La Primera Familia / The First Family: Extorsion, Venganza, Muerte Y El Nacimiento De La Mafia Americana / Extortion, Revenge, Murder And The Birth Of The American Mafia (Spanish Edition) (2010)
About book La Primera Familia / The First Family: Extorsion, Venganza, Muerte Y El Nacimiento De La Mafia Americana / Extortion, Revenge, Murder And The Birth Of The American Mafia (Spanish Edition) (2010)
Mike Dash executed, no pun intended, an enormous amount of research in this book to bring the early years of the mafia in America to light. Because there is an extensive list of individuals, the names dropped are as long as a city block. Thankfully, Mike gives a list of characters and their brief history in the beginning of the book. The book is good, and extremely well researched; it leaves no stone unturned in getting to the bottom of the crimes committed, and deaths attributed to the mafia. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to have an in depth view of the mafia in its early stages in America. I didn't do this book a favor by getting side-tracked from it for a few months. Mike Dash allows the narrative of the Mafia's birth to unfold unhurriedly, and there are so many personages with unfamiliar Italian names and outlandish noms de guerre that it was tough to get back into. But I'm glad I finished it out: by the author's own admission, history of this sort is necessarily hazy (criminals tend not to leave records), but that's part of its appeal. The Mafia is ominous, vague, subtle, rarely glimpsed head-on by us outsiders. To pull away the veil as much as this book does gives the impression of a sketchy, black-and-white monster rushing forward from out of the darkness, then disappearing beyond our peripheral vision just as quickly. Pretty scary. Much of the book plays on the attraction of this "unknown" quality, even as it provides some great, distinct illustrations of key events and people from the all but lost founding of America's Mafia. Most prominently, there's the early Boss nicknamed the Clutch Hand, for a rather literal and hard-to-look-at reason; you have to admire the guy's perseverance at times, but he's so damn heedlessly selfish. Then there are the "good guys" of the story, most of whom are less interesting than the mob types, but a few of whom give you some hope for humanity. (Remind me to track down the forlorn little park dedicated to Detective Petrosino the next time I'm in New York.)I dock it points because the book is not as consistently thrilling as I may have wished--and yes, I do believe there are ways to make turf wars over artichokes more gripping--but it does soar at times, and is never less than educational. Dash has done a very admirable job piecing the scraps of information available together into an interesting, coherent chronicle.
Do You like book La Primera Familia / The First Family: Extorsion, Venganza, Muerte Y El Nacimiento De La Mafia Americana / Extortion, Revenge, Murder And The Birth Of The American Mafia (Spanish Edition) (2010)?
I didn't finish reading it. The 1st half was interesting but then I started getting tired of it.
—lemmem
Very, very detailed history of the very first, "First Family" of the Mafia. Fascinating.
—Xaanthelexi
Mike dash hits a home run with this book about the birth of the American Mafia.
—Debra
