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Underboss
"Brilliantly constructed and grimly fascinating. . . . The result is a terrific and important book. . . . It's important because it is a morality play on the subject of loyalty. To whom are you loyal, and from who should you be able to expect loyalty?" — New York Times Book Review Sammy the Bull Gravano is the highest-ranking member of the Mafia in America ever to defect. In telling Gravano's story, Peter Maas brings us as never before into the innermost sanctums of the Cosa Nostra as if we were there ourselves—a secret underworld of power, lust, greed, betrayal, and deception, with the specter of violent death always waiting in the wings.
512 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1997
92 people are currently reading
3,569 people want to read
About the author
Peter Maas
30 books85 followersPeter Maas was an American journalist and author. He was born in New York City and attended Duke University.
He was the biographer of Frank Serpico, a New York City Police officer who testified against police corruption. He is also the author of the number one New York Times bestseller, Underboss, about the life and times of Sammy "The Bull" Gravano.
His other notable bestsellers include The Valachi Papers, Manhunt, and In a Child's Name, recipient of the 1991 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book. The Valachi Papers, which told the story of Mafia turncoat Joseph Valachi, is widely considered to be a seminal work, as it spawned an entire genre of books written by or about former Mafiosi.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
He was the biographer of Frank Serpico, a New York City Police officer who testified against police corruption. He is also the author of the number one New York Times bestseller, Underboss, about the life and times of Sammy "The Bull" Gravano.
His other notable bestsellers include The Valachi Papers, Manhunt, and In a Child's Name, recipient of the 1991 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book. The Valachi Papers, which told the story of Mafia turncoat Joseph Valachi, is widely considered to be a seminal work, as it spawned an entire genre of books written by or about former Mafiosi.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
February 13, 2023
In my continuing study (obsession) of gangsters/mafia/organized crime, I chose to read this book. I really enjoyed it! It starts out pretty much like any other mafia story. It ends up being so much more than that. Sammy the bull was most definitely the real deal! He always made sure to uphold all the old traditions of the mafia. I actually started to feel bad for him towards the end. That was the life he chose and I understand that. At the same time, it was hard and sad to read about when he had to say goodbye to his wife and kids when he was getting ready to go into the witness protection program. On the surface gangster life seems so great. In reality it's the farthest thing from great. It can really only end one of two ways: prison or death. I think Sammy realized what a huge mistake he made when he pledged his life to Cosa Nostra. This was a really good book and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in organized crime/mafia.
November 15, 2009
i have "personal experience" with sammy the bull! this is rather INCREDIBLE; but it is the truth -- i was on the grand jury that indicted sammy the bull in arizona about eight years ago. i was never supposed to tell that fact; it was supposed to remain confidential information; the Court told me that; but it was so long ago now, that i don't think it really matters if i spill those beans. besides, how many people are going to find this out about me because of this goodreads review? maybe only one, my niece, rachel. (i HOPE rachel is not unsuspectingly "connected"!) anyway, the book was totally fascinating to me because I had been on the jury that indicted him!! also, peter maas is an excellent writer; he was one of my dad's favorites. i also have been a little fascinated with The Mob EVEN BEFORE i was on the grand jury that had sammy gravano as a defendant. i mean, The Mob, . . . . . although not folks i want to hang out with, certainly, are an interesting bunch!
August 7, 2012
I've read a lot of mafia books and always felt that Gravano was a snitch and a traitor. Reading this book has shown me the "glory" of the mafia is all an illusion. Omerta is a joke and there is very little loyalty, its about greed, selfishness and excess. I no longer blame Sammy for what he did by cooperating and do not view him as a "rat" anymore. I'm surprised to learn how inflated and exaggerated John Gotti was; a gluttonous degenerate gambler, wow! I feel bad for Gravanos family and I am saddened by the waste of talent and intelligence he possesed. What an amazing man who just wound up going down the wrong path.
November 20, 2019
S the BG, what a saint.....if one can believe his account of a couple of deacades of NY mob activity, one may come away with a sense of, well, he's wasn't such a bad guy. Right? The teflon don however was, by his account, a megalomaniac who got what he deserved. I would have to agree to that point, how 'bout you?
June 2, 2016
It took most of a lifetime for Sam Gravano to work out what most of us learn more quickly - that criminals are not to be trusted, are not nice people, and that greed is usually their downfall. In this fascinating account - based on many hours of taped conversations with Gravano - Peter Maas shows us how the Gambino crime family operated in New York during the 1970s through to the early 1990s.
