big question

[CornerBoy]

ive read or listened to all the books on the mob it seems.

in addition to the blumenthal pizza connection, are there any books out there that amazing and TRULY OFF THE BEATEN PATH b/c too expensive or just never became popular? not interested in academic type books nor am i interested in anything pre 1940.

Im esppecially interested in narcotics but will settle for anything. I've read everything on WW2 and WW1 and running out of topics.

I would SO APPRECIATE A GOOD RECOMMENDATION

Thanks so much and have a good wkend

[johnny_scootch]

Have you read all the John Dickie books? I’d go through the threads in the Book Lounge if I were you. How about The Last Godfather’s by Follain? It’s one of my favorites.

[CornerBoy]

thanks johnny!

[Ed]

Hi,

Here are a few suggestions for off-the-beaten-track books on the mafia and narcotics trafficking. Many are expensive and hard to find, which doesn't necessarily mean they're good. I'm not recommending you spend much money on them, but I think they're the kind of books you are asking about. You might already be familiar with them.

The Canadian Connection by Jean-Pierre Charbonneau. An expose on the Canadian Mafia and the heroin trade. (IMO, best of the bunch.)

Papa's Game by Gregory Wallance. Investigates the involvement of mobster Vincent Papa in the disappearance of confiscated heroin from the vaults of the New York City Police department, including French Connection drugs.

The Deadly Silence by Renee Buse. Discusses the heroin bust that took down Vito Genovese, John Ormento, and his associates in the 1950s.

Code Name Richard by Richard Berdin. A European drug smuggler who testified in the French Connection case.

[CornerBoy]

Thanks ED- exactly what i"m seeking!!!

[motorfab]

Code Name Richard by Richard Berdin. A European drug smuggler who testified in the French Connection case.

It's one of the few on this subject that I haven't read, is it good?

+1 for the book of Jean-Pierre Charbonneau.

You can add these :

-Contrabandista (alternative title: "The Corsican Contract") by Evert Clark & Nicholas Horrock it's about Auguste Ricord, a big Corsican drug kingpin active in South America

-The Marseilles Mafias by Louis Sapin & Pierre Galante, about the fall of the French Connection .Some similarities with Contrabandista because it also talk about Ricord, but it's not the oly topic of the book

-The Heroin Triangle by Michel Mastantuono & Michel Auger. Unfortunately I can't get the French version of the book which is very rare, so I haven't read it but Mastantuono's story is quite atypical. On the other hand no problem for you to find the American version of the book I think

-Bloodlines by Antonio Nicaso & Lee Lamothe about the Caruana-Cuntrera clan (if you haven't read it yet)

I hope my little list it will be useful to you

[Ed]

Hi Fab,

I don't buy mafia books like I used to, but in the old days, I collected hard-to-find ones like "Code Name Richard." It gives a first-person account of the informant's role in the drug smuggling operation. It's over twenty years since I read it, but it's one of those books with invented dialogue where the informant remembers every conversation he ever had. You might like it more than most since the informant was a Frenchman. The Canadian Connection is still a hidden gem generally even though most guys on this forum have read it.

[motorfab]

OK ! That's what I thought, I think I'm going to continue looking for Mastantuono's, which I think must tell more or less the same thing since they both worked for the same guys (Croce, Rosso, Signoli and others). Thanks for the feedback amigo

EDIT, just find Mastantuono's book in French and bought it, I'm lucky today

[GS12345]

Pleasant Ave Connection - David Durk. Amazing hard to find book on the police corruption scandal and the herion operation on Pleasant Ave in East Harlem. Really cool ground level account of the operation itself. Hard to find, expensive, was able to pull it from my university library.

Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire - Douglas Century, Rick Cowan. Covers the garbage rackets between the Genovese (Allie Shades) and Gambinos (Jimmy Brown transitioning to Francolino) from a retired NYPD detective.

Both have great info and insight that is outside of common knowledge.

[sdeitche]

Adding to the drugs/Mafia list:

The Heroin Trail by editors of Newsday. Good accounting of the heroin scene of the 1970s.

The Swiss Bank Connection by Leslie Waller

[motorfab]

Adding to the drugs/Mafia list:

The Heroin Trail by editors of Newsday. Good accounting of the heroin scene of the 1970s.

The Swiss Bank Connection by Leslie Waller

+1 for The Heroin Trail, extremely well documented, although some passages concerning the SAC and the SDECE are a bit exaggerated, but this is quite minor compared to the rest of the book

And I didn't know about "The Swiss Bank Connection" at all, thanks for the tip

[sdeitche]

Adding to the drugs/Mafia list:

The Heroin Trail by editors of Newsday. Good accounting of the heroin scene of the 1970s.

The Swiss Bank Connection by Leslie Waller

+1 for The Heroin Trail, extremely well documented, although some passages concerning the SAC and the SDECE are a bit exaggerated, but this is quite minor compared to the rest of the book

And I didn't know about "The Swiss Bank Connection" at all, thanks for the tip

No problem. I used it back for my trafficante book. It's a very slim book, so don't expect a super in depth expose