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The Valachi Papers
By Peter Maas.
Published by Harper
Perennial.
First published 1968.
Paperback.
ISBN-10: 006050742X
ISBN-13: 978-0060507428
Description:
“As fascinating as
fiction, a bloody history of the Mafia as lived by one of its members." – New
York Times Book Review.
The First Inside Account
of the Mafia.
The Valachi Papers is a
biography written by Peter Maas, telling the true story of former mafia member
Joe Valachi, a low-ranking member of the New York based Genovese crime family,
was the first ever government witness coming from the American Mafia itself.
His account of his criminal past revealed many previously unknown details of
the Mafia. The book was made into a film (The Valachi Papers), released
in 1972, starring Charles Bronson as Valachi. In October 1963, Valachi
testified before Senator John L. McClellan's congressional committee on
organized crime, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S.
Senate Committee on Government Operations. In the so-called Valachi hearings he
gave the American public a firsthand account of Mafia activities in the United
States.
In the 1960s a
disgruntled soldier in New York's Genovese Crime Family decided to spill his
guts. His name was Joseph Valachi. Daring to break the Mob's code of silence
for the first time, Valachi detailed the organization of organized crime from
the capos, or bosses, of every Family, to the hit men who "clipped"
rivals and turncoats. With a phenomenal memory for names, dates, addresses,
phone numbers – and where the bodies were buried – Joe Valachi provided the
chilling facts that led to the arrest and conviction of America's major crime
figures.
The rest is history.
Never again would the
Mob be protected by secrecy. For the Mafia, Valachi's name would become
synonymous with betrayal. But his stunning exposé broke the back of America's
Cosa Nostra and stands today as the classic about America's Mob, a
fascinating tale of power and terror, big money, crime. . . and murder.
The bloody history of
the Mafia as lived by one of its members.
“A highly readable narrative….
A story littered with bodies and unsolved crimes, betrayals and beatings,
oaths, ritual, and revenge.” – Newsweek.
“A
classic on crime.” – Life.
