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11th out of 65 books
—
40 voters
Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family
Operation Family Secrets is the chilling true story of how the son of the most violent mobster in Chicago made the unprecedented decision to work with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to incriminate his own father and to help bring down the last great American crime syndicate—the one-hundred-year-old Chicago Outfit.
The Calabrese family of Chicago is a close-knit, mid...more
The Calabrese family of Chicago is a close-knit, mid...more
Hardcover, 336 pages
Published
March 8th 2011
by Broadway
(first published January 1st 2011)
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Oh my...what, I ask, would you do--if you were born the son of a ruthless Chicago hitman, who could alternately show you love, then cruelly betrays you, coldly uses you & involves you in crime, and threatens your life?
Frank Calabrese Jr. explains exactly what it's like in his chilling, can't-put-it-down book, "Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family". I'd heard an interview with the author on NPR's "Fresh Air" and had to learn m...more
Frank Calabrese Jr. explains exactly what it's like in his chilling, can't-put-it-down book, "Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family". I'd heard an interview with the author on NPR's "Fresh Air" and had to learn m...more
I heard an interview with the author on NPR a while ago and decided I should read the book. I wasn't disappointed at all.
The author (with help) writes a clear, clean description of what it was like to grow up with his father, a made man in the Chicago Mob. He shows how the different groups interact and how some people actually switch allegiances, not always with retribution.
But the best part is his own personal story. Basically, his father groomed him to join the ranks most of his life. He start...more
The author (with help) writes a clear, clean description of what it was like to grow up with his father, a made man in the Chicago Mob. He shows how the different groups interact and how some people actually switch allegiances, not always with retribution.
But the best part is his own personal story. Basically, his father groomed him to join the ranks most of his life. He start...more
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Mafia stories like The Godfather and The Sopranos have always intrigued me. It was interesting to read a real-life Mafia story and see how the "movie Mafia" differs from it. I have to say that there is not much difference at all. Frank Calabrese, Jr. is a brave man to not only refuse to enter the witness protection program but then to also co-author a tell-all book about growing up with a father in the Chicago Mafia, which is known as the Outfit.
I realize that the names of the people were out of...more
I realize that the names of the people were out of...more
Jul 21, 2012
J.E. Jr.
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
memoir,
autobiographical
Like many other readers, I heard an NPR interview with the author, Frank Calabrese Jr., in which he discussed the events he describes in detail in the book. Here’s a man who turned against his “made-man” mobster father and helped the FBI, then elected NOT to enter witness protection after. I was struck by one particular moment in the interview when questioned how he feels about the fact that, if his father should ever get out of prison, his father may come looking for him? His response was simpl...more
It is chilling to know there are people amongst us like Frank Calabrese, Sr. and his "associates" in the Chicago mafia. Hollywood and popular fiction have exposed us to the antics and mores of "made" men in organized crime, but no one could have invented Frank Sr.
A basic rule in an organization based on breaking all civil rules is that you do not bring the business into your home. Frank Sr. not only made his sons and brother engage in criminal acts, but treated them like all his other prey. This...more
A basic rule in an organization based on breaking all civil rules is that you do not bring the business into your home. Frank Sr. not only made his sons and brother engage in criminal acts, but treated them like all his other prey. This...more
True life, current era! story of how the son of the Chicago mob confesses to the FBI and brings down his father and uncle and many other murdereres and mobsters from Chicago. Murder, mayhem and greed drive the Outfit to extortion and murder only to find themselves behind bars. Hard to believe this level of lawlessness continues in the USA! Worth reading just to be aware of what is probably still at large in our society. Without criminals deciding to coperate with the FBI, these guys never would...more
I found this to be a relatively quick and easy read. I admittedly already knew the basics of the story and a bit about most of the key players, so I didn't have any trouble keeping up with it. It was packed full of facts and details, so I can see how others could be confused by who did what and when.
At times it was disturbing, but there were moments I laughed at their ability to keep a sense of humor. It's a bit frightening, to be honest.
Kudos to Frankie Jr for taking a stand. The world is a bet...more
At times it was disturbing, but there were moments I laughed at their ability to keep a sense of humor. It's a bit frightening, to be honest.
Kudos to Frankie Jr for taking a stand. The world is a bet...more
Only once in my life have I experience the quintessential movie moment where everyone you encounter one morning is reading the same article from the newspaper. When I lived in Chicago, during the period of about a week, almost everyone I passed reading a newspaper was reading about "Family Secrets" in the Tribune. I got this book as a result. An interesting insight into the criminal mind and the inner workings of the mafia. Not something I hope to need to know much about, but interesting nonethe...more
Meh... I wasn't thrilled with this, it seemed more of a "mobsters are cool but I'm still a good guy" books, except real. Not my cup of tea. Either way, I'm sure it's a good look at the kind of mentality that it takes to be in the mob in the first place, but it's not something I'll ever be revisiting. Frankly, the author (if you could call him that) is kind of a whiny little punk who got hopped up on cocaine and thought he was a legitimate business man who used mob money. Again, Meh.
This is not a great book but a totally amazing, unbelievable and extraordinary true story about the mob that takes place in and around Chicago, so I of course liked it immensely. If you are familiar with Goodfellas, the Godfather, Casino (the true stories behind each film, of course) and this book (which basically must become a Scorsese movie at some point), you have a relatively detailed working knowledge of American 20th century organized crime. Delightful.
