Genealogy Books - Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family

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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: A work Italian -Americans can be proud of.
Comment: This is a well researched,highly readable book.It was interesting to see the mobsters own
confessions via wiretaps by the FBI.The FBI was also able to uncover a mole working for the mob on
the NYPD payroll.The language of these mobsters behind closed doors was appalling,not the 4 letter
word cursing, but the sociopathic ramblings about murder and extortion.Those wiretaps definitely
denied the mob their layer of deniability. the author gives a good account of mob extortion in the
building trade,a 1% mark-up which seems scarcely noticeable turns into multi-millions on large scale
building contracts.As Mr. Davis points out very coherently,the mob's main method of winning these
contracts is violence or even more fearful the "threat of violence " as an option.

It was a real eye opener about "mob charites" or the mob paying a mortgage for an elderly widow.The
odds are about the same as winning in a gambling casino.For every widow who had her mortgage paid
by a mobster dozens more lost their mortgages due to mob crimes.It was inspiring to see how many
Italian-Americans worked overtime to help bring down the Gambino crime family.If nothing else this
book gives a real respectful view of hard working honest Americans and I gave kudos to the priest
who refused to do a mobster's funeral.I realize however that some of the priests do the masses out
of respect for the mobster's families who are often mob victims also.Really this book does not
glorify the Gambino's and there is nothing good said about any of their members.Gotti is portrayed
as the final deevolution of the Gambino's "family" and ironically it took the US government to
straighten out some of the mess which still isn't entirely cleaned up yet.
One
thing in this book really impressed me. The mob itself is nothing but a glorified pyramid scheme and
actually exploits the underpriveliged instead of helping them.Short term the "worker" may get a new
car but long term he gets a "long term" that is if he's lucky.The Gambino's retirement program
seemed to be a mob "bodybag" or one other way. That is,having the government pick up the tab by
sponsoring a criminal in the "Witness Protection Program" at 5 grand a month(at least in 1990).Gotti
spent most of his time as Gambino manager trying to figure out who was going to turn up next as a
government witness.That in itself would definitely be a full time job.The book makes me wonder what
would have been revealed about Al Capone had the government had wiretaps in the 1930's.

Customer Rating:

Summary: John Gotti
Comment: Here is a very insitefull book on a "Man's Man". not saying that being a violation of any crime is
I supported by me. But the Man of John Gotti as descibed in this book I can respect.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Informative View of NYC Mob
Comment: Author John Davis takes a historical look at New York's Gambino crime family from its earlier days
of Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Albert Anastasia, to the Carlo Gambino, Paul Castellano, and John
Gotti era's that followed. I liked the author's personal look at each of these Godfathers, plus
his analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. Readers see how the mob derives its income from
payoffs in construction, trucking, and garment-making, plus stand-bys like gambling, extortion,
pornography and loan sharking. The author also examines the rise and decline of New York City's
five families, of which the Gambino's were the most powerful. Not surprisingly, the book focuses
more heavily on recent years, particularly the reign of the "Teflon Don" John Gotti (1940-2002) from
his takeover in late 1985 until his conviction and life sentence in 1992. Overall, this is a
readable and interesting look at the mob/mafia hold on New York City.

Customer Rating:

Summary: pretty good
Comment: Rise and fall of the mafia. Good history on the Gambinos and other mafia. Some typos and a clear
violent book. Read the book it's pretty good. I had to use sticky yellow paper to write down notes
and keep track of the story the book has lots of pages so you might get lost in the story. There's
present and past stories that's why I got lost so I had use notes. Interesting book overall life of
an outlaw.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Gambino Crime Family - Explained!
Comment: This book does more than only focusing on the Gambino Crime Family. It throws light on the history,
rise, power, and decline of the big five crime families. Because, out of the five, Gambino Crime
Family was the most powerful and organized, so it tells you in detail about the bosses of this
family, which includes: Albert Anastasia, Carlo Gambino, Paul Castellano, and John Gotti. However,
Vincent Mangano, who was the boss of the family before Anastasia, is ignored in this book, which is
quiet strange, as he played the most important part in Gambino Crime Family for more than twenty
years. Many reviewers have complained that Davis has given too much detail on Gotti, but I think it
is because it was Gotti who gave the Gambino Crime Family the face we know.

The book is
very well written, and even though it is full of lengthy details and gives so much information
(sometimes Davis goes overboard), it still manages to keep the readers glued. I will give four stars
to this book.

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