Synopsis
Using previously untapped Secret Service archives, prison records, and interviews with surviving family members, Dash presents the gripping story of the birth of the Italian Mafia in America, and brings to life the remarkable villains and unusual heroes of the Mafia's early years.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2009-08-04 |
| Size | | Length: | 336 pages | | Height: | 10.3 in | | Width: | 6.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.5 in | | Weight: | 24.0 oz |
Publisher's Note
A history of the birth of the Italian mafia in America traces the life of Giuseppe Morello, describing his rise from poverty in rural Sicily to one of the nation's most influential underworld crime heads, in a portrait that also evaluates the contributions of Morello's brothers, police officer Joseph Petrosino, and secret service agent William Flynn.
Industry Reviews
"Enthralling....Dash depicts the balance between loyalty and betrayal as an ever-changing dance and nimbly catalogues the endless gruesome murders committed in the name of revenge and honor. Readers may think they know the mob, but Morello's ruthless rule makes even the fictional Tony Soprano look tame." (starred review)
(05/25/2009)
"Dash writes with flair and care alike, taking pains to keep a complicated story and a vast cast of characters on track while studding the tale with nicely hard-boiled observations....Essential for students of organized crime in America. Murder and mayhem buffs will enjoy it too." (starred review)
(06/15/2009)
"A British historian and journalist whose capacity for research appears to be limitless, Dash has dug into tons of material and emerged with a work of popular history -- written in lively, lucid prose, with a strong narrative line and a wealth of anecdote, much of it gory -- that seems likely to be the definitive work on its subject for years to come."
(08/16/2009)
"Dash has conducted painstaking research about the past of the Mafia, in Sicily and, beginning during the 1890s, across the United States....[He] seems to have learned about every immigrant Sicilian mobster, every murder committed by them, every scheme to extort money from law-abiding Americans. His book is impressive, but so unrelenting in its description of gore that I often felt queasy....THE FIRST FAMILY provides well-researched history for readers fascinated, and even repulsed, by organized crime."
(08/23/2009)
"[W]ell-researched....[M]any historians will envy Dash's ability to craft a compelling narrative out of fragmentary data..."
(09/18/2009)
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