Download or read book Made Men written by Antonio Nicaso and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2013-07-05 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The novel The Godfather (1969) and the movie of the same name (1972) entrenched the myth of the Mafiosi as valiant knights, men of honor, and defenders of the traditional concept of family. As a result of this movie and other popular portrayals, the image of mobsters as “men of honor and tradition” has become iconic throughout America. Yet the truth of the matter belies this more noble image. The Mafia is a ruthless organization. Their concept of family is a twisted one. But viewed through the lens of popular culture, it is often difficult to separate the fiction from the reality. Made Men demystifies this image by dismantling the code of honor that Mafiosi live by, including its attendant symbols, rituals, and the lifestyle that it demands. Since the end of World War II, the Mafia in Italy and America has undergone major changes, which are charted by the authors through the present day. Nicaso and Danesi also consider all kinds of related organizations, not only the Italian ones, including the Yakuza, the Triads, and the Russian Mafia. The authors look at organized criminal culture in general, attempting to explain why its symbols, rituals, and practices continue to draw people in, both as literal members, or as consumers of the pop culture that glorifies them. This story traces and decodes the origins, history and success of the mafia in the U.S., bringing a better, and more accurate understanding of this ultimately brutal, violent, and corrupting “family business.” It is a story that has rarely been told in this way, but which is believed, nonetheless, important to tell.

Download or read book Made Men written by Glenn Kenny and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revealing look at the making of Martin Scorsese’s iconic mob movie and its enduring legacy, featuring interviews with its legendary cast. When Goodfellas first hit the theatres in 1990, a classic was born. Few could anticipate the unparalleled influence it would have on pop culture, one that would inspire future filmmakers and redefine the gangster picture as we know it today. From the rush of grotesque violence in the opening scene to the iconic hilarity of Joe Pesci’s endlessly quoted “Funny how?” shtick, it’s little wonder the film is widely regarded as a mainstay in contemporary cinema. In the first ever behind-the-scenes story of Goodfellas, film critic Glenn Kenny chronicles the making and afterlife of the film that introduced the real modern gangster. Featuring interviews with the film’s major players, including Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, Made Men shines a light on the lives and stories wrapped up in the Goodfellas universe, and why its enduring legacy has such a hold on American culture. A Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Sight and Sound Best Film Book of 2020

Download or read book Made Man Mafia written by Donald Pratt and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-07-14 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After a ten year prison stint Money hits the streets with two objectives in mind...kill his fellow co-defendant and get money. Friends are murdered, family is torn in the midst of the madness and detectives are hot on his trail only to find out that an organized crime ring has erupted right under their noses.

Download or read book The Accidental Gangster written by Ori Spado and published by WildBlue Press. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of a Hollywood fixer who wound up in the sights of the FBI. In this memoir, Orlando (Ori) Spado honestly recounts his humble beginnings from the small town of Rome in upstate New York, and his journey to becoming known as “The Mob Boss of Hollywood.” It is a candid account documenting his fall from a well-known Hollywood fixer mixing with A-list celebrities to serving 62 months in Federal prison, and ultimately making a determined comeback. “For nearly forty years Orlando ‘Ori’ Spado was a friend and associate of John ‘Sonny’ Franzese, underboss of the Colombo organized crime family. His relationship with Sonny brought him to the attention of the FBI, and eventually led to his being indicted with Sonny on federal RICO charges, and imprisoned. In The Accidental Gangster Ori provides the details of his time in ‘the life’ and his long battle with the FBI—whose overwhelming resources made it a fight that was impossible to win.”—Nick Pileggi, author of Wiseguy “Orlando ‘Ori’ Spado had been a thorn in the side of the Los Angeles field office of the FBI for almost two decades before they finally took him down. Accidentally or not, Ori was a quintessential Mob character, complete with a pinkie ring and a slow, steady deliberate voice whether speaking with friends or foes. But like so many other ‘Good Fellas,’ he was set up by a friend’s son. You will have to read the book to find out who set him up. Enjoy!”—John Connolly, New York Times-bestselling author of Filthy Rich

Download or read book Beautiful Disaster Signed Limited Edition written by Jamie McGuire and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-11-27 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abby Abernathy is re-inventing herself as the good girl as she begins her freshman year at college, which is why she must resist lean, cut, and tattooed Travis Maddox, a classic bad boy.

