Made Men: The True Rise-And-Fall Story of a New Jersey Mob Family

by Greg B. Smith, Peter Berkrot (Narrator)

For years, the DeCavalcantes, the most powerful Mob family in Jersey, labored in the shadows of the more famous families in New York—the likes of the Gambinos and the Columbos. Dismissed by the big-city capos, the DeCavalcantes finally came into their own when they found their lives mirrored in the television hit, The Sopranos. Overnight it legitimized the made men of the Garden State. Now they were a familia to be reckoned with. Unfortunately with high profile came high risk. As member turned against member, as trusted friend turned terrified informant, the FBI put the brakes on the DeCavalcante’s explosive ride into infamy, hastening a fall from honor that would become as infamous as their notorious ascension into the annals of organized crime.

Based on more than 1,000 hours of secretly recorded conversations, Made Men delivers for the first time, the unprecedented and completely uncensored behind-the-scenes truth of a historically clandestine world—of violent life and sudden death inside and outside the mob, told by the very men who made it.

Genres: True Crime, Crime, Nonfiction, History, Ebooks, Audiobook, Mystery

Audible Audio

First published February 4, 2003

About the author

Greg B. Smith, reporter for New York’s Daily News, covers the federal courts in Brooklyn and Manhattan that serve as Ground Zero in the battle to end mafia influence in America. An investigative reporter for nearly twenty years, Smith has written for The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Examiner, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and other newspapers around the country. He’s also a frequent guest on TV and radio discussing everything from racketeering to the Latin Kings street gang to world terrorist organizations. Mr. Smith lives with his wife and two boys in Brooklyn, New York. ~ Penguin Books

Reviews

[Carlos Trevino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but great story that is difficult to get bored with due the fact that rather than focusing on the main story, you also get full background stories on other mafiosos involved. I especially enjoyed the backstories on how The Sopranos "borrowed" ideas from this NJ mob.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally buy every Mafia related book I come across, so I was excited to find this one. I have not read much about the organized crime families in New Jersey. Most of the things I find are about the New York families. This was very interesting, and I enjoyed it.

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written, tough to read. Decent story.

[C.C. Bruno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I didn't know too much about the Jersey family, but this left me with a better understanding.

I think the Sopranos angle was played up a little, having expected more of the book to show the blurred lines between screen in reality. However, this fact didn't detract from the fact that Made Men is an overall good true crime book.

[Danny · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting description of the fall of a Jersey crime family, paralleled with the rise of the Sopranos tv series. It focuses on the way that reality and television bled.

[George Willey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this started out Soo good, and then I began to feel like the FBI agents the author mentions, who are stuck listening to hours and hours of all the non crime related talk on the wire taps.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as Mafia lore and books go, this one was decent. I think in the pantheon of legendary mobsters, the Decavalcantes aren't that interesting. It doesn't help that the writing style doesn't seem to be telling any actual story. Ralph Guarino becomes an informant and mostly just records all his colleagues. As an avid crime reader/amateur mob historian, the book didn't focus on any one thing and jumped around quite a bit. I felt like the point of the book going in was that these guys were the inspiration for The Sopranos and so we'd be getting the real life versions of what we'd seen play out on TV. The mobsters' dialogue definitely rings true. It's billed as "the rise and fall " of the Decavalcantes but the overwhelming majority of the story focuses on Ralph recording everyone. Maybe the people themselves were anti climactic what with most of them all turning into informants. The Sopranos is definitely the better version but this is still worth a read

[Matthew Valentinas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Greg's very detailed book about the New Jersey mob of the 90s and early aughts. Matched up well the success off the Sopranos and showed how entrenched and success the NJ mob was at the beginning of the 21st century, and that it wasn't just "Farmers". Quick read and shows how the mafia works from multiple perspectives and that at the end of the day they all stab eachother in the back for money and power. Has to be an exhausting life, but they are born into it and would rather die than get an honest job. These men will do anything to never have to work a real job in their lives. Every mob story ends the same, yet I still find myself attracted to how they live their lives by their own rules, thought nobody seems to follow those rules. Anyway, one of the better modern mob books I've read in a while. It's a quick read and should be required reading for any mob fan.

[Rich Kinsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good Story Until I Read The Disclaimer At The End

Interesting, but it jumped around a lot. Also I would have given it a 4 or 5 star, but at the end was the disclaimer that this is all fiction. I would understand that is so the author and publisher are not responsible mistakes or inconsistency, but that really bummed me out. What parts are to be believed and which are not?
Good story but the disclaimer threw me.

[Grump · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lesser mobsters in Jersey get caught on tape and turn rat. One guy had what sounded like a weak titty bar in Rego park. These guys also got some borderline retards to rob the WTC but they ended up with a bunch of foreign currency they couldn’t spend. The more of these 2nd and 3rd tier mob books I read the more I realize how pathetic mob dudes are. Just violent idiots, ethnically averse to living in normal society. And they all seem to turn rat. The code seems fictional.

[Randal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really shows what losers real life Mafia members are. If you're a fan of the Sopranos (which I also think does a good job of portraying the lack of glamour and the stupidity and immaturity of the mobster), then you'll enjoy this book. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the topic. A decent read, but nothing mind blowing.

[Spurnlad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of the fall of the Decavalcante Mafia family in Brooklyn.

[Rafael Suleiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting story about a New Jersey crime family.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book

Great book one of the best mob books that I ever read. I couldn’t put the book down. Read it in two days

[eliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

kinda confusing. too many unexplained names/nicknames. but overall fun and entertaining. a “bag of chips” type of book.

[Josh Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is so disjointed and difficult to follow.

[Sean Puig · Rating 4 out of 5]

What the Soprano's didn't tell you about the DeCavalcante crime family.

[Frank Taranto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat interesting story about the downfall of DeCavalcantes crime family of New Jersey. The stroytelling wasn't very good.

[Tom Nolan]

paperback

[Terry Ebaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read about the crime family that inspired the Sopranos.