false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255704855m/6376400.jpg 6376400 1 <b>For <i>Sopranos</i> watchers, <i>Godfather</i> aficionados, and all other Mafia buffs, the gripping story of the birth of the Italian Mafia in America</b><br><br>Before the Five Families who so notoriously dominated U.S. organized crime for a bloody half-century, there was the one-fingered, surpassingly cunning Giuseppe Morello and his murderous coterie of brothers. Born into a life of poverty in rural Sicily, Morello became an American nightmare, pioneering the bizarre initiation rituals, imaginative protection rackets, influential underworld reigns, and Mafia wars later popularized by countless books, television shows, and movies.<br><br>In <i>The First Family</i>, Mike Dash tells the little known story of the Morello family. He follows the birth of the Mafia in America from the 1890s to the 1920s, from the wharves of New Orleans—where Morello himself disembarked in the United States—to the streets of Little Italy. Using previously untapped secret service archives, prison records, and interviews with surviving family members, Dash brings to life the remarkable villains and unusual heroes of the Mafia’s early years, from the colorful members of the Morello family to Joseph Petrosino, an Italian cop with a thick Naples accent, and William Flynn, a dogged U.S. Secret Service agent, who banded together to bring down Morello.<br><br>More than just a pulse-quickening Mafia narrative, <i>The First Family</i> is the first authoritative account of a particularly crucial period in American history, in which the modern American underworld was born. 6564086 4 8 2009 The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia total:24|5:5|4:12|3:6|2:0|1:1| 24 92 106 16 5 0 false false Sun Oct 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 10:59:54 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 11:00:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Sep 09 10:23:23 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 10:23:56 -0700 2009
The birth of the American Mafia
Review by Pete Croatto

Thanks mostly to movies and television, the Mafia has been romanticized and glamorized. Historian Mike Dash isn’t interested in adding to that. Instead, his readable, revealing saga, The First ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 01 10:02:08 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 10:03:07 -0700 2009 While writing The First Family it seems as if author Mike Dash didn’t include even the tiniest detail without sourcing and noting the inclusion. He takes the American mafia as far back as he can trace it, and then slowly through massive amounts of research from historical sources (police fi...more...]]> 5 0 false true Mon Jun 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 12:08:18 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 14:49:41 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Oct 03 07:13:14 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 08:13:49 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Oct 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 13:31:22 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 15:32:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jun 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 17:15:16 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 17:24:24 -0700 2009
although there are a number of familiar names, there are a...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 00:00:58 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 00:07:09 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 19:34:54 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 07:52:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Aug 23 13:52:55 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 13:56:00 -0700 2009 4 0 true false Fri Jul 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 18:50:38 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 16:49:16 -0700 2009 I think what makes it a slow book to read, is the names/nicknames, keeping the "families" straight & there is just so much information.

It is very, very interesting. Of course, we have always ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 20:24:57 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 20:25:21 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Fri Jun 26 13:22:28 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 12:41:27 -0700 2009
I found it peculiar towards the end of the book, when I found myself almost rooting for the original boss of bosses "Clutch Hand" Morello. I even felt...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 11:38:52 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 19:36:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 08:11:55 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 08:13:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jun 25 16:04:49 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 17:25:28 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 24 15:53:19 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 15:53:19 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 24 07:25:35 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 07:25:35 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 22 15:02:59 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 15:03:07 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 22 10:36:14 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 10:36:14 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6376400