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.Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia

by: Peter Maas

January 27, 1999
This book rivals The Valachi Papers and is even written by the same author Peter Maas.It gives a good insiders view of the lies and deceptions of the mob.Gravano was able to navigate the "mob" system,make alot of money and get out before either he or his family were killed.In addition by turning "States Evidence" as did Joe Valachi,he helped put a spotlight on the "Mob" and from a read of this book,"Cosa Nostra" would not be a life to envy or emulate.
Gotti is portrayed as truly a media infatuated figure of the eighties,a mob superstar smiling for the cameras seeming to say,"Hey look at all the fun we're having and the law can't touch us"!Did his tailor also design suits for PTL's Jim BAKKER?(My own obsevation).With all the murder,lies ... Read More:
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.The Valachi Papers

by: Peter Maas

March 18, 2003
Valachi was a small time street mobster but his story was big. He opened everyones eyes to the family structure of the New York underworld. Not all of what he said was true or right but the overall story is a real eye opener. Peter Maas does an excellent job.
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.The Terrible Hours: The Greatest Submarine Rescue in History

by: Peter Maas, Peter Mass

March 06, 2001
I love reading these type books and hearing these stories, but "The Terrible Hours" was difficult to get thru and was more of a tribute to Swede Momson than the actual rescue of this doomed submarine. I found myself skimming thru pages of technical mumbo jumbo about Momson's experiments in order to read about the actual rescue itself.

And the lack of a few diagrams of the interior and exterior of the Squalus, made the book all the more difficult to really understand and grasp the entire story.
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.Serpico

by: Peter Maas

January 04, 2005
The late Peter Maas was a master of investigative reporting. Nowhere are his skills more evident than in this story about Frank Serpico, a police officer who tried to rid the New York City Police Department of the corruption that was rampant amongst its rank and file. Eventually, Serpico's efforts led to the establishment of the Knapp Commission, which would do a large scale investigation of police corruption and the policies and procedures within the Police Department itself that would allow such to flourish. Unfortunately, his efforts initially fell, for the most part, upon deaf ears. Nothing of any real import was really done until Serpico was grievously wounded in a gun battle with a drug dealer in 1971 that left all of New York, including Serpico, wondering as ... Read More:
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.Ten Men Dead: The Story of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike

by: David Beresford

January 10, 1997
This is an amazing book - a riveting, heartbreaking story of the 10 hunger strikers who died a slow and painful death for what they believed. How many of us would even condiser doing this, let alone actually endure the agony (which could last more than two months) as our bodies shut down? For folks that don't understand the depth of dedication of these men, this is an excellent documentation of their deepest thoughts. I was so angry I wanted to scream, and so sad I couldn't keep from crying. These ten are definitely included in the roll of honor for Ireland's greatest men. May the rest in peace.
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.In a Child's Name: The Legacy of a Mother's Murder

by: Peter Maas

1990-11
The book as a whole was pretty good, but I do have one major problem with this book. There were some instances where the book stated that Kenneth Taylor had probably faced some kind of sexual abuse in his past, and then at the very end of the book it quotes his mother as saying that she had heard that some mothers performed fellatio on their infant children to ease teething pain.
To me this made it seem like the author was trying to imply that perhaps Kenneth's mother had been the one to sexually abuse him. Maybe I am just super-sensitive, but that's the way I took it and I was somewhat offended by it.
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.King of the Gypsies

by: Peter Maas

1978-12
This is the biography of someone who was really a Gypsy...a Gypsy "King", no less. A lot of New Agers, Wiccans, occult types try to claim the stories about Gypsies and their occult con games are propaganda. This book tells the real story of Gypsies and their bunco swindles, and it comes straight form the horse's mouth. It details how Gypsies used con games (apparently right up until 1978 when the book was written and beyond) to earn a living, including phony "occult" scams played upon gullible non-gypsies or "bujos", such as fortunetelling, psychics, curses, and also more mundane scams, such as having their kids swallow diamond rings at posh jewlery stores and later collecting the "rewards" as nature took its course. A must have book for anyone interested in debunking the occult. ... Read More:
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.THE VALACHI PAPERS The First Inside Account of Life in the Cosa Nostra

by: Peter Maas

1968
A compelling glimpse at what life was like in the Cosa Nostra as revealed from the perspective of a street-level hoodlum. Peter Maas chronicles the rise and fall of Joseph Valachi, beginning with his early days as a "wheelman" for a Harlem robbery gang to his induction into the Mafia and the years he spent as a "soldier" in one of the five organized crime "families" in New York. Valachi was there when it happened, and he provides an intimate look at mob life in New York City in its heyday, from the Prohibition era straight through the early Sixties. He was a combatant in the historic Castellemarese War between the slovenly Joe "the Boss" Masseria and the dignified Salvatore Maranzano, and knew the heads of all five families on a personal (though clearly not equal) level. Valachi witnessed the tumultuous ... Read More:
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.The Rescuer

by: Peter Maas

1967
A compelling glimpse at what life was like in the Cosa Nostra as revealed from the perspective of a street-level hoodlum. Peter Maas chronicles the rise and fall of Joseph Valachi, beginning with his early days as a "wheelman" for a Harlem robbery gang to his induction into the Mafia and the years he spent as a "soldier" in one of the five organized crime "families" in New York. Valachi was there when it happened, and he provides an intimate look at mob life in New York City in its heyday, from the Prohibition era straight through the early Sixties. He was a combatant in the historic Castellemarese War between the slovenly Joe "the Boss" Masseria and the dignified Salvatore Maranzano, and knew the heads of all five families on a personal (though clearly not equal) level. Valachi witnessed the tumultuous ... Read More:
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.The Valachi Papers

by: Peter Maas

1972
A compelling glimpse at what life was like in the Cosa Nostra as revealed from the perspective of a street-level hoodlum. Peter Maas chronicles the rise and fall of Joseph Valachi, beginning with his early days as a "wheelman" for a Harlem robbery gang to his induction into the Mafia and the years he spent as a "soldier" in one of the five organized crime "families" in New York. Valachi was there when it happened, and he provides an intimate look at mob life in New York City in its heyday, from the Prohibition era straight through the early Sixties. He was a combatant in the historic Castellemarese War between the slovenly Joe "the Boss" Masseria and the dignified Salvatore Maranzano, and knew the heads of all five families on a personal (though clearly not equal) level. Valachi witnessed the tumultuous ... Read More:
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