In many ways Gravano's early life was that of an archetypal gangster: growing up on the mean streets of Bensonhurst, the dyslexic Gravano did not do well at school and after a short time in the army took up with a street gang.
While Gravano is the first to say he wasn't an educated man, he was not stupid, and soon realised that if he wanted to ever become more than a street punk he needed to ally himself with the local Cosa Nostra crew.
The book is a simple re-telling of his adventures in crime, including the murders, betrayals, stand-over tactics, scheming and all that goes with being a made man in the mafia.
A good portion of the book is taken up with Gravano's dealings with Paul Castellano and John Gotti. Gravano was involved in the murder of Castellano, and eventually turned states witness against Gotti.
Gravano saw himself as an old school mafioso, avoiding publicity, and living a relatively modest life. He grew increasingly disgusted with Castellano's distance from the on-the-ground workings of his crew, and at Gotti's public displays of wealth.
Maas does a good job of making sense of all the ins and outs of the alliances and enmities between and within families, which makes this book an easy read.
There is much in here that is not surprising - the lack of self-awareness and empathy of these gangsters for example. What is more interesting are the descriptions of how Gravano and his crew went about planning operations, and how the byzantine workings of Cosa Nostra played out on a day-to-day basis.
If you have an interest in organized crime and its history, this book is well worth reading.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
In many ways Gravano's early life was that of an archetypal gangster: growing up on the mean streets of Bensonhurst, the dyslexic Gravano did not do well at school and after a short time in the army took up with a street gang.
While Gravano is the first to say he wasn't an educated man, he was not stupid, and soon realised that if he wanted to ever become more than a street punk he needed to ally himself with the local Cosa Nostra crew.
The book is a simple re-telling of his adventures in crime, including the murders, betrayals, stand-over tactics, scheming and all that goes with being a made man in the mafia.
A good portion of the book is taken up with Gravano's dealings with Paul Castellano and John Gotti. Gravano was involved in the murder of Castellano, and eventually turned states witness against Gotti.
Gravano saw himself as an old school mafioso, avoiding publicity, and living a relatively modest life. He grew increasingly disgusted with Castellano's distance from the on-the-ground workings of his crew, and at Gotti's public displays of wealth.
Maas does a good job of making sense of all the ins and outs of the alliances and enmities between and within families, which makes this book an easy read.
There is much in here that is not surprising - the lack of self-awareness and empathy of these gangsters for example. What is more interesting are the descriptions of how Gravano and his crew went about planning operations, and how the byzantine workings of Cosa Nostra played out on a day-to-day basis.
If you have an interest in organized crime and its history, this book is well worth reading.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
November 1, 2011
"I don't think I'm Robin Hood. I think I'm a gangster. I think I'm somebody with a very, very limited education, and I fought and kicked and punched and did the best I could to get ahead. I dealt with the reality that someday I will probably be killed or go to fucking jail, and I lived with that reality all my life. That's the life I chose. That's the road I took." ---Sammy "the Bull" Gravano
Although I am intrigued by the Mafia ("Goodfellas" is my favorite movie, after all), I am by no means an expert, and it's not a subject I seek out to study, as I do say, the Marx Brothers or the Manson family (to name two). So I have to admit the only reason I finally picked up this book some 14 years after its release is the recent VH1 "reality" series "Mob Wives." "Mob Wives" features two trophy mob wives, Drita and Carla, and two mob daughters, Renee and Karen. Karen is Karen Gravano, Sammy's daughter. He must hate, HATE her participation in the show, since he claims that John Gotti's love of the limelight, a betrayal of the Cosa Nostra ideal of a secret brotherhood, is the main reason he (Gravano) decided to turn FBI informant.
This book will feel pleasingly familiar to anyone who's ever watched "Goodfellas" or any mafia movie. Gravano makes for an engaging thug of a storyteller, and Peter Maas fleshes out the details and shapes the narrative very well. So many events relating to this story have occurred since its publication--the death of John Gotti in prison, Sammy's re-incarceration (for running an ecstasy ring), the further glorification/glamorization/exploitation of mafia life on television in the form of shows such as "Mob Wives" and "Growing Up Gotti" (I loved that one, too)--that it begs for an update. I would gladly read one.
