Sam the Plumber: The Real-Life Saga of a Mafia Chieftain

by Henry Zeiger

Genres: Crime

280 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1970

Reviews

[Walt]

This is a good, shortened version of the six or so volumes of FBI electronic surveillance of Sam DeCalvacante. The author does a good job at providing context for the excerpts. He adds very little interpretation, leaving it up for the reader.

The coverage of topics is also excellent. Most of the conversations were within the New Jersey Mafia Family. The author show how the family operated, and the responsibilities expected of different-ranking members within the family. The excerpts also show how the small family interacted with other Mafia families.

The parts about DeCalvacante acting as mediator in the Bananna Mafia War are also enlightening. They provide a different picture of the conflict than that provided by Joe and Bill Bonanno.

[Anthony M.]

•Verbatim transcription of wiretapping in Sam’s Plumbing office. In some spots, it’s like reading the telephone book. The book fell short of my expectation of it being an exciting page-turner. I abandoned it about one-third of the way through. There were so many references to so many people, and since I am not a mobster, it was difficult to keep track of everyone and everything.

[Reenee Mc Knight]

Boring as hell but my father is mentioned in it