The Valachi Papers

If you are at all interested in reading about the mafia this is certainly the place to begin. Valachi was there from the beginning, he was in fact a made man in order to swell the ranks in preparation for the war that essentially created the cosa nostra as we know it. Once in he adopted the Cosa Nostra as his true family and lived the life of those violent brethren. This is in fact, essentially, a history and a biography all in one, so it is a bit hard to inject emotion into it as the previous reader complained about. Read it as a history, not as a book of fiction, and you will go into it with the right mindframe. That being said I thoroughly enjoyed reading this as I didn't have much of a background knowledge of the mafia other than names. Without knowing it much of what I knew from watching fictionalized movies all stemmed from this book and what was revealed. At times you wonder if Valachi was just some crazy man that made everything up and was an avid reader of crimes (a la the Benet confessor, John Mark Karr), but the detail is way too in depth. All one can do is believe it as true, which makes this book all the more interesting. I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone curious about the Cosa Nostra as this is certainly the place to begin. 5 stars.

Many have denigrated Joe Valachi's testimony as being only the limited view of a street-level Mafia soldier, largely hearsay and often possibly erroneous. There is a certain amount of truth in these judgements. It is also true that, unlike earlier stool pigeon Abe Reles twenty years earlier, Valachi's testimony didn't directly send anyone to prison and some of what he told was old news anyway. On the other hand, Valachi was a "made member" of what he called Cosa Nostra for over thirty years and his criminal career dated to the 1920's. He may not have always been a major participant but he was there and saw the formation of the modern Mob as we know it. The Castellammarese War, Lucky Luciano, Dutch Schultz and Tom Dewey, Murder Inc., the Costello years, the intrigues of Vito Genovese, Valachi was on hand and his is the first detailed inside account of the formative years of the American Mafia. Compare The Valachi Papers to the nonsense written about the Mafia in the '50's. His expertise may have been limited to New York but before he turned no one outside the organization really knew anything about the Mafia, its bosses or its family structure. No one outside the organization had any idea that five crime "families" existed in New York or that the organization was divided into "families" until Valachi came along. Or that there was a national commission. Say what you will, Valachi exposed the Mob and put it in the spotlight for all to see. It's been there ever since and we have Joe to thank for this. And Peter Maas for turning his memoirs into a wonderful book.

There are books that without them you would never have a basis for any other to follow. The Valachi Papers is the book that set the Mafia on its heels and allowed the world to see and finally get a look into the "real" underworld.By far one the best reads I have had this year and certainly a must read for anyone weho thinks they know what the mafia is all about. This is the book that started it all and gave me my start into a whole world.What this book does is tear down the walls of mystery and open your mind to new ideas about the mob. The book shows how it happened and what took place. Due to some of testimony being somewhat graphic younger reader may want to take caution before they begin the book.The book is far better than the movie and knowing that this was told by someone on the inside makes it all that more exciting to read. Overall if you want to know where it all began, than look no further that this book.

i really enjoyed this book and was well worth it looking for it everywhere.i finally found it at a salvation army store for 50 cents.this book tells the story of the first mafia member to expose the mafia to the world.you"ll find out how the real gangsters operated and socialized back in the day.an intense book.

This book in it's own subtle manner describes when the Mafia was born in America. It describes the formation of La Cosa Nostra by Salvatore Moranzano, 'lucky' Luciano and Al Capone amongst others. a must read for enthusiasts of this subject.