Made Men: The True Rise-and-Fall Story of a New Jersey Mob Family - Softcover

Smith, Greg B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425185516 ISBN 13: 9780425185513

Publisher: Berkley, 2003

Synopsis

In a riveting exploration of the Jersey mafia, Greg B. Smith pulls back the curtain on the notorious DeCavalcante family

For years, the DeCavalcantes, the most powerful Mob family in Jersey, labored in the shadows of the more famous families in New York—the likes of the Gambinos and the Columbos. Dismissed by the big-city capos, the DeCavalcantes finally came into their own when they found their lives mirrored in the television hit, The Sopranos.

Overnight it legitimized the made men of the Garden State. Now they were a familia to be reckoned with. Unfortunately with high profile came high risk. As member turned against member, as trusted friend turned terrified informant, the FBI put the brakes on the DeCavalcante’s explosive ride into infamy, hastening a fall from honor that would become as infamous as their notorious ascension into the annals of organized crime.

Based on more than 1,000 hours of secretly recorded conversations, Made Men delivers for the first time, the unprecedented and completely uncensored behind-the-scenes truth of a historically clandestine world—of violent life and sudden death inside and outside the mob, told by the very men who made it.

About this title

About the Author

Greg B. Smith, reporter for The New York Daily News, covers the federal courts in Brooklyn and Manhattan that serve as Ground Zero in the battle to end mafia influence in America. An investigative reporter for nearly twenty years, Smith has written for The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Examiner, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and other newspapers around the country. He’s also a frequent guest on TV and radio discussing everything from racketeering to the Latin Kings street gang to world terrorist organizations. Mr. Smith lives with his wife and two boys in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

Based on more than 1000 hours of secretly recorded conversations, this book tells the story of New Jersey's DeCavalcante crime family. Originally dismissed by the large New York City crime organizations, the DeCavalcantes sought the opportunity to move up in the crime world when their big-city counterparts began having legal troubles and when The Sopranos, which recounts the life of a fictional Jersey mob family, became such a hit on HBO. Unfortunately for the DeCavalcantes, they had been infiltrated by an FBI informant. Although the show's creator has denied it, much of The Sopranos is said to be based on this real-life crime family, and DeCavalcante members were even caught on federal wiretaps bragging about their similarity to the TV mobsters. But while Daily News mob reporter Smith draws many parallels between the DeCavalcantes and the fictional Sopranos, the book does not quite live up to its potential. Much of the writing seems disjointed and repetitious, and a few superfluous anecdotes scattered throughout seem to have little relevance to the rest of the story. Recommended with reservations for large public libraries where there is a strong interest in organized crime books.
Sarah Jent, Univ. of Louisville Lib., KY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Berkley
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0425185516
• ISBN 13: 9780425185513
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 352