Download or read book Mob Killer written by Anthony M. DeStefano and published by Citadel Press. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Crazed Killer He dissolved the bodies of some of his victims in acid and poured them down the sewer. He hung grisly souvenirs on nails in his junkyard. La Costra Nostra Charles Carneglia was a stone-cold killer who fell in with the bloodthirsty John Gotti crew. As the infamous crime family rose to power with their murderous trail of sex, jealousy, greed, and revenge, Carneglia rose with them. Mafia, Madness And Murder This is the horrifying story of a misfit who fit perfectly into the New York mafia. In a harrowing journey inside a ruthless criminal underworld, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony M. DeStefano chronicles one man's life in a world of depraved acts of violence and the horrors that went with being a member of the Gambino family. "Thrilling American crime writing." -Jimmy Breslin on King of the Godfathers Includes 16 Pages of Shocking Photos

Download or read book Wiseguy written by Nicholas Pileggi and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2019-04-16 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nicholas Pileggi’s vivid, unvarnished, journalistic chronicle of the life of Henry Hill—the working-class Brooklyn kid who knew from age twelve that “to be a wiseguy was to own the world,” who grew up to live the highs and lows of the mafia gangster’s life—has been hailed as “the best book ever written on organized crime” (Cosmopolitan). 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. “Nonstop...absolutely engrossing” (The New York Times Book Review). Read it and experience the secret life inside the mob—from one who’s lived it.

Download or read book Sonny written by S. J. Peddie and published by Citadel Press. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Couldn’t put it down.” —Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy (Goodfellas) and Casino The extraordinary life and times of a legendary crime boss who refused to squeal—but who finally agreed to talk to an award-winning New York Newsday reporter shortly before his death at age 103 . . . John “Sonny” Franzese reportedly committed his first murder at the age of fourteen. As a “made man” for the Colombo crime family, he operated out of his Long Island home specializing in racketeering, fraud, loansharking, and other illicit deeds he would deny to his dying day. His career in organized crime spanned over eight decades—and he was sentenced to fifty years in prison for robbery charges. But even behind bars, Sonny Franzese never stopped doing business . . . This is the true story of an old-school mafioso as it’s never been told before. Newsday reporter S. J. Peddie interviewed Franzese in prison—and uncovered a lifetime of shocking secrets from the legend himself: * Why FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had a very personal interest in Sonny. * How Sonny managed to juggle numerous affairs with women, including a famous model. * How Sonny spent a third of his life in prison—and still managed to earn untold millions for the mob. * How Sonny accidentally revealed some of his worst crimes—to a “friend” wearing a wire. Through it all, Franzese refused to break the Mafia’s code of silence. Authorities believe he may have murdered, or ordered the murders of, forty to fifty people. Yet he earned a grudging respect from law enforcement and an absolute reverence from his fellow gangsters. Eventually he managed to outlive them all—until his death in 2020 of natural causes, a rare event in the Mafia. Thanks to a series of exclusive firsthand interviews, the astonishing life story of John “Sonny” Franzese can be told in all its bold, brutal, and blood-spattered glory. This is a must-read for anyone fascinated with Mafia history—and a rare look inside a criminal mind that has become the stuff of legend.

Download or read book Donnie Brasco written by Joseph D. Pistone and published by Hodder Paperbacks. This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1978, the US government waged a war against organised crime. One man was left behind the lines. From 1976 until 1981, Special Agent Pistone lived undercover with the Mafia. Only able to visit his young family once every few months, Pistone - under the alias Donnie Brasco - ate, drank, partied, worked and sometimes killed with the wiseguys. He got so close that his Mafia partner, Lefty Ruggiero, asked him to officiate as best man at his wedding. Pistone's eventual testimony, in such spectacular prosecutions as 'the Pizza Connection' and 'the Mafia Commission' resulted in more than 200 indictments and 100 convictions of members of organised crime.

Download or read book Made Men written by Greg B. Smith and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2003-02-04 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For years, the DeCavalcantes, the most powerful Mob family in Jersey, labored in the shadows of the more famous families in New York—the likes of the Gambinos and the Columbos. Dismissed by the big-city capos, the DeCavalcantes finally came into their own when they found their lives mirrored in the television hit, The Sopranos. Overnight it legitimized the made men of the Garden State. Now they were a familia to be reckoned with. Unfortunately with high profile came high risk. As member turned against member, as trusted friend turned terrified informant, the FBI put the brakes on the DeCavalcante’s explosive ride into infamy, hastening a fall from honor that would become as infamous as their notorious ascension into the annals of organized crime. Based on more than 1,000 hours of secretly recorded conversations, Made Men delivers for the first time, the unprecedented and completely uncensored behind-the-scenes truth of a historically clandestine world—of violent life and sudden death inside and outside the mob, told by the very men who made it.

