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Five Families audiobook cover art

  • Five Families

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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.

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Top Hoodlum audiobook cover art

  • Top Hoodlum

  • Frank Costello, Prime Minister of the Mafia
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Using newly released FBI files, eyewitness accounts, and family mementos, Top Hoodlum takes you inside the Mafia that Frank Costello helped build from the ground up, from small-time bootlegging and gambling to a nationwide racketeering empire. Sometimes shocking, sometimes amusing, and always riveting, these are the stories that have inspired American crime classics like The Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos. This is the man who made the Mafia such a powerful force in our nation's history. This is Top Hoodlum. 

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Excellent look at Frank Costello

  • By Jeffery D. Giuliani on 08-14-18
Al Capone's Beer Wars audiobook cover art

  • Al Capone's Beer Wars

  • A Complete History of Organized Crime in Chicago During Prohibition
  • By: John J. Binder
  • Narrated by: David Colacci
  • Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 16
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    4.5 out of 5 stars 13
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    4.5 out of 5 stars 13

Although much has been written about Al Capone, there has not been-until now-a complete history of organized crime in Chicago during Prohibition. This exhaustively researched book covers the entire period from 1920 to 1933. Author John J. Binder, a recognized authority on the history of organized crime in Chicago, discusses all the important bootlegging gangs in the city and the suburbs and also examines the other major rackets, such as prostitution, gambling, labor and business racketeering, and narcotics.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Great history of Chicago during prohibition!

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A Man of Honor audiobook cover art

  • A Man of Honor

  • The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno
  • By: Joseph Bonanno
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  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 140
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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.

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Boardwalk Empire audiobook cover art

  • Boardwalk Empire

  • The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City
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    3.5 out of 5 stars 543
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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.

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Carmine the Snake audiobook cover art

  • Carmine the Snake

  • Carmine Persico and His Murderous Mafia Family
  • By: Frank DiMatteo, Michael Benson
  • Narrated by: Johnny Heller
  • Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 14
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 13
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    4 out of 5 stars 13

In this blistering street-level account, "Mafia survivor" Frank DiMatteo teams up with true-crime master Michael Benson to take down one of the most notorious figures in the American La Cosa Nostra. This is the real inside story of Carmine "The Snake" Persico, from his crime-filled childhood on the streets of Brooklyn to the long-term jail sentences that didn't stop him from controlling his criminal empire, with the help of his brother - the equally kill-crazy Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

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Publisher's Summary

The model for The Great Gatsby's Meyer Wolfsheim and Nathan Detroit from Guys and Dolls, Arnold Rothstein was an underworld genius, racketeer, rumrunner, and mastermind who, as F. Scott Fitzgerald observed, played "with the faith of 15 million people with the single-mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe." Jazz Age Broadway, with its thugs, speakeasies, showgirls, political movers and shakers, and sports heroes comes to life in this vibrant biography of the man who reigned supreme when the fast buck ruled and violence stalked the streets of Gotham.
©2003 David Pietrusza (P)2003 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic Reviews

"Writing a biography of the notoriously secretive Arnold Rothstein, a rum-and-drug-running, bookmaking loan shark who became one of the richest men in the world, is a gamble that, for the most part, pays off for Pietrusza." (Publishers Weekly)

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Audible.com Reviews
Amazon Reviews
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Michael
  • Buffalo Grove, IL, USA
  • 07-15-04

Time well spent

Comprehensive period account for those interested in early 20th century American history. Narration was more than adequate but for some mispronunciation of Yiddish names, terms and idioms. The narrative timeline was sometimes disjointed (major disadvantage in audiobook). Held my interest throughout.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Philo
  • San Diego, CA, United States
  • 10-08-12

Fans of the time and place, rejoice

Arnold Rothstein was a pioneer of 20th century organized crime. He took the street-level and gambling-house tricks to new heights of craft and organization. He brought a spiritedness and an element of sly humor to his business. His proteges include Meyer Lansky, Benjamin Siegel, and Lucky Luciano, launching the multi-ethnic criminal organization that loomed so large later in the century. Arnold was a white glove kind of guy who almost never got his own fingernails dirty; he was great at using straw men and having numerous fall guys between him and trouble. He brought an extreme discretion and skills of quiet manipulation of every player in sight, along with fastidious risk management, that would become a standard way of life in modern America's political economy. He should stand as an icon for every slick well-dressed manicured slimeball out there. As such, he doesn't get the recognition he deserves. Grover Gardner's narration has just the right sophisticated twang for this. The story drags a bit at a few points, but it moves plenty well, and was well worth my time.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful book, excellent narrator.

I can't say enough about Grover. By far my favorite narrator, hands down. The book itself was excellent as well, with lots of facts, but great story as well. The chapters on the 1919 scandal were riveting, and the human story was well told. 5 stars from me.