Mafia Murders: 100 Kills that Changed the Mob

by M.A. Frasca

Since the late 19th century, the Mafia has been a presence in North America using intimidation and worse to exert its control over organized crime in the major cities and beyond - anything from loansharking to bootlegging during Prohibition to extortion, kidnapping and racketeering. For the Mob (as they are also known), crime was big business. Feuds between Mafia families and their associates led to Lucky Luciano, the preeminent Mob boss, creating the Commission, which to this day rules over Mob activity and disputes. Throughout the 20th century, the ruthlessness of the Mafia has been in the list of Mob victims seems endless. Mafia Hits recalls the most important executions - the rival bosses, the stool pigeons and snitches, the good cops and the dirty cops, the vicious feuds and the hit-men who lived by the gun and died by it. All are here in this fascinating tale of the American underworld.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History

288 pages, Paperback

Published March 31, 2021

Reviews

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that looks at the hits and death of the men with ties or in the case of New York Lt. Detective Joseph Petrosino who fought tooth and nail with the “Black Hand” as they were called at the turn of the century after many arrests and wanting to send men back to Sicily that were criminals there. That is where he was gunned downed while looking through records. Leaving behind a wife and little daughter his story which like many in this book is short is one that is fascinating. While other stories in here are ones that I have heard and read about it is his story and the one where in New Orleans 11 Italian Americans were lynched in one day. Both of these stories needed to be seen by other people and not just the other killings. I am glad they were added and I hope people will look into these two stories to see the history behind them. Overall a good book. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

[Nick Guzan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining and concise primer of how the American mob has relied on murder for more than a century, the book gets top marks for its engaging organization, witty approach, and concise readability that should appeal to experts and novices alike. Even after consuming dozens of books and documentaries about the Mafia for the last decade, I still found myself learning some new things about people and events I'd never heard about. I also enjoyed the author M.A. Frasca's knowledgeable and accessible writing style and tongue-in-cheek sense of humor.

A few inaccuracies littered throughout, likely the fault of the publisher and not the author (i.e. contradictory dates, noticeable typos), are distracting but not quite enough to detract from a sprawling but succinct book that fulfills its intended purpose as entertainment rather than a scholarly textbook. I wouldn't have minded more details of the titular "hits" themselves and less credence to unfounded theories, but I definitely recommend this good book for anyone looking for an informative and interesting way to anecdotally learn about the American Mafia.

[Alex Richmond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but doesn’t fully live up to its name,

To put it simply, not all of these murders changed the mob. If they did the book doesn’t go into detail. Others are glossed over and sped through so you are only getting a glamoured version of the events.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book but I am very biased as this book was written by my late sister, Maureen.

[Zachary Barker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have finished reading “Mafia Murders: 100 Kills That Changed the Mob” by M.A Frasca.

This short book’s stated aim is to chart the historical evolution of the Mafia through short accounts of Mafia murders otherwise known as “hits”.

For the sake of clarity, the Mafia which this book refers to is the American-Italian Mafia, specifically La Costa Nostra (the American variant of the Sicilian Mafia as made famous by The Godfather and Goodfellas etc). It is important to make the distinction since crime syndicates based on this origin and model persist in many other countries and not just in the United States.

The timeline of this book extends from the late 19th Century with the emergence of Black Hand extortion networks that eventually grew into Mafia Families. It is timeline ends in the noughties with some surprisingly recent Mob War-related killings between Mafia Families that reside in the US and Canada.

There are 3 elements that tell the story in each, very small, chapter: The victim, the killer and the circumstance. The victims are usually mobsters from different Mafia families or other criminal elements who are essentially killed by their own greed, complacency or homicidal tendencies (sometimes all of them). However, as per Mafia tradition very few are Law Enforcement officials, given the Mafia’s historical aversion in the US to targeting them given the overwhelming degree of official scrutiny it would invite. The American Mafia traditionally would prefer to bribe such officials or stay off their radars all together.

The killers are not always known, since many of them are quick hits designed to either remove a figure or send a message without the trigger man being caught. Despite Mafia members being bound by “Omerta” the law of silence, the history of the American Mafia is littered with those with blood on their hands often throwing loyalty out of the window to get a deal for a lesser sentence or Witness Protection. However, often the killings are instigated by those close to the victim which is often in the cause of bloody succession.

