Bringing Down the Mob: The War Against the American Mafia

by Thomas Reppetto

Book Overview

The riveting, often bloody account of how the fifty-year attack by the federal government virtually extinguished the nation's most powerful crime syndicateIn the critically acclaimed "American Mafia," Thomas Reppetto narrated the ferocious ascendancy of organized crime in America. In this fascinating sequel, he follows the mob from its peak into a shadowy period of decline as the government, no longer able to deny its existence, made subduing the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805078029
• ISBN13: 9780805078022
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

And now the Mob's decline

I enjoyed Reppetto's previous book, American Mafia, which described the ascendancy of the American Mafia from the late 1800's to the mid-50's. After providing the rise of the Mob, now Reppetto gives us the fall. This book starts with the Apalachin raid on a Mafia conference in upstate New York State, which caught the Mafia off guard, seemingly by a small town police department in 1957. It is here where Reppetto dates the start of the mob's downfall. Over the next five decades, increased focus on the Mafia from prosecutors and the FBI, new laws such as the RICO statutes, and Mafia incompetence decimated this once proud organization. One only needs to compare movies like the first Godfather movie from the early 70's and the Soprano's television series to see how the mafia declined in America's popular culture from a secret group of men of honor engaged in illegal business, to a cartoonish group of morally bankrupt thugs. I actually liked this book better than American Mafia, as it was easier to follow and was a more coherent history, rather than a loosely held collection of stories which sometime distracted from Reppetto's previous work. It's no small feat to write a five decade history of an loosely affiliated organizations all over the United States, but Reppetto provides an effective history that never gets bogged down in detail or seems too fragmented. He also writes with dark humor, no doubt developed during his years in law enforcement that embellishes this work, and never seems inappropriate. Highly recommended for Mafia buffs out there.

Down But Not Out

Author Thomas Reppetto has provided us with another volume to complement his earlier work entitled American Mafia. The book begins with the 1957 Apalachin conclave in upstate New York which began the Mafia's downfall. The election of President John Kennedy and the appointment of his brother Robert as Attorney General to begin the 1960's turned into what the mob felt was a double cross as pressure was put on the mob and their dealings. When Lyndon Johnson took over for the assassinated Kennedy efforts were concentrated on civil rights and the Vietnam war rather than the mafia. However, through the following decades federal law enforcement, rather than state, has made it difficult for the mob to survive. The mob "superstars" if you will are all here, and old age, imprisonment, or death has removed them from the scene with no big names to replace them. The author warns the mob may be a shadow of its former self, but if we ignore its presence it may once again regain its past influence. There were times in the book I felt the author jumped back and forth on a particular subject, but it in no way detracted from my interest in the book. In addition I found there to be humorous anecdotes, if that's possible on this subject, in the book. Whether you've read his previous effort entitled American Mafia or not I'm sure you will enjoy Bringing Down the Mob. It is certainly worth your time.

Another impressive book by this author!

After reading "American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power" l looked forward to the author's second book on the history of the decline of the American Mafia and am happy to write that l thoroughly enjoyed it and in fact it is superior to his first book. Thomas Reppetto brings his substantial experience of law enforcement combined with his brilliant historical analysis of organized crime and is able to write a precise, informative and profound book. If you only read two books on the history of the American Mafia you cannot go wrong if you read these two books. The book begins with the famous raid on a meeting of national mafia kingpins at Apalachin on a mild November day in 1957 led by Detective Sergeant Edgar Croswell of the New York State Police. The author debunks the theory it was a random raid by some hick country cops but a predetermined blow at organized crime by a polished and professional group of able and determined policeman. So this chapter sets the tone of the book as it details the efforts of the various state and Federal Police Agencies and Justice Departments (including the FBI playing catch-up after years of neglect by Hoover) to gain intelligence about the illegal operations of the mafia families and its mobsters with a view to putting the mafia families out of business (such as construction, transport, union racketeering, garbage disposal, fruit and meat markets, share trading and allowing legitimate business to flourish without criminal interference) and putting the mobsters away in jail for as long as possible. The law enforcement agencies were helped in their task by favorable Federal Government legislation from the 1960's onward. Some important legislation was the 1968 Organized Crime Control Act which authorized the USA Attorney General to apply to Federal judges to obtain a warrant for electronic eavesdropping, the new law also enabled tapes and bugs to be admitted as evidence in courts of law. The RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute) proved to be an essential and very successful law to convict many criminals and mafia members. The author states that Hoover was reluctant to move against the mob for many years not because he was scared of it but because of the powerful political contacts and protection the Mob had especially in the big cities like New York, Chicago, Buffalo etc, Hoover wanted to keep his job and was not game to upset certain powerful politicians and he worried his agents could be corrupted by too much exposure to the Mob and political pressure. By the 1980's the wheel had done a full turn as the FBI went all out to put the Mob out of business, it was helped greatly by the Reagan administration with extra funds and resources. The book reveals the efforts of many people who were determined to win this war such as Bobby Kennedy, G Robert Blakey (who drafted the RICO laws) and countless Federal and State detectives, policeman and attorneys. Since 09/11 much of the FBI resources

Authentic and Authoritative

There are few people who can chronicle a topic in criminal justice with the scholarly erudition of Tom Reppetto. He combines his innate brilliance, his distinguished law enforcement career and his superb academic credentials in presenting a factual, detailed and accurate account of the government's efforts against the criminality of the American Mafia. The precision of his definition as well as his dedication to a factual accounting sets him apart from other authors writing about the "mafia" with their primary objective of appealing to the prurient entertainment interests of the unwary American reader. If you want to know [...] the American Mafia, Mr. Reppetto's works are a must read. Standing above and apart from the "spaccones", he is distinguished in his efforts.

A police like style to discussing the mob

This book is written in a tex-book style which is so perfectly crafted with police like detail to thehistory of mob events. The only mis-representation for the book is the cover which almost led me to believe that this would have been written with a yellow journalism tinge to it, rather the book is crafted most perfectly and reads with absolute flow.