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

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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Awful
Comment: Well John H. Davis has proven there is life after being a press secretary for John F. Kennedy. The
president also happened to be married to his cousin. Of course thats been over 40 years ago and
Davis has now decided to become a true crime author.

This book has to be the most trumped up
organized crime/true crime book to date. Davis takes rather common knowledge to the average mob
researcher for individuals for the three main 'characters' Carlo Gambino, Paul Castellano and John
Gotti. There is nothing revealing or of noteworthy in this book. Davis did very little research,
splicing other book sources and the most notable was 'Boss of Bosses'.

Nice try John but no cigar
and when have you become a mob expert?

Customer Rating:

Summary: What?
Comment: Least factually accurate mafia book I've ever read.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Captivating; Excellent; Too Much Gotti!
Comment: I was quite captivated by Davis' story of the Gambino crime family. The book is an excellent read,
highly captivating, and fascinating. If you have never read any books about the Mafia or John Gotti,
then this is simply one good book to read. I have read several books about the Mafia, so there are a
few things I would have preferred. I believe Davis glossed over, too quickly, the early rise of the
Gambino crime family. I would have liked to have learned more about the early crime bosses and would
have preferred more background about how they got to were they were.

Only about 1/3 of the book
covers the rise of the Gambino family and its godfathers. Therefore, I believe, Davis skimmed over
much of the history to hurry and arrive at the Gotti dynasty. I believe, as other reviewers do, that
there is too much history about Gotti; too much detail about his trials; and too much relying upon
the infamous tapes.

Nevertheless, the book is quite readable. Read it if you are a beginning
Mafia reader.

Customer Rating:

Summary: At once, sobering and comical
Comment: Read this book for a corrective to the seductive powers of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather
trilogy and HBO's The Sopranos, which promote the "The Family" in more or less sympathetic tones.
Davis' narrative combines historical research (locating the roots of Cosa Nostra in 19th century
feudal Italy), psychological profiling (well-drawn portraits of the genius Carlo Gambino,
luxury-loving but ultimately out-of-touch Paul Castellano, and blowhard John Gotti), and legal
journalism (blow-by-blow accounts of the three Gotti trials of the 1980s and 1990s). There are
comical moments, most notably Castellano's tawdry affair with his maid (caught on FBI tapes) and
Gotti's obscenity-laden self-incriminating boasting that he always knows what is going on (while
being taped), and mob lawyer Bruce Cutler's courtroom tirades. But most of all, there is throughout
the undeniable rot of organized crime, where murder is treated not as a sin, but as a business
expense. Despite some grammatical errors and occasionally too much information (the book could have
been better edited in my view), this book will balance out American culture's strange ambivalence
regrading organized crime.

Customer Rating:

Summary: A solid Mafia history
Comment: I picked this book up on a whim. I had just read the Westies and I wanted to learn more about the
Italian mafia. Well this book was probably the best I could have picked up for an overview and it
led me to some other more cetralized books. I see a lot of reviewers have complained that it
centers too much on Gotti and yes this is true. In fact the book mostly focuses on Gotti and
Castellano. I feel this is because there isn't much to go on for the older bosses in the way of
written history. Davis does a good job of piecing together bits to create a history of the Cosa
Nostra from the turn of the century to Carlo Gambino. You can tell that information is pretty
scarce because he moves quickly through the bosses and the histroy and you get to Castellano after
like 200 pages. Most of Davis's information comes from Gotti's and Castellano's tapes. Therefore
the remainder of the book gets very detail oriented and recounts much of the history at a pretty
rapid pace. One thing I think Davis could have done better would have to not be so repetitive about
quotes. He used many of Gotti's and Castellano's quotes from the tapes and testimony over and over.
But if you are looking for a solid history and are new to this genre of reading then this is
probably the best you can find. Then if you want more precise novels pick up; Boss of Bosses, Bound
By Honor, The Westies, Wiseguy, Donnie Brasco, Underboss, etc...

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