Jerry Capeci

The Mob Boss by Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins is an amazing re-telling of what Little Al D'Arco experiences and his knowledge of the Mob. Al D’Arco going to the Government’s side and being witness at many of the trials of Mob Leaders and lower gangsters is responsible for much of the decline of the American Mafia. That was a major breakthrough for the Federal Government. This book will tell you why it happened.

The authors spent endless hours of interviewing Al D’Arco. It was very difficult to lay this book down. Now I understand much more than I did before reading this book about the Mob. This book is part biography, history, drama and even a little bit of gruesome comedy. There is a family tree with photos of the major wiseguys in the Luchese family the front of the book that made it easier to follow. Al D’Arco was at a time the acting boss/captain of the family while the boss, Vic Amiso and the underboss, Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso were on the lam. At that time, the five families’ mob families were the Luciano, Costello, Genovese, Anastasia and Luchese families.

Mob Boss tells how the different families related to each the other, the old rules and later on the new rules. Learning this makes me want to read more about this underworld crime culture.

The biography part of the book tells of Al as a young boy growing up in Little Italy and there are times that Al could have chosen a different life than being a mobster. That is intriguing in itself. Al has a tremendous memory so he knew the details of many of the gang members who were in other family. Throughout the book, we learn about the different personalities and nicknames for the different ones. In the back of this book there is an Afterword which lists the main mob members that Al knew. It also gave what became of them. Just a few of the monikers are “Tommy the Red”, “The Golfer”,”Gaspipe”, “Benny Eggs” and Matty the Horse”.

It is so difficult to not tell more of this book. I think if you are interested in how the mob worked, the moss history and an in depth biography of a mob leader, you must read this book. I very highly recommend this book.

I received this book from the publishers because of a win on FirstReads but that in no way influenced my thoughts or statements in this review.… (more)