Although I am intrigued by the Mafia ("Goodfellas" is my favorite movie, after all), I am by no means an expert, and it's not a subject I seek out to study, as I do say, the Marx Brothers or the Manson family (to name two). So I have to admit the only reason I finally picked up this book some 14 years after its release is the recent VH1 "reality" series "Mob Wives." "Mob Wives" features two trophy mob wives, Drita and Carla, and two mob daughters, Renee and Karen. Karen is Karen Gravano, Sammy's daughter. He must hate, HATE her participation in the show, since he claims that John Gotti's love of the limelight, a betrayal of the Cosa Nostra ideal of a secret brotherhood, is the main reason he (Gravano) decided to turn FBI informant.
This book will feel pleasingly familiar to anyone who's ever watched "Goodfellas" or any mafia movie. Gravano makes for an engaging thug of a storyteller, and Peter Maas fleshes out the details and shapes the narrative very well. So many events relating to this story have occurred since its publication--the death of John Gotti in prison, Sammy's re-incarceration (for running an ecstasy ring), the further glorification/glamorization/exploitation of mafia life on television in the form of shows such as "Mob Wives" and "Growing Up Gotti" (I loved that one, too)--that it begs for an update. I would gladly read one.
June 9, 2010
Jeez, what an evil bastard this guy is. Murdered several of his friends, a bunch of strangers and even his brother in law just because somebody told him to. Claims it was to honor his oath to the Cosa Nostra. Seems he had a change of heart when it came time for him to face life in prison. Worked out okay though because it got John Gotti and a bunch of other bad guys out of circulation. I wouldn't put much faith in the veracity of his story but it is still a fascinating read.
June 27, 2018
Excellent read. Maas writes very well, and it has a very authentic feel. Unfortunately, Gravano didn’t end up quite like the book thought he would
April 20, 2021
Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano is an American gangster. He became the underboss of the Gambino crime family. In this book The Bull relates the events leading up to his helping with the prosecution sentence John Gotti, the crime family's boss. He agreed to testify as a government witness against him. Along with other mobsters in a deal in which he confessed to involvement in 19 murders.
Sammy the Bull has an unbelievable memory. He can recall names and facts about many parts of his life. Which suggests it was Sammy and not Gotti, who was the brains of the Gambino family. He tried running things, quietly and in the ways of Cosa Nostra.
Gravano frequently returns to the theme of living his life based on the rules of Cosa Nostra. You may ask, isn’t Gravano hypocritical for talking about Cosa Nostra when he turned into a rat against John Gotti?
One of the best books about the Mafia I've read.
Sammy the Bull has an unbelievable memory. He can recall names and facts about many parts of his life. Which suggests it was Sammy and not Gotti, who was the brains of the Gambino family. He tried running things, quietly and in the ways of Cosa Nostra.
Gravano frequently returns to the theme of living his life based on the rules of Cosa Nostra. You may ask, isn’t Gravano hypocritical for talking about Cosa Nostra when he turned into a rat against John Gotti?
One of the best books about the Mafia I've read.
June 8, 2021
Of course Sammy is going to paint himself in the best light. Even taking that into account, you can hardly call the guy a rat. Rolling on someone who already sold you out isn’t snitching. As my mom would say, Gotti ‘got too big for his britches’ & Sammy outsmarted him. He’s no hero and he’s no rat. He played the game and thru winning, he still lost. Great read. I recommend Sammy’s YouTube channel, he sits & tells stories. It’s fascinating.
April 20, 2018
I know it's already been posted 100 times (at least) in the other reviews - if you like the Goodfellas, you'll also like this book. It's just people's opinions, but I have to completely agree.
The story doesn't include everything Sammy did, every hit he carried out, or every mobster he rubbed elbows with. This is a story of how he got into the Mafia, how he survived and flourished in a cut-throat environment, and ultimate why he felt that turning government witness what the right thing to do.
Throughout the book, Sammy never apologizes for getting in the Mafia. He accepts his decision from the very beginning. He makes it clear that there are two ways out of the mob life: dying in jail or getting taken out by another mobster. He accepted that fate from the beginning. He even lauds mobsters who "die like a man" - those that don't plea or beg their way out of jail or the inevitable contract on their heads.
The author does a great job illustrating how the mob core values changed over the decades 1970, 1980, and 1990. Sammy saw the "old school" mobsters as men of honor and more level-headed. You don't kill a man for petty reasons, and you definitely don't hurt women or children. If a problem can be solved with talking, then resort to that first. Towards the end of his mob career, Sammy sees a new breed of "celebrity gangster" coming into power. He sees mob leaders flaunt their Mafia ties and build public "Robin Hood" personas. Instead of hiding in the shadows, the new mobsters wear the latest fashions, eat at the popular restaurants, and throw lavish public parties. Sammy sees the old Mafia leaders as being aligned with "our thing", but the new leaders as being concerned only with "me, me, me". If you're not looking out for the best interests of the family, then you're only thinking of yourself. You can never trust a person like that.
The story doesn't include everything Sammy did, every hit he carried out, or every mobster he rubbed elbows with. This is a story of how he got into the Mafia, how he survived and flourished in a cut-throat environment, and ultimate why he felt that turning government witness what the right thing to do.
Throughout the book, Sammy never apologizes for getting in the Mafia. He accepts his decision from the very beginning. He makes it clear that there are two ways out of the mob life: dying in jail or getting taken out by another mobster. He accepted that fate from the beginning. He even lauds mobsters who "die like a man" - those that don't plea or beg their way out of jail or the inevitable contract on their heads.
The author does a great job illustrating how the mob core values changed over the decades 1970, 1980, and 1990. Sammy saw the "old school" mobsters as men of honor and more level-headed. You don't kill a man for petty reasons, and you definitely don't hurt women or children. If a problem can be solved with talking, then resort to that first. Towards the end of his mob career, Sammy sees a new breed of "celebrity gangster" coming into power. He sees mob leaders flaunt their Mafia ties and build public "Robin Hood" personas. Instead of hiding in the shadows, the new mobsters wear the latest fashions, eat at the popular restaurants, and throw lavish public parties. Sammy sees the old Mafia leaders as being aligned with "our thing", but the new leaders as being concerned only with "me, me, me". If you're not looking out for the best interests of the family, then you're only thinking of yourself. You can never trust a person like that.
November 16, 2024
This was truly an outstanding book and grimly fascinating. I really enjoyed every part of it and truly felt like I was in the room for every sequence of events that happened all the way from chapter 1 to the very closing. Sammy The Bull has a talent to really tell a good story, and Peter Maas did a great job as the ghost writer. The only thing that’s part of Sammy’s life that’s not in this book is the drug charges in the early 2000s where he pleads guilty and gets sentenced to prison for 20 years and serves 17 of those years I believe. Either way, if you like true crime, autobiography’s, mafia etc… give this a read!
October 29, 2018
A very revealing mafia memoir.
January 16, 2021
Really enjoyed this book. In a nutshell, it's a book about the real power of the Gambino family. His rise and subsequent short ass fall, the inner workings of the mob, and plenty of crazy stories.
For those that don't know, in the mafia there's two types of gangsters...earners and muscle. Sammy Gravano was one of the only ones that was both. And incredibly good at both it would seem. Involved in 19 murders (many of which were carried out with enough finesse that the FBI wasn't even aware of his involvement) and earning millions upon millions in the construction business, not to shabby for a guy about 5'5" and dropping out a year into high school. Then joining the Army and doing very well and eventually coming back to the streets of his home to begin his rise in the criminal world. Sammy's life is incredibly entertaining and he seems to be a very endearing guy, which considering everything he's done I don't know if thats good or bad.
If you have any kind of interest in criminal factions or just want to read a batshit crazy story about a dude that killed a ton of people (almost all other mobsters), found out his boss was gonna blame him for all, and then pulled the reverse uno and sent his boss and dozens of others to prison, capping it off with his own prison sentence of a whopping 5 years (again, for 19 murders),then you cant go wrong with Underboss. Quite frankly Sammy seems about a thousand times more interesting than his boss Gotti ever was.
For those that don't know, in the mafia there's two types of gangsters...earners and muscle. Sammy Gravano was one of the only ones that was both. And incredibly good at both it would seem. Involved in 19 murders (many of which were carried out with enough finesse that the FBI wasn't even aware of his involvement) and earning millions upon millions in the construction business, not to shabby for a guy about 5'5" and dropping out a year into high school. Then joining the Army and doing very well and eventually coming back to the streets of his home to begin his rise in the criminal world. Sammy's life is incredibly entertaining and he seems to be a very endearing guy, which considering everything he's done I don't know if thats good or bad.
If you have any kind of interest in criminal factions or just want to read a batshit crazy story about a dude that killed a ton of people (almost all other mobsters), found out his boss was gonna blame him for all, and then pulled the reverse uno and sent his boss and dozens of others to prison, capping it off with his own prison sentence of a whopping 5 years (again, for 19 murders),then you cant go wrong with Underboss. Quite frankly Sammy seems about a thousand times more interesting than his boss Gotti ever was.
March 4, 2013
Sammy Gravano is a member of the Cosa Nostra, which is the Mafia. Underboss tells many stories of him growing up, becoming a member of the Gambino family, and what it is like being in the mob. These stories include what Sammy was like growing up Bensonhurst, meeting his wife, and raising his two children. Other stories told would be about Sammy and his friends in the mob, and some of the things he was ordered to do.
The types of books that I usually read are “young adult” that I personally can relate to and “girly” books that have a love story. But this novel isn’t one of those at all. It is a combination of a memoir and a crime, so it was something totally different from what I usually read. I decided to read this novel because for some reason I find these topics to be really interesting and fascinating. What I liked about this book was that the author didn’t make everything hard to understand. He had written the entire text in a way that can be easily read by anybody that decides to read this, and it doesn’t matter if this was the first crime book the reader has ever read. But the only thing that I personally didn’t really like was that at some points it felt a little slow.
The types of books that I usually read are “young adult” that I personally can relate to and “girly” books that have a love story. But this novel isn’t one of those at all. It is a combination of a memoir and a crime, so it was something totally different from what I usually read. I decided to read this novel because for some reason I find these topics to be really interesting and fascinating. What I liked about this book was that the author didn’t make everything hard to understand. He had written the entire text in a way that can be easily read by anybody that decides to read this, and it doesn’t matter if this was the first crime book the reader has ever read. But the only thing that I personally didn’t really like was that at some points it felt a little slow.
August 27, 2007
One of the best books about the mafia during the 70's and 80's that I've ever read. The book tells the story of Sammy The Bull Gravano and much of it is first person narrative. Author Peter Maas provides the historical context, explains who the players are, details the efforts of law enforcement and shapes the story into a powerhouse book. Many of the stories told here seem incredible. Murder after murder after murder is committed in the name of Cosa Nostra. Gravano explains exactly how the mafia controlled the unions and construction industries in New York. These are very bad people but makes for fascinating reading. If you enjoy "The Sopranos" or "Goodfellas" you will really enjoy this book. My only complaint is that there isn't a Cast Of Characters section either at the back or front of the book. There are so many people in the book that it's easy to lose track of who's who. Most of them end up getting whacked so it's not that big a deal.
March 20, 2013
Ignorance can co-exist with a keen intellect and innate business savvy. Combine those traits with hubris and a predilection for savage brutality, and you have the explosive personality of Sammy Gravano. In a world characterized by fear as a constant, he instilled it and inspired it. And no threat from Sammy was ever made idly. Not for the faint of heart, this book is highly recommended for the morbidly curious.
March 11, 2021
This book goes into detail, in true Peter Maas fashion, about the life, times, and crimes of Sammy The Bull Gravano. It gives a really interesting and detailed account of the amounts of crimes that Sammy got up to, as well as his associates. It is wild how many things that organized crime has a hand in. This book also goes into detail about the circumstances surrounding Sammy's turning informant. I thought this was a very interesting read.
May 9, 2010
This is an entertaining, if not exactly unbiased, account of the life of a fairly dangerous criminal. You do get the feeling that the principal character slants things pretty much in his favor, but it's still entertaining if you like this sort of thing.
August 21, 2010
The life story of the highest ranking mobster ever to testify for the government. I find it ironic, that when someone else commits a murder it just makes this guy sick, but his murders all sound like justifiable homicide. Seriously evil people.
March 30, 2008
Man, the story about the family having to eat pasta with ricotta every night before Sammy made it big damn near broke my heart. Unfortunately, it was also the most memorable thing about this book.
May 28, 2012
Not the nicest guy on the block. He is quite full of himself, shrugging off the couple of dozen murders he committed, acting put off by the deeds of his mob pals. Fun stuff.
October 8, 2014
I bought this in an airport, OK? I didn't have anything else to read. What would you have done, smarty-pants? Fine, I admit it, I loved it.
September 20, 2020
In 1997 I was working part-time at a bookstore in Atlanta, and when you walked in the store the first thing you would see was the New York Times Top 20 fiction and non-fiction books. My job, when I arrived on Sunday, was to bring in the Sunday New York Times (our store received ten of the bulging papers for our store) and rearrange the display to reflect the updated Top 20. At the tail end of summer, around the time of Princess Diana’s death, the book Underboss seemed to live in the Top 20 non-fiction rotation. I meant to read it then, but life interfered. I have always loved gangster stories, and, like everyone else, loves what Scorsese and others have done to the modern gangster drama. In the book, author Maas argues that after the release of the film The Godfather the gangster genre was so popular that eyeing a sagebrush show up in a story became passé. Underboss is about the life and times, though the early 1990s, of Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, and Maas uses Gravano’s own words to document Gravano’s rise from 1950s juvenile delinquent to his starring role in the 1991 prosecution of boss John Gotti. Gravano muses in a distinct New York patter about the life of a mobster in the 1970s and 1980s as, first, a foot soldier under boss Paul Castellano, then as a co-conspirator with Gotti in the 1985 Spark’s Steakhouse murder of Castellano and the consolidation of power in the Gambino family. There are lots of detail in the book, and Maas is at hand to tie what could be a dense narrative with definitions and facts that aid the reader in the byzantine discussion of the history of Cosa Nostra. Those of you familiar with the story of Sammy the Bull from cable docs know that there is a great second act that comes after the events of the Maas book, but, unfortunately, the family meth ring is not included, to this reader’s dismay.
June 9, 2024
Man, what a treat this one was. As someone who’s a huge fan of mafia/mob movies and tv shows. This one was a treat. Throughout the book I couldn’t help but think of so many scenes in The Sopranos, The Godfather, GoodFellas. I had to keep reminding myself that Salvatore Gravano was a real man who really did all these things. Who actually took the stand against John Gotti and the New York crime families.
I never imagined feeling sympathy or cheering for a guy like Sammy, particularly when I started the book. I thought it would be a collection of rough and tumble beatings and bruisings mixed in with exaggerated and flashy stories about John Gotti.
What I got instead, was a strangely heartwarming tale of a young man’s quiet and swift rise through the ranks of the Cosa Nostra of NY. The journey from street thug to underboss was incredible to follow along with.
Although Sammy may have left a trail of death, violence, and crime behind him, he lived every second of it with more honesty and integrity than most of (if not all) of the men and women who govern my country. I have a great deal of respect for the way Sammy took care to keep his children away from the life he chose. I have even more respect for Sammy for standing up in court and admitting to his crimes. It takes a real man to admit when you’re wrong and accept the consequences of your actions. What a great book!
I never imagined feeling sympathy or cheering for a guy like Sammy, particularly when I started the book. I thought it would be a collection of rough and tumble beatings and bruisings mixed in with exaggerated and flashy stories about John Gotti.
What I got instead, was a strangely heartwarming tale of a young man’s quiet and swift rise through the ranks of the Cosa Nostra of NY. The journey from street thug to underboss was incredible to follow along with.
Although Sammy may have left a trail of death, violence, and crime behind him, he lived every second of it with more honesty and integrity than most of (if not all) of the men and women who govern my country. I have a great deal of respect for the way Sammy took care to keep his children away from the life he chose. I have even more respect for Sammy for standing up in court and admitting to his crimes. It takes a real man to admit when you’re wrong and accept the consequences of your actions. What a great book!
May 5, 2022
3.5
nothing but scheming, double crossing & lying. it seems everyone in this story was a hypocrite and a lot of them were very petty. for as much as they all pretended to be a tight knit family they were all such snakes!
that being said i loved it lmao. the only part that didn’t catch me was the johnny keys situation. i ended up skimming through that. my main issue with this book was all of the names to keep up with! i started losing track after the fifth guy named frank. i feel like some of the smaller players could’ve been left out. of course, the best part of the whole thing is gravano’s retelling of events. i could really appreciate his no nonsense attitude about everything. he wasn’t loud & flashy and was relatively honest (as honest as any mob guy could be). i completely understood why he became an informant. he was also pretty funny, especially the story about his younger days working with the women at the beauty school. the boring parts were the construction bits.
it’s a good read if you’re really into the mafia.
nothing but scheming, double crossing & lying. it seems everyone in this story was a hypocrite and a lot of them were very petty. for as much as they all pretended to be a tight knit family they were all such snakes!
that being said i loved it lmao. the only part that didn’t catch me was the johnny keys situation. i ended up skimming through that. my main issue with this book was all of the names to keep up with! i started losing track after the fifth guy named frank. i feel like some of the smaller players could’ve been left out. of course, the best part of the whole thing is gravano’s retelling of events. i could really appreciate his no nonsense attitude about everything. he wasn’t loud & flashy and was relatively honest (as honest as any mob guy could be). i completely understood why he became an informant. he was also pretty funny, especially the story about his younger days working with the women at the beauty school. the boring parts were the construction bits.
it’s a good read if you’re really into the mafia.
February 2, 2019
I picked this book up at my local thrift store for $.50 and was not able to put it down after that. I even stopped dead in the middle of whatever other book I was reading to burn through this one. I’ve never finished a book so quickly (a couple days at most) since the Da Vinci Code. If you are a mob buff, especially regarding Gotti, then this will be a page turner for you. I absolutely believe everything that Sammy has said is 100% true. It seams that the Gotti’s have tried to distance and discredit the close relationship between John and Sammy, which is understandable, but not truthful. Sammy lays bare the truth about how these events actually went down within the Gambino family and La Cosa Nostra as a whole. Including and especially a detailed account of the Castellano hit. This is a must read for anyone interested in getting an inside description of what life in the American Mafia is really like.
October 3, 2022
I read /Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia/, by Peter Maas:
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search...
I've been reading a lot of the gangster/Mafia books as I brush up on Disorganized Crime, as I'm fascinated by the subject.
Unfortunately, Peter Maas commits the writer's sin of attempting to let dialogue tell the story, when in fact it's his responsibility to draw us in and tell it to us.
I'll take a moment to recommend almost every other book on these fascinating and outrageous subjects... the cool thing is they all fit together, from the NY crime families to the Philly Mob and Boston (Whitey Bulger), perhaps better than the contrived Marvel Universe, because this shit is real.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search...
I've been reading a lot of the gangster/Mafia books as I brush up on Disorganized Crime, as I'm fascinated by the subject.
Unfortunately, Peter Maas commits the writer's sin of attempting to let dialogue tell the story, when in fact it's his responsibility to draw us in and tell it to us.
I'll take a moment to recommend almost every other book on these fascinating and outrageous subjects... the cool thing is they all fit together, from the NY crime families to the Philly Mob and Boston (Whitey Bulger), perhaps better than the contrived Marvel Universe, because this shit is real.
August 28, 2019
This is Sammy Gravano's retelling of his time within the Colombo and then at a later time the Gambino Crime family. This story is what is it is - it has swearing, gruesome details of murders, burying bodies etc. This book truly shows the treachery and deception that was within the American Mafia during the 80's and 90's. I have read many books of the American Mob and this one was one of few to reveal factual and new information that I did not already know or read in other novels. Underboss was the first type of book I've read with the retelling of the story by himself (Sammy) but written by someone else. I did enjoy the novel, but you can tell the book is quite outdated, but overall a fast and easy read.
June 3, 2020
I read it as an audiobook while I was doing some work, so I did not take notes on it for possible review. So here are some quick impressions so I can remember that I read it.
We get a look at not only the Mafia's corruption, but the corruption throughout New York City as well. Gravano makes an effort throughout the book to emphasize how he strove to go by the rules of Cosa Nostra, rules that he saw the family under Gotti was not following. Basically, a lot of the effort in the book is to make Gravano come across as somewhat sympathetic. I will leave it to readers to judge.
On a side note, I read this as an audiobook. However, GR does not seem to have the exact edition, and I am not going to fuss about it, so here goes.
(full review on my blog later)
We get a look at not only the Mafia's corruption, but the corruption throughout New York City as well. Gravano makes an effort throughout the book to emphasize how he strove to go by the rules of Cosa Nostra, rules that he saw the family under Gotti was not following. Basically, a lot of the effort in the book is to make Gravano come across as somewhat sympathetic. I will leave it to readers to judge.
On a side note, I read this as an audiobook. However, GR does not seem to have the exact edition, and I am not going to fuss about it, so here goes.
(full review on my blog later)
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