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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.106
EAN num: 9780425185513
ISBN number: 0425185516
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: February 04, 2003
Publishing house: Berkley
Release Date: February 04, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 164984
Studio: Berkley
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
It wasn't until the sucess of 'The Sopranos' that New Jersey's powerful DeCavalcante family became legitimized in the eyes of big city capos. But a higher profile meant higher risk. Member turned against member, and eventually one of them turned to reporter Greg B. Smith to expose the rise and fall of one of the most notorious families in America.
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Rated by buyers 
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Im 85 pages in and nothing has happened. I dont know where its going or even what its about.
Rated by buyers -
I don't know about this one folks. Starts slow but makes up for it with an even slower finish. Up until Vinnie Ocean is made boss, this book was like watching grass grow. Sorry fellas, but don't waste your time.
Rated by buyers -
Fun, but a bit dull ... Flashes of real humour here, and some insight into how the mob of the '90s worked. But I was expecting the story to build to a real climax, and since it never ended in the trial of the protagonist (antagonist?), there was no resolution. This isn't the fault of the author, necessarily, because he probably had to work against deadlines.
But if you want to know the real story of the DeCavalcantes, it's more interesting to read the NY papers' accounts of the trial in 2003. Among the sensational revelations that never made it into this book -- the head of the family was rubbed out for being gay! (This inspired the famous story line in 'The Sopranos' centering around gay Vito.)
Rated by buyers -
I have to say that I must agree with the comment in the Literary Journal review, above, that the writing in this book is disjointed and repetitious. It was so broken that in many cases it was hard to follow. The author jumps from person to person with little background and less connection from one part of the book to the next. I was all ready to like this book. I've been a big fan of The Sopranos, so I was very interested in this book. Unfortunately, it was hard to enjoy. It also lacked the saving grace of those little bits of insider information that can be so fascinating. It just wasn't there.
The author could have taken the approach of directly linking the people and events in the book with Sopranos people and events. In fact, it looked like that was exactly where he was going. At one point he mentions several events from real life that directly coincide with Sopranos events. But then the book disappoints by not linking people, beyond the most general terms and far too seldom to enjoy.
Overall, this book was a big disappointment. I can't recommend it at all.
Rated by buyers -
I am on the fence with this one. It wasn't bad but there wasn't necessarily anything that was good about it either. Smith attempts to piece together the 1,000 hours of evidence with the known history in order to show us the downfall of the DeCavalcante family. We see it; we see the Mafioso family crumble under the weight of its degenerate members, so Smith succeeded there. But it is his telling that hampers this book from being an out right winner.
One thing that particularly frustrated me was that you would be reading along and Smith would describe something. It would seem as though it came out of nowhere and didn't really belong, but you shrug your shoulders and take it as part of the story. Then further into the book he would talk about that exact same scene, word for word. With no explanation. And this didn't happen just once. It happened repeatedly. Why he did this I could not make sense of it. Additionally, he would have some scenes where you know there is not a wire and Smith could not have known what was said. For example, when Joey O, Anthony Capo and I think Gallo were waiting in a stolen car outside Majuri's house to whack him we are given a word for word recital of their conversation. Yet they were in a stolen car and the three people in the car were not informants, so how does he know this? This was where Smith would try to recreate the scene, which is also where a loosely based scene was turned to fiction in order to further the book. This happened several times.
There were some redeeming qualities. For one, Smith has a dry sense of humour and you can sense it throughout the book as comments are dropped in between the mob's conversation. Additionally, we would read some of the conversations that were going on and can't help but laugh at these violent men. Some of their conversations are hilarious, and I give credit to Smith for strategically interspersing some of these amidst other such despicable acts throughout the book. It adds a comical element to the DeCavalcante crime family, and other crime families, that are usually glossed over.
All in all, a decent rendering of a fall of a crime family. I would read other books first, such as The Valachi Papers, Wiseguys and Underboss, but this is a good addition for anyone looking to read more about organized crime.
3.5 stars.
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