Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. 450 pages.

Organized crime in New York City has been controlled since the 1920s by five Mafia families, the largest of which was the Gambino family. Some of the key leaders were Salvatore Maranzano, Lucky Luciano, Albert Anastasia, Carlo Gambino, and Paul Castellano. In 1985, John Gotti arranged the murder of Castellano and emerged as the most powerful Mafia boss in New York. He made some money from heroin and pornography, but most came from the family's violent influence within certain labor unions: the construction industry, trucking in the garment industry, the meat industry, the Manhattan and Brooklyn waterfront, and the waste disposal industry.

Meanwhile in 1982, at the urging of Rudolph Giuliani, the third-highest official at the Justice Department, $100 million was appropriated for a new offensive against the New York mob. Giuliani moved to New York to spearhead this effort (and in 1993 was elected mayor). The FBI began using the 1970 RICO law against racketeering, which gave them wide latitude to plant bugs in the homes and offices of Mafia dons. After twice winning acquittal on lesser charges, Gotti was convicted in 1992 for numerous murders. His own words from tape recordings of bugs, and the defection of underboss Salvatore Gravano, finally made the difference. Gotti was given life without parole, and is now doing hard time at the federal prison in Marion, Illinois.
ISBN 0-06-016357-7

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