Scan barcode
A review by bookswithjoe
Boss of Bosses: The Fall of the Godfather: The FBI and Paul Castellano by Andris Kurins, Joseph F. O'Brien
4.0
A fantastic look at the investigation that all but crippled the Gambino Family and the Italian-American Mafia in general.
You'll come to know Paul Castellano the man more than anything else. The American public will always have a fascination with the Mafia and when you read this, you'll see that mob guys are extremely flawed human beings. They're extremely relatable yet seemingly god-like in their exploits.
Mobsters think they're beating the system by not being "working stiffs" but you'll see they deal with the same work-related issues anyone does only with the stakes raised much higher. Your boss in accounting isn't gonna have you shot outside your house, yet everyone can relate to disliking their boss, or being a boss with unruly employees.
The book is an easy and fun read, and if you're an amateur mob historian like me, it's a mandatory part of your mob literature.
The one thing that bugged me while I was reading this is that the agents who tell the story seemed to be enamored with the mob, as anyone would be, but they almost seemed to view themselves as being allowed to "rub elbows" so to speak, and they lament the end of this when Paul is arrested and finally put on trial. I felt like they used Paul so to speak and I didn't feel right about it.
I do however think it's interesting to see the metamorphosis of the relationship between Paul and the agents over the course of about 5 years.
Surprising that this was never made into a movie (that I know of)
You'll come to know Paul Castellano the man more than anything else. The American public will always have a fascination with the Mafia and when you read this, you'll see that mob guys are extremely flawed human beings. They're extremely relatable yet seemingly god-like in their exploits.
Mobsters think they're beating the system by not being "working stiffs" but you'll see they deal with the same work-related issues anyone does only with the stakes raised much higher. Your boss in accounting isn't gonna have you shot outside your house, yet everyone can relate to disliking their boss, or being a boss with unruly employees.
The book is an easy and fun read, and if you're an amateur mob historian like me, it's a mandatory part of your mob literature.
The one thing that bugged me while I was reading this is that the agents who tell the story seemed to be enamored with the mob, as anyone would be, but they almost seemed to view themselves as being allowed to "rub elbows" so to speak, and they lament the end of this when Paul is arrested and finally put on trial. I felt like they used Paul so to speak and I didn't feel right about it.
I do however think it's interesting to see the metamorphosis of the relationship between Paul and the agents over the course of about 5 years.
Surprising that this was never made into a movie (that I know of)