What were the reason behind the killings? Sometimes it was to forestall a Mafia figure being killed themselves. Often it was for advancement within the Mafia hierarchy. Officially those particular killings had to be sanctioned by the Mafia’s effective governing body known as the Commission, which was set up in the 1930s but apparently still exists today. At other times it was simply to take advantage of the latest criminal enterprise. In the 1920s-1930s it was alcohol bootlegging during Prohibition. Later on it was drugs or gambling.

This book is easy to read and in many ways does exactly what it says on the tin. Nevertheless there are a few minor annoyances I have with it. Many of the killings are by the Chicago Outfit, which while heavily influential nationally in the US criminal underworld, has never been officially a Mafia family based on the Sicilian Family model. It’s fierce reputation nevertheless earned it a place on the Commission, but even other Mafia Families would not recognise it as a family. Furthermore, despite the premise of the book it was not always explained why a given killing was featured and how it changed the evolution of the Mafia as an organisation, which I thought came off as lazy writing.

This book has it’s limitations, but it does cover a lot of Mafia history including Luciano’s revolutionary reorganisation, the Family’s mixed reactions to the drugs trade and several VERY messy feuds within and between families.

Take this book for what it is and it is enjoyable enough. But for more in depth analysis about this organisation, I can think of several other books that take it more seriously than this one.

[Laura Newsholme · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is very much exactly what it says it is. The book covers 100 murders undertaken by the mafia (both of mafiosi and others) and gives a small amount of information about the reasons for and the aftermath of each one. There were some here that I knew about - Bugsy Siegel, Dutch Schultz etc. but many of those included were completely new to me, which I appreciated. Overall, a fun and interesting read.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Al Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since each “chapter” is only about 2 pages, it can be hard to find rhythm in this book. With that said, this book provides some excellent research-based historical narrative around the history of the Mafia. For anyone interested in learning the inner workings of the mob, this book serves as an excellent “for dummies-esque” guide.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone who knows nothing about the mob hit jobs, this book was interesting. There were some very fascinating stories about the more seedy members of society. But I wish there was a list or map of mob/gang names territories. Because I kept having to look things up and reference other parts of the book.

I loved that it was a quick, easy read. Each chapter was like a short story unto itself.

[Shelley Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most Interesting

Avery well-written account of The Mafia”. Not sure of sources of info for this book but very interesting read. Learned much. Surprised to learn it is still something

[Breeona Payeur · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good and interesting book. It took me a hot minute to get through. Just because it was one of those books that was a traveling electronic book. The reason for the 4 stars was that it wasn’t as I expected, interesting but I wouldn’t recommend too many people to read it.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of brief stories about some of the top Mafia executions. There's just enough information to give an idea of what led up to each killing, but not too much, which would have made for a longer book, or fewer accounts.

[Zane Sterling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read!

Very interesting book that sticks to the facts, as they are known. Fast paced and action-packed. If you enjoy mafia history, you will enjoy this book!

[Eugene Favor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

I liked this book, very spot on and a lot of mob hits in the book I never knew about, great read for any true mafia fans like myself 👍🏿

[Ian Osborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The undertaker were busy

Wow what a history of death, it goes to say you don't know who you can trust. Gangs and clans at their finest

[grumpy old msn · Rating 3 out of 5]

First came Genghis Kahn. Then the Hole in the wall bunch followed closely by 'Good old Al' in the Prohibition era. Now we've got Politicians. Just wait until Black Rod Carries a grenade launcher to access The Lords! ?

[isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I broke my phone one day and had to wait a whole afternoon for it to get fixed, so I walked into a book fair, got this book and read it through in like 2 hours

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short stories. Being from Detroit, I know he had errors in those stories. I believe some were just creative editing. A super quick read.

[Mr Michael Gatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many mistakes.

[Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need a map with the layout of how all of these murders are connected

[Valerie Uthe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical account of who whacked who!!!

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read

[Avokara]

I haven't read many books so I don't know what is a proper rating but I really enjoyed this book.

I've always been interested in the mafia but never really dived into it aside from the Scorsese films
so this was new and fun to me

I found it easy to read because the book consists of 1oo individual stories that you can read on their own-but every story lead into the next giving relevant info for the time and people of the next kill for those who aren't privy to the goings ons of the mobs of America, Italy, and Canada.

the book only uses about 2-3 pages per kill so it doesn't go super in depth but It gives you enough to understand the situation and why it happened.


I recommend this one, its a fun read and I liked the way it was written.


thanks if you read my review lol.

[Dominique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but a likely samey after a while, there’s only so many unique mob stories