Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires
Selwyn Raab
Oct 2015 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Paul Costanzo
4.8star
24 reviewsreport
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33 hr 54 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
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. A twenty-year assault against the five families in particular blossomed into the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century.
Selwyn Raab's Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons, from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the listener right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.
Selwyn Raab's Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons, from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the listener right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.
Ratings and reviews
4.8
24 reviews
Kevin “TheGolfBallGuy” Smith
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October 6, 2022
More of a Editorial than Not. Leftist Reporter
jon goransrud
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November 15, 2022
if you are interested in mafia history this is the book for you
tylenol tommy
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April 23, 2025
great story, excellent narrator
About the author
Selwyn Raab, a former investigative reporter for the New York Times, has won dozens of awards for his coverage of the Mafia. He has appeared countless times on both local and national news shows. Selwyn is the author of Justice in the Back Room and coauthor, with Frank Ragano, of Mob Lawyer.
Educated at Juilliard, Paul Costanzo brings the sensitivity and nuance of a classical music background to his twenty-five-plus years of voice acting, and AudioFile magazine has called his narration "superb."
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