Bossof Bosses, the Fall of the Godfather: the FBI and Paul Castellano

Two FBI agents examine the private world of the late Mafia boss, Paul Castellano, and relate the downfall of his crime family

In 1981 Paul Castellano, head of New York City's Gambino crime family, was at the height of his power. At age 66 he controlled an empire that dictated to much of the construction and meat businesses, had a major say in the operation of two supermarket chains and was involved in such standard mob enterprises as prostitution, loan sharking, etc. Then FBI agents O'Brien and Kurins set out to stop him. Planting a listening device in Castellano's Staten Island home, they were able to secure enough information to send many of the area's top mafiosi to prison. Castellano, however, was fatally shot, gangland style, on a Manhattan street in 1985, while he was being tried for conspiracy to commit murder and for operating a stolen car ring. Exemplary sleuths, competent writers, the authors recreate a tense, lively tale redolent of high living and lawlessness, full of shrewd observations that break the code of crime-speak, to which these long-suffering snoops were subjected during their electronic surveillance of the mob. First serial to New York magazine; film rights to Warner Brothers.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Compelling, extraordinarily resonant account of the last days of a failing Mafia don, written by the two FBI agents who managed to infiltrate Paul Castellano's Staten Island estate and gather evidence that eventually led to the indictment of many major Mafia kingpins in the highly publicized mob-busting Commission case of 1985. In telling the story of the increasingly reclusive Castellano, O'Brien and Kurins probe into the byzantine background of today's Mafia, pointing out, for example, that the 1957 Appalachian meeting of mob figures from across the country marked ``the dividing line between the `old' Mafia of Al Capone and Salvatore Maranzano and the `new' Mafia that would eventually be headed by Paul Castellano.'' The authors are equally effective when discussing such matters as the PR-ing of the mob, the linkage between such films as The Godfather and the wise-guy attitudes of many Mafia members, and the use of ``heart trouble'' as a Mafia dodge when facing prosecution. It is in documenting the intimate, behind-the- scenes details of Paul Castellano's life, however, that O'Brien and Kurins excel. Having successfully planted a listening device in the capo's home, they learn of his affair with his maid, of his impotence, and of the pressures being put on him by rival mobsters. In the process, the agents come to feel a grudging sympathy for the proud, beleaguered old man. When Castellano is eventually indicted and then gunned-down on a midtown Manhattan street, the authors admit to being saddened. An exciting and yet unexpectedly moving human document, done with occasional street-smart humor and lots of style. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Castellano, boss of the Gambino crime family, was gunned down on a Manhattan street in 1985. FBI agents O'Brien and Kurins previously had planted a listening device in Castellano's home. Unlike such flamboyant mafioso as John Gotti, Castellano was quiet and circumspect, and the tapes provide somewhat less than expected about Mafia activities--they are most revealing about Castellano's affair with his maid. Despite their assignment, the authors respected Castellano, and Kurins actually was a favorable character witness for mobster Joseph Armone at his trial. They "have taken pains not to preach," and, however one views this approach, they largely succeed in telling an entertaining story that should prove popular. For crime collections.
- Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.