Overview

Using previously untapped Secret Service archives, prison records, and interviews with surviving family members, Dash presents the gripping story of the birth of the Italian Mafia in America, and brings to life the remarkable villains and unusual heroes of the Mafia's early years.

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9780345523570

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Reviews

&#8220;I love Mike Dash&#8216;s books, and this is his best so far. Who&#8217;d have thought that the origins of the American Mafia, lost for decades in the mists of the early 1900s, could be excavated so clearly and so enjoyably? Working from newly uncovered documents, Dash has given us the first close-up view of how, when, and where the Mafia began. It&#8217;s a tale of great intrigue, told with real flair, drama and, thankfully, precision.&#8221;&#8212;Bryan Burrough, author of Public Enemies: America&#8217;s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933&#8212;34 <br> <br>&#8220;Vividly imagined and prodigiously researched, The First Family tells the story of the American Mafia&#8211;&#8216;the most secret and terrible organization in the world&#8217;&#8211;as never before, a gripping, timeless saga of murder, mayhem, and the darkest corners of the American dream. Mike Dash has a journalist&#8217;s nose for a good story and a novelist&#8217;s gift for telling it, and The Fi

I love Mike Dash's books, and this is his best so far. Who'd have thought that the origins of the American Mafia, lost for decades in the mists of the early 1900s, could be excavated so clearly and so enjoyably? Working from newly uncovered documents, Dash has given us the first close-up view of how, when, and where the Mafia began. It's a tale of great intrigue, told with real flair, drama and, thankfully, precision. --Bryan Burrough, author of Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933--34 <br> <br> Vividly imagined and prodigiously researched, The First Family tells the story of the American Mafia-'the most secret and terrible organization in the world'-as never before, a gripping, timeless saga of murder, mayhem, and the darkest corners of the American dream. Mike Dash has a journalist's nose for a good story and a novelist's gift for telling it, and The First Family reads like the most compelling, sleep-defying fiction. --Karen Abbott, author of Sin in the Second City <br> <br> An enthralling account . . . Decades before the Five Families emerged and more than half a century before Mario Puzo wrote The Godfather, Giuseppe Morello and his family controlled all manner of crime in New York City. . . . Readers may think they know the mob, but Morello's ruthless rule makes even the fictional Tony Soprano look tame. -- Publishers Weekly, starred review <br> Mike Dash is a brilliant researcher and writer who has done full justice to one of the most astonishing true stories. Dash exhumes long forgotten evidence to tell us exactly how the Mafia arrived and--more importantly - how it thrived in this country. --Nicholas Pileggi, the author of Wiseguy and Casino <br> Dash has dug into tons of material and emerged with a work of popular history--written in lively, lucid prose, with a strong narrative line and a wealth of anecdote, much of it gory--that seems likely to be the definitive work on its subject for years to come.

Author Information

Mike Dash is a historian with an M.A. from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. from the University of London. A former professional journalist whose work has appeared in numerous national newspapers and magazines, Dash is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including Satan’s Circus, Thug, Batavia’s Graveyard, and Tulipomania. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.

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