Download or read book Made Men written by Glenn Kenny and published by Hanover Square Press. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Made Men is obsessive, free-associative and exuberantly geeky. I mean that in a good way; it's everything a hard-core fan might want." --New York Times Book Review In the first ever behind-the-scenes story of Goodfellas, film critic Glenn Kenny chronicles the making and afterlife of the film that introduced America to the real modern gangster. Featuring interviews with the film's major players, including Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, Made Men shines a light on the lives and stories wrapped up in the Goodfellas universe, and why its enduring legacy is still essential to charting the trajectory of American culture thirty years later. "Glenn Kenny's Made Men is that rare book that's as mesmerizing as the film it profiles." --Library Journal "No one else has seen this magnificent, agonizing, unmooring movie with such piercing clarity." --Slant "Reading it is like watching the movie again while sitting next to the smartest person you know." --WBUR

Download or read book The Chronicles of the Last Jewish Gangster written by Myron Sugerman and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Myron Sugerman's memoir, The last Jewish gangster: from Meyer to Myron, is more than just arivetingg account of the author's nearly sixty-year career as an international outlaw in the field of slot machines and casinos. It's also a fascinating meditation on a variety of themes: aging, respect, adventure, greed, and man's tendency to be his own worst enemy. Although it's chock-full of hilarious anecdotes about Mr. Sugerman's hapless cohorts in what he calls "disorganized crime," the book also contains life lessons for those perceptive enough to look for them -- lessons on how to differentiate calculated risk-taking fromcompulsivee gambling, and on how to maintain one's place in the world as one grows older. The last Jewish gangster follows its author from 1959 to the present day as he travels the globe from Europe to Africa to South America to Asia, rubbing shoulders with dangerous men and legendary mob figures like Longie Zwillman, Meyer Lansky, Joe "Doc" Stacher, Gerry Catena, Tony Bananas Caponigro, Tommy Ryan Eboli, and many others. The story covers everything from his dealing with the fearsome Cali Cartel to his attempt to help famous Nazi hunter Simon Weisenthal track down the angel of death, Josef Mengele in Paraguay. The remarkable book contains something to pique the interest of any reader -- gritty crime stories, harrowing adventure, twentieth century history, and Jewish religious philosophy -- and the perspective of a man who has lived a long life and seen more than most of us have imagined seeing."-- Cover page 4.

Download or read book Capo written by Liliana Rhodes and published by . This book was released on 2015-03-15 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You saved me Gia, but I'm still just a killer. "Gia" My brother was killed by the man I love. But will Dante still love me if he finds out about my past? I'm not the good girl he thinks I am. "Dante" I'll do anything to protect Gia, but she's pushing me away. I should have known a good girl like her couldn't really love a killer like me. "Capo is book 2 in the Made Man trilogy. All three books can be found in the boxed set Made Man Dante."

Download or read book Men of Dishonor written by Antonino Calderone and published by William Morrow. This book was released on 1993 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Sicilian mafia boss for 20 years, Don Antonio Calderone's sensational confessions in 1992 brought about the 1993 capture of Toto Riina, the Sicilian "boss of all bosses". Calderone's revelations are the first behind-the-scenes glimpse of the Cosa Nostra--the real Mafia. Photos.

Download or read book Nero written by Sarah Brianne and published by . This book was released on 2014-06-25 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Elle is determined to keep her mouth shut when the mob boss tells Nero to make her talk.

Download or read book Made Man Dante written by Liliana Rhodes and published by . This book was released on 2014-12-08 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The hitman, Dante finds love with the good girl. He's willing to do whatever it takes to keep her out of danger, even if it means doing the one thing that will push her away forever: killing her brother.

Download or read book Rock Solid written by Billy Stonewall Birt and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-27 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The story of Georgia's 'Dixie Mafia' has never been told. At its core was one man and he was bigger than life. He was the author and enforcer of the rules that governed the entire organization. He set the standard of code that made the 'Dixie Mafia" impenetrable. And he was the one that anyone who broke that code would have to face. His name was Billy Sunday Birt and this is his story" --page 4 cover.