A solid true crime history of the Chicago Chinatown crew as run by Frank Calabrese Sr. The son of course comes off quite well in his snitch memoir, but not quite as bad as Sammy "The Bull" Gravano did in his Gotti book, when he knew nothing, saw nothing, and helped old ladies cross the street. The Chicago mob has long been the most violent and you get insight into the daily running of a juice and extortion crew who also operated as Murder Inc. for the midwest, with their bloody hands in many pie...more
20130327 ◊ Super sloppy guilty pleasure. Books like this aren't usually on my radar, but I heard a really moving interview with Frank Calabrese Jr. on NPR, so I downloaded the audiobook. Crazy stuff! FCJ is a very brave man to have worked with the Feds on the indictment his father, uncle, and numerous other violent criminals. An incredible, sobering story, clearly detailed and simply written. Great narration by Todd McLaren.
Unlike the book about James Bulgur that I had to basically skim to get through, this book had me hooked from beginning to end. Frank Calabrese's in depth look at the Chicago Outfit and his ultimately doomed relationship with his father was fascinating. The writing isn't perfect, but I enjoyed the feeling of just sitting down and listening to someone tell stories about his life.
OK, so a lot of the reader review groused about the quality of the writing in this book. The book was written by a mobster, so the prose is decidedly not of Shakespeare or Steinbeck quality. Get past that and you'll be good to go.
I've always been fascinated with novels, bios, true crime books about the mob, and I grew up in Bridgeport (saw The Godfather at The Ramova Theatre when I was 7 - https://www.facebook.com/ramovatheatre - and was hooked from then on), so was particularly interested in t...more
I've always been fascinated with novels, bios, true crime books about the mob, and I grew up in Bridgeport (saw The Godfather at The Ramova Theatre when I was 7 - https://www.facebook.com/ramovatheatre - and was hooked from then on), so was particularly interested in t...more
I heard an interview while driving down to Louisiana from Frank Calabrese, Jr. on a public radio station. It sounded interesting so I thought I'd buy the book. While the story was interesting the writing was not so good, which took a bit away from the story. But then again, this guy was groomed to be a mobster not a writer. I'm glad that his father got what he deserved.
Goes into some detail about the Outfit's operation in Chicago. A lot of the principals lived near my current neck of the woods. Curious to learn more about this. So far, I'm a bit dissapointed, either Goodfellas, Sopranos, etc are incredibly realistic or Frank is borrowing heavily from these films, etc. to inform his own personal history and fill in the gaps for events he wasn't physically present at. I think those cultural sources, and others like them, are fairly realistic, but the similaritie...more
I thought this book was well written. You get a good picture of the events that took place without going into so much detail you just want to skip ahead which is something I've done with other books. It was an interesting point of view. I feel like he wrote with complete honesty when it came to the things, good and bad, he had done in his life.
I really enjoyed this book. It was very informative about the Chicago Mob Outfit and the life of the Calabrese family. A quick and enjoyable read, but maybe not the best for right before bed (which I did anyway because I couldn't put it down) because some of the things that happened are fairly upsetting. A unique look into the mob, FBI, family dynamics and organized crime prosecution.
Interesting at first, but it begins to drag as it goes on... It does pick up some in the middle, but quickly drops back into repetitive descriptions of mob murders and other crimes and FBI's case... Would have been much better if it was about 100 pages shorter... Overall disappointed....
I thought the book was very interesting. All the violence in the movies really takes place! However, the writing is very amateur and at times drifted into tangents. But, the content is fascinating and I found Frank Calabrese, Jr. to be a very noble individual and very likeable.
Fascinating story to read as a parent. Truly shows how our children both model our behavior but also are people in their own right with their own moral compass and set of ethics. Interesting look at nature versus nurture and the integral roles both play in our development - whether we like it or not. The author's voice is honest, unflinching, and very relatable. I highly recommend it!
Half the book involves the actual crimes and the other half the case against his father, Frank Calabrese Sr. Still cannot imagine betraying a parent like this but Jr. has guts to do so. A bit confusing at times with all the people interconnected with various crimes but overall a good read.
As interesting as the premise of this book was, I thought the writing itself was pretty lacking. Frank JR throws out mob names left and right expecting you to keep track of them all, Whig is impossible if you split up reading the booms across multiple days/weeks.
Amazing look at evil attributes of his killer dad. Fascinating when comparing my own life in Chicago area to the same time period. Had no idea what was going on so close to me. Be warned that certain stories can leave a sour feeling in the stomach.
I loved reading a book that is so close to home. People and places I know of are in this book and that inspired me to read and watch more films on the subject. The writing left me wanting more and often sounded more FBI influenced than a personal story.
I read Russian novels with ease and manage to keep the characters straight, patronymics and all. But the abundance of minor figures, underlings, bosses and contemporaries in this mishmash of a book proved too much for this reader.
There were sooooo many characters in this book, all their names were similar and it was very choppy and skipped around. I got the gist of it, and as a whole, it's a good story, but I thought it was very hard to follow.
I felt this book was somewhat self serving. Frank Jr. really doesn't take much responsibility and I'm not sure I believe that he never hurt anyone physically. I also would have liked to hear more about the lifestyle and less about the trial.
There is a whole segment of the population that we never come into contact with. These guys are nuts, they kill people and steal with seeming impunity. An interesting insight into what would make a son turn informant on his friends and family.
This is the true story of the notorious Calabrese family from Chicago and their criminal activities, and is far more gripping than 'The Godfather' mainly because it is true, true, true.
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