NCJ Number
137565
Date Published
1991
Length
352 pages
Annotation
Based on several in-depth interviews with mobster Nick Caramandi, this book describes in detail the workings of La Costra Nostra, or the Mafia, and in particular the activities of the Philadelphia-based Scarfo family.
Abstract
Caramandi became an initiated member of the Scarfo mob after 25 years of operating as a thief and con man and 2 years of carrying out murders on behalf of the mob. Caramandi became the organization's point man who lined up the city politicians, judges, and union leaders who provided the mob with its power. However, when Nicky Scarfo, the mob boss, felt threatened by Caramandi and marked him for execution, Caramandi turned government witness and testified at 11 trials resulting in 52 convictions for Scarfo and other mob members. This first-hand account of the criminal underworld provides personal accounts of the ceremonies, contract hits, and vacation retreats that characterized the mob's work and play. It documents how Scarfo, known as one of the most ruthless mob bosses, brought about the decline of his own empire through his indiscriminate use of violence and defiance of the Mafia's code of honor.