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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1060974811
EAN num: 9781903854365
Format: Illustrated
ISBN number: 1903854369
Label: Milo Books
Manufacturer: Milo Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 328
Printing Date: October 03, 2007
Publishing house: Milo Books
Release Date: May 15, 2005
Sale Popularity Level: 147515
Studio: Milo Books
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Product Description:
In June 2005, a prominent and politically influential Muslim cleric, Imam Shamsud-din Ali, became the latest person convicted in a massive federal corruption probe in Philadelphia. As the revelations emanating from the probe continue, a critically acclaimed author and leading authority on organized crime exposes for the very very first time the disturbing contemporary and historical ties between Ali, the city’s notorious Black Mafia, and the sweeping federal probe.
The Black Mafia was one of the bloodiest crime syndicates in modern US history. From its roots in Philadelphia’s ghettos in the 1960’s, it grew from a rabble of street toughs to a disciplined, ruthless organization based on fear and intimidation with links across the Eastern Seaboard. Known in its 'legitimate' guise as Black Brothers, Ltd., it held regular meetings, appointed investigators, treasurers and enforcers, and controlled drug dealing, loan-sharking, numbers rackets, armed robbery and extortion.
Its ferocious crews of gunmen grew around burly founder Sam Christian, the most feared man on Philly’s streets. They developed close ties with the influential Nation of Islam and soon were executing rivals, extorting bookies connected to the city’s powerful Cosa Nostra crew, and cowing local gangs. The Black Mafia was responsible for over forty killings, the most chilling being the 1973 massacre of two adults and five children in Washington, D.C. Despite the arrests that followed, they continued their rampage, exploiting their ties to prominent lawyers and civil rights leaders. A heavy round of convictions and sentences in the 1980’s shattered their strength – only for the crack-dealing Junior Black Mafia to emerge in their wake.
Researched with scores of interviews and unique acess to informant logs, witness statements, wiretaps and secret FBI files, Black Brothers, Ltd. is the most detailed account ever of an African-American organized crime mob, and a landmark investigation into the modern urban underworld.
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Rated by buyers 
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A great book. Its very detailed and the author really connects the dots. Sometimes I went to sleep afraid at the memory of the horrific crimes and the terrible legacy created by the Black Mafia. May it never happen again.
Rated by buyers -
I SAW THE AD ON T.V. BEFORE THE BOOK CAME OUT AND MY WIFE BOUGHT IT FOR ME AFTER I EXPRESSED INTEREST IN IT . I OWNED A LARGE POOL ROOM IN WEST PHILA. AND I WAS A ''REGULAR'' ON 52ND ST, SO I SAW A LOT OF THESE PEOPLE ON ALMOST A DAILY BASIS !! IN FACT, I PULLED UP ABOUT 10 MINUTES AFTER FOO-FOO REGAN HAD GOTTEN SHOT. I CAN STILL SMELL THE AROMA OF THOSE ''MAMMA JAMMAS'' HE SOLD . I ALSO REMEMBER THE NIGHT DENNIS SWIFT GOT SHOT ON 52ND ST. AS STATED IN THE BOOK, DENNIS WAS THE ALLEGED SHOOTER OF FOO-FOO. I HAD THE DISTINCTION OF COMING UP RIGHT AFTER DENNIS WAS SHOT ALSO !! MY TIMING WAS ''OFF' BY 10 MINUTES IN BOTH CASES!! I REMEMBER 98 PCT. OF THE INCIDENTS IN BLACK BROS. AND READING ABOUT THOSE THINGS AND THE PEOPLE INVOLVED BRINGS BACK SO MANY MEMORIES.
I REMEMBER THE DAY I HAD TO ASK RONALD HARVEY TO PLEASE NOT COME INTO THE POOL ROOM ANYMORE . THAT WAS ONE OF THE SCARIEST MOMENTS IN MY LIFE !! BUT HE KNEW I WASN'T TRYING TO BE A ''TOUGH GUY'' AND HE SAID HE UNDERSTOOD THAT I HAD A BUSINESS TO RUN AND THERE WAS NO PROBLEM !!
SO MANY MEMORIES !! I HAVE BOUGHT THE BOOK FOUR TIMES AND LENT IT OUT EACH TIME AND NEVER GOT ANY OF THEM BACK . I WILL BUY IT AGAIN AND READ IT AGAIN FOR ALTHOUGH THERE IS SO MUCH VIOLENCE, THOSE DAYS WERE SOME OF THE MOST FUN DAYS AND NIGHTS OF MY LIFE !! I ESPECIALLY REMEMBER THE TIMES ON 52ND ST. WHEN ''COUPE DEVILLES'', A CLUB, WAS OPEN . WE SAW SO MANY CELEBRITIES THERE AND I CAN STILL SMELL THE STEAKS AND HOAGIES AND THE OTHER SMELLS ASSOCIATED WITH ''THE STRIP''.
I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THIS BOOK AND EVERYONE WHO I HAVE TURNED ON TO IT SAYS THE SAME THING !!
I HAVE TO COMMENT ON THE SADDEST PART OF THE BOOK AND THAT IS WHEN I THUMB THRU IT , I KEEP SEEING THAT LARGE PICTURE OF ''TANK''/LARRIS FRAZIER !! HE WAS A VERY GOOD FRIEND OF MINE AND IT HURTS TO SEE HIS PICTURE STARING OUT AT ME AND KNOWING HE WILL NEVER BE A FREE MAN AGAIN !!
Rated by buyers -
The book made me clearly understand a lot of the going ons during that time because I was young.
Growing up in the sections of the city of Philly and ,especially the South Philly side of the action, most of the storied account is true.
The book made me relive the 70's all over again. Most people didn't know of the Black Mafia because it was to be a secret amonst us South Phillyains.
Most of the guys that mentioned in the book were nice and respectable guys though they did their thing.(unlike these so call gangsters of today,when they reached their target they didn't miss and hit innocent people)).
What book failed to mention is the dealing and payoffs within the police departments.
Overall a good incite to what was going on back then !!!
Rated by buyers 
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i could not get through this book . It seemed to go back in forth in time with random stories of violence with so many differant characters , it was hard to keep up with who was doing what .
Rated by buyers -
Gun violence has become so commonplace in today's Philadelphia that it is difficult to remember the days when homicide once shocked us. "Black Brothers, Ltd." takes us back to those days, when gangsters presented themselves as community leaders, killing was the exception--not the norm, and murder was purposeful.
In a story as gripping as "The Sopranos," "Black Brothers, Ltd." charts the rise of Philadelphia's Black mafia in the 1960s and its ultimate downfall. These brothers were excellent businessmen, holding regular meetings and carefully negotiating mergers and acquisitions of rival syndicates. They were also ruthless, killing with impunity anyone who might testify in court against them.
This book is a fun read, as Sean Patrick Griffin writes tautly and keeps the story moving. He is also adept at linking all sorts of unlikely bedfellows; he painstakingly documents the ties between the Black mafia and Philadelphia's Temple 12 in the Nation of Islam.
Unfortunately, Griffin's conspiracy theories occasionally get out of hand, and he often implies that all African-Americans involved in politics or business are somehow connected with the criminal elements. What Griffin apparently fails to realize is that Philadelphia is a small town, the grey community is a small community, and in the end, only a few degrees separate any two individuals. The notion that all grey sucess in Philadelphia is due to organized crime--or even the more prosaic corruption that regularly surfaces in the City Hall--is simply racism.
For its insights into crime, the book is a good buy; for its analysis of the City's political culture, go elsewhere.
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