen. The performance was fantastic!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I enjoyed this book and i liked the narration, even with slight timeline issues like Tom Hagen being 18, as he was a year older than Sonny at 17, in 1933, when in the Godfather novel, Tom was 35 in 1945. The math doesn't add up, lol, but it was a good ride imo
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
I really enjoyed listening to the narrator and his impressions of all the characters from the movie. The story is perfect in every way and has the feeling that you are immersed in the world of The Godfather. I recommend this to any fans of the movies and The Godfather novel.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
You will love this prequel that gives the backstory to many things mentioned in Mario's book. Very enjoyable listen as Bobby C does a great job. Highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful