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The New York Times bestseller chronicling the history of NYC’s infamous five mafia families is now the basis for the upcoming The HISTORY® Channel documentary series American Godfathers: The Five Families.

For half a century, the American Mafia outwitted, outmaneuvered, and outgunned the FBI and other police agencies, wreaking unparalleled damage on America’s social fabric and business enterprises while emerging as the nation’s most formidable crime empire. The vanguard of this criminal juggernaut is still led by the Mafia’s most potent and largest borgatas: New York’s Five Families.

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 others. This definitive history brings the reader 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.

This updated tenth-anniversary edition features a new preface by the author.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ A Thomas Dunne Book for St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (October 4, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 816 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250101700
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250101709
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 2.1 x 9.2 inches
Reviewer: DACHokie
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: You Wanna Know About the America Mafia? Look No Further … Capisce?
Review: As I was totally immersed watching episodes of “Inside the American Mafia” on Netflix, I realized that Selwyn Raab’s interesting and invaluable commentary was what made the series so great. His authoritative knowledge and storytelling ability compelled me to order his book, FIVE FAMILIES, as I was watching the series. If there is one source I would recommend about understanding the “nuts and bolts” of Mafia in America, it would certainly be FIVE FAMILIES.The basic premise of FIVE FAMILIES is to illustrate how the crux of the American Mafia evolves around the happenings of the five major crime families in New York City (Luchese, Gambino, Genovese, Colombo and Bonnano). Paralleling the families’ stories is the gradual acceptance of the US government to acknowledge the Mafia’s existence and eventually formulate a plan to combat it. Raab does a magnificent job in presenting the birth, rise, decline (and likely resurgence) of these families and does so in a manner that is both entertaining and absorbing. Even more impressive is that FIVE FAMILIES manages to simplify the massive, interweaving complexities associated with these organizations to a level that most readers will appreciate. This meaty volume of 700+ pages provides an abundance of detailed information, but Raab graciously divides the material into 60 digestible (10-12 page) chapters that keeps readers focused. Miraculously, the book never became a tedious grind; I find it rare to read books this size that don’t either bore me to tears or eventually challenge my will to finish.FIVE FAMILIES is pretty much a chronological affair through the 1960s, when the families began to exploit their power. The period from the 1970s to the early 2000s, Raab informally groups chapters by family to better illustrate their peaks and subsequent downfalls in a more concise manner. This 70s-00s era provides much more intricate and juicy storylines as the US government’s willingness to fight the mafia resulted in a number of Mafiosi willing to violate their codes of silence. Much of the book describes the nitty-gritty of the violence perpetuated by the families (both within and outside the families) and the shady rackets that pretty much explains why everything in New York City costs so much (even candy bars). The power and the reach exerted by these families is eerily shocking. Ironically, the pages of mindless bloodshed is accompanied by stories that are both humorous and quirky. The plethora of gangster nicknames peppering each page (and the rationale behind the names) is a gem in-and-of itself. It was easy to see the basis for almost every significant Hollywood presentation of the Mafia being outlined in the book … even the fictitious “Sopranos”.What I appreciated most about FIVE FAMILIES is that it easily presents itself as being an authority on anything-everything related to the American Mafia. No stone is left unturned in this book as every major gangster from Luciano to “the last Don” Joe Massino (and everyone in-between) is addressed. Additionally, every significant mafia-related event is covered in satisfactory detail. Whether it be the famous Apalachin bust in 1957, the Kennedy assassination(s), the brutality of “Gaspipe” Casso, “Chin” Gigante’s decades-long mental illness ruse or the Teflon-turned-Velcro John Gotti trials … FIVE FAMILIES covers it ALL. More interesting is how the federal government went from turning its back to the Mafia’s existence to aggressively tackling each one of the five families by using the most powerful and effective tool in its armory: RICO. Each subsequent chapter is as engrossing as the previous.For anyone interested in the American Mafia, I cannot think of a better primer than FIVE FAMILIES as it provides such a comprehensive understanding of the entire organization (as a whole and each individual family) … it’s a one-stop-shop type of resource that entertains from beginning to end. While I have read several books that focus on specific mafia stories or individuals (Roy DeMeo, Nicky Scarfo or Richard Kuklinski), I have yet to see a book that ties everything together as well as FIVE FAMILIES manages to do … Selwyn Raab bats this one out of the park.

Reviewer: Douglas Lamb
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Awesome read
Review: I’ve followed him on different documentaries so I wanted to read this. Was not disapointed

Reviewer: Mike Powers
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A definitive history of the five great crime "families" of New York.
Review: Good books about the American Mafia are few and far between. Most of the ones I've found seem to be self-serving memoirs by former members and associates of organized crime, written in conjunction with professional ghost-writers. These books are okay, but don't really provide me with what I want: a good, solid, informative history of the American Mob and the efforts of law enforcement agencies to eradicate it.I recently discovered just such a book: "Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires" by Selwyn Raab. Here is a definitive history of the five great crime "families" of New York, written by a former "New York Times" investigative reporter who is also one of the foremost recognized authorities on organized crime in America.In "Five Families," Raab traces the rise and decline of the five most powerful and influential crime borgatas in the United States - so-called "families" named after their most famous bosses: Bonanno, Columbo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese. These five Cosa Nostra "families" gradually became so powerful that they essentially ruled nearly all of American organized crime from the early 1930s until the 1990s, when their influence was severely diminished by the concerted efforts of local, state, and Federal investigators and prosecutors.These families were initially organized in 1931 by Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who was, at the time, one of the most notorious gangsters in America. Luciano proposed dividing criminal enterprises in New York City into five "families," with a governing "commission" of bosses. Each borgata would be organized into crews led by "caporegimes," or "capos." There was also a body of strict rules by which all members would live.Raab points out that for nearly six decades, The Five Families' criminal enterprises ran practically unchallenged in New York. Their power and influence gradually expanded into Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and other major American cities. It was estimated that, during the Five Families' heyday in the 1970s and '80s, billions of dollars were illegally diverted from the American economy through criminal activities that included gambling, loan-sharking, extortion, drug trafficking, fraud, hijacking, robbery, kidnapping, and murder.Raab also traces the efforts of state, local, and Federal law enforcement agencies to bring the Five Families to justice. A heroic and dogged group of investigators and prosecutors, most notably FBI Special Agent Joseph D. Pistone (of "Donnie Brasco" fame) and U.S. Attorneys Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Chertoff, used provisions of the newly enacted Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act to indict, convict, and sentence to long prison terms many of the Five Families' most powerful and notorious gangsters.I found "Five Families" one of the most fascinating books I've read in a long time. The book is packed with information that's presented in an easy to read and understand manner. Selwyn Raab is obviously a gifted writer whose style drew me in from the book's first paragraph.It's unfortunate that the Kindle version of "Five Families" is of such poor quality that it seriously distracts from Raab's outstanding research and writing skills. Nearly every page of the Kindle version contains serious typographical errors like wrongly italicized words, incorrect punctuation, and even misspelled words. These errors occur frequently enough for me to deduct one star from my otherwise five-star rating. They all should have been eliminated by more careful proof-reading and editing.Despite this serious technical flaw, "Five Families" is an important addition to the literature of organized crime, and should not be missed. Highly recommended.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great book
Review: Very interesting history about how the mafia originated and prospered in the USA. The author did a great job of providing each families origin, how they were organized and their ongoing activities from the 1930's to the 21st century. VERY long book!

Reviewer: jeffrey dunsmoor
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Five families
Review: Good book with alot of interesting information.

Reviewer: David crisp
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good
Review: Good

Reviewer: CHARLES
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: True stories
Review: Information

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Keeps you attention
Review: I just started reading and it's very interesting, to the point I don't want to put the book down.

Reviewer: Beamsville Guy
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The mafia bible, thick as two stacked bricks it’s a big read

Reviewer: LR
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Envío muy rápido, en muy buenas condiciones

Reviewer: alfonso
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Para todo el que tenga interés en la mafia se trata de una lectura absolutamente imprescindible: Un tratado prolijo y perfectamente documentado sobre la historia de la mafia de Nueva York, pero también sobre las estrategias que siguieron las distintas agencias para contrarrestar su inmenso poder.

Reviewer: Barbara
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Per chi vuole comprendere il fenomeno mafioso al di fuori dei propri confini culturali e geografici. Un opera di giornalismo storico adatto anche a lettori poco esperti del settore

Reviewer: Masa Sakai
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: 自分の力では全章訳して読める量ではないほどページ数も多く情報も多い。写真が別枠の紙ではなく普通のページにあるためやや千度にかけるのがちょっと残念。