War of the Godfathers

by William F. Roemer Jr.

The stakes — Las Vegas. The players — Bonanno vs. Accardo.
William F. Roemer, Jr., is the renowned FBI agent whose relentless crusade against the mob outshone even that of legendary crime buster Eliot Ness. Only Roemer — the most-decorated hero in the FBI and the most-wanted man on the underworld's hit list — could tell the electrifying inside story of the no-holds-barred duel that pitted the reigning dons of New York and Chicago against each other for the most precious jewel in the organized crime crown — Vegas.
Featuring the battling godfathers themselves — Joe Bonanno and Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo — plus a rogues gallery of high rollers, professional hitters, capos, underbosses, and soldiers, here are the strategies, the setups, the takedowns, and the double crosses in the real words of the men who cut the deals — and the throats — in the biggest, deadliest power play in the history of the mob and the annals of true crime.
""Exciting reading . . . Roemer's experience has left him with some fascinating tales, and this is one of them." — The Kirkus Reviews

Genres: True Crime, Crime, Nonfiction

340 pages, Hardcover

First published November 24, 1990

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel bad giving this book four stars, because I understand it plays fast and loose with the facts. But at the time I read it, I didn't know that yet, and I absolutely friggin' loved it. It even inspired a novella I wrote. What's more, it's just generally a blast to read. But as it turns out, it makes so much speculation that some sources even call it a "novel." That is not at all true -- it doesn't read like a novel, and it is too close to reality to be presented as such. But it is far enough from reality that it's not quite a "good" true crime book -- down to the author, who figures at several important points in the story, giving himself a fake name. Huh? It's a weird document, but man. I loved reading it.

The nugget of truth to this story is a truly fascinating one -- the attempt by the Bonnano family (who had been humiliated by Donnie Brasco) to take control of Las Vegas from the Chicago Outfit, which had been granted control of Vegas in return for the NYC families' control of Atlantic City. AC turned out NOT to be the gold mine organized crime thought it would be, and the Bonnannos felt like they'd been screwed. That started a brief, abortive mob war using control of the unions as well as mob murders even though Vegas is supposed to be an "open city" -- a place where there is no mob violence.

How much of it is true? Probably not much, or at least not much can be documented, or HAS been documented. But is it interesting? Oh mas oui. Roemer is the man when it comes to the Chicago Outfit, and the speculation in this book is easy to forgive because it's eminently believable, to the point of not just being convincing, but possible or probable. Did it happen this way? Is it true crime? Probably not really.

Where it fits into the overall history of organized crime, and in particular the Chicago Outfit and its control of Las Vegas, and the Bonnanno family and their move to Tucscon, I don't know and I'm not sure Roemer or his publisher knew. But it's well worth a read, and very enjoyable.

[Katy M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge-a book about a mob.

What a slog. it was weird because it's non fiction, but there seemed to be a lot of fully quoted conversations, that I just don't know how the author would know. I also kept getting confused as to who was who, but to be fair, that was probably because this subject was not interesting to me at all.

[Christopher Mejia · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book will confuse and maybe even upset you if you're into this genre because a lot of what you're about to read are familiar events and names but they've all been used to help create a story that didn't happen anywhere else but in this book. they mixed fact with fiction the way the x-men movies attach them to history. I'm not saying i didn't like the story though. it was definitely a good read if you're into true crime books where you feel like you're gonna hear an old typewriter in the background while an agent tells you his story.

[J.C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

No serious offense intended but this guy should have taken some writing classes before embarking on a career as a writer. Every page had an ! as if the way The Mob conducts business is shocking. Yea right. Every third page had a list of either cops or criminals, which read like a boring Oscar Speech and did absolutely nothing to benefit the story. Many of the people mentioned are only mentioned that one time. Take out all these lists of names and occupations, you got a 90 page book.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book details the battle between the Chicago Outfit and the Bonnano crime family over control of Las Vegas during the 80's. A good overview of the battle between the two families, though Roemer a former FBI agent has a more detailed knowledge of the Chicgo family. This details all the battles, hits and attempts of law enforcement to stop the war and bring them to justice. The book also details the final aftermath of the battle the elimination, for the most part, of the mob from Vegas.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

William Roemer tells a pretty lame story using real mobsters to tell the story. Something has to be against the law for someone to do that but I don't know. The only redeaming quality of this book is at the back were Roemer lists (Around 1991) the current Chicago mobsters with photos including Accardo, Aiuppa, Cerone, Marco D'Amico, the Bastones and others.

[Walt · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a fictional account of a mob conflict that never existed. However, reading the book, one might not believe it is fiction. Roemer uses real characters and includes formal FBI documents describing many of the hoodlums involved in his fictional work.

[Nate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worthless semi-fictional and badly written.

[Steve Coscia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history of the old mafia families. The usual suspects.