"Mob Rats - Jimmy 'The Weasel' Fratianno" has been ranked: AMAZON/UK #1 BEST SELLER IN "PERSPECTIVES ON LAW"AMAZON/USA #1 BEST SELLER IN "HOT NEW RELEASES - LAW ENFORCEMENT BIOGRAPHIES & MEMOIRS"AMAZON/USA & AMAZON/UK #1 BEST SELLER IN FREE "LAW ENFORCEMENT BIOGRAPHIES," AND FREE "TRUE CRIME - HOAXES & DECEPTIONS." AMAZON/UK # 1 BEST SELLER IN "TRUE ACCOUNTS OF HOAXES & DECEPTIONS"*****Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno got his nickname from his days as a petty pushcart thief in Cleveland, when he ran as "quick as a weasel" with an armful of fruit and vegetables while the cops chased him.Rising quickly up the organized crime ladder in Cleveland, Fratianno, after doing a stint in the can for robbery and extortion, migrated west to Los Angeles where he hooked up with West Coast Mob boss, Jack Dragna. After doing a few "pieces of work" or murders for Dragna, Fratianno got his button and became a made man in the Mafia. Dragna soon appointed Fratianno as one of his captains, bypassing several irate mobsters who had served under Dragna for decades. Without even trying, Fratianno had made himself several serious enemies, and this would come back to haunt him. Things began falling apart for Fratianno when, while he was in prison doing another bit for extortion, Jack Dragna died. After much infighting, Dominick Brooklier was anointed Dragna's replacement, and one of his first acts was to bust Fratianno from captain back to a mere Mafia soldier. Incredibly, after Brooklier got hit with a 20-month prison term for racketeering, conspiracy and extortion, he named Fratianno as the acting boss of his LA crime family. Fratianno, his proud chest bursting the buttons on his silk shirt because of his sudden promotion, didn't realize he was being set up for the fall. As soon as Brooklier hit the streets again, Fratianno discovered he was as good as dead. He ran to the Feds, and he offered to sing his finest tunes in return for the luxury of the Witness Protection Program. Over the next 10 years (he got only five years in jail after admitting he participated in six murders), Fratianno scammed the Feds for almost $1 million, in return for his testimony at several mob trials.The Weasel had become a Rat, but the Federal Government was his patsy. Regrettably, it was our taxpayers' dollars that compensated Fratianno handsomely, exhibiting once again the folly of our hard-earned tax dollars at work.

Today, the world is facing an increasing impact from established organized crime, emerging transnational organized crime, and gangs that requires an understanding of who and what these organizations are and how they achieve their goals. Updated to include new and relevant research and statistics, Understanding Organized Crime, Second Edition provides students with a better understanding of how and why these criminal groups continue to dominate the world of crime and what law enforcement must do to address this threat. Written by a leading expert in the field and based on his experience and academic research, Understanding Organized Crime, Second Edition is a comprehensive introduction to the subject and includes coverage of the types of organized crime, definitions of organized crime, why it continues to exist, and how it has evolved throughout history. Material covered includes the structure and hierarchy of each organization, their methods of operation, and the techniques and laws used by law enforcement to address the dynamic nature of domestic and transnational organized crime. Using the author’s unique approach to the topic, students will learn about organized crime through the eyes of the criminal investigator, and how law-enforcement practitioners today are counteracting these criminal organizations. New and Key Features of the Second Edition: • Revised and updated to include new and relevant research, statistics, and case studies to help students understand the true nature of organized crime and the players involved. • Chapter 5 (Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations) has been updated to include the most recent information on new alliances and wars over territories and smuggling routes between established cartels and emerging organizations in Mexico. • A new chapter, The Nexus of Transnational Organized Crime and Terrorism, addresses the increasing connections between terrorist groups and transnational organized crime, including new challenges facing governments and law enforcement in identifying and prosecuting these cooperative networks. • Provides information outlining the new age of piracy that has resulted in the creation of task forces that focus on areas around the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. • Additional and updated information is now included in the chapters on the Russian Mafia, the Italian-American Mafia, the Yakuza, and Outlaw Bikers. Instructor Resources: *Test Bank *Microsoft PowerPoint slides Student Resources: * Companion Website (secure) featuring: -interactive glossary -interactive flashcards -practice exercises -and more!

An insider's account of the downfall of the New York mob profiles organized crime at the height of its influence while recounting the author's participation in several lucrative heists and relating his decision to become a federal informant.

For many years, the FBI, led by J. Edgar Hoover, ignored organized crime, as the Bureau regarded local law enforcement as best equipped to handle it. That changed when Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (in the 1960s) and New York City's Rudy Giuliani (in the 1980s) pursued eradication of the Mafia.. In this book, readers are introduced to several characters in the American Mafia, known as "rats" in the criminal world, whose cooperation with law enforcement resulted in the arrest of Mafia members across the country. Short biographies of each informant detail their crimes and deals made to stay alive or reduce lengthy prison sentences. FBI and CIA records released in 2017, and books written by the criminals themselves, reveal why previously loyal Mafia members and associates became informants. Most of the criminals written about are dead; a few are presumed to be alive and in the witness protection program.

The night Jimmy Fratianno became a government witness, not a single Mafia boss slept. As a "made guy" in La Cosa Nostra, Jimmy Fratianno knew their best-kept secrets. A soldier, capo, and ex-boss of the Los Angeles family, involved at the highest levels with bookmaking, gambling, union racketeering, extortion, pornography, and virtually every criminal activity to which organized crime is linked, Fratianno also earned the reputation as the Mafla's top killer in California.Fratianno became the highest-ranking Mafloso ever to "turn," and in the past two years his testimony, in courtrooms across the nation, has been making sensational headlines. A veteran investigative reporter and bestselling author, Ovid Demaris had the unprecedented opportunity to debrief Fratianno in order to write this book. Demaris also had access to wiretaps, surveillance reports, prison and court records, The result is the most important work to date on organized crime in America---a disturbing, yet extraordinary and vivid life story that makes the other "insider" stories of the Mafia look like tales of innocence.The Last Mafioso details eleven murders Fratianno was personally involved in, and relates Fratianno's inside knowledge of some two dozen others, including the slayings of Bugsy Siegel, Nick DeJohn, Albert Anastasia, Jimmy Hoffa, Sam Giancana, Johnny Roselli, and Tamara Rand. Fratianno was a confidant of Johnny Roselli, so Demaris tells the real story of Operation Mongoose, the CIA-Mafia plot to assassinate Castro. Here also are the behind-the-scenes deals and machinations of the Mafia in Las Vegas. Fratianno's life was not spent entirely with his criminal friends, although The Last Mafioso records the secret lives of virtually all the important Mafiosi of the last thirty years. Fratianno moved perpetually in exotic circles, a man of inexhaustible energy, an ingenious schemer and scammer, an insatiable womanizer and socializer who was quick to ingratiate him-self with Mafia royalty, Hollywood celebrities, politicians, prominent lawyers, successful businessmen, and Teamster officials. In The Last Mafioso there are countless episodes with the likes of Frank Sinatra and ex-San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto.

Released for the first time 16 years after his death, this startling autobiography by one of the so-called “three tramps” from the John F. Kennedy assassination reveals the details of Chauncey Marvin Holt’s many claims. Much mystery and suspicion still swirls around that fateful day in November 1963, and theories abound in nearly every form of media. But one of the major mysteries revolves around the three men spotted and later arrested in Dealey Plaza. Holt’s controversial confession to being one of the three tramps has a history of its own, and in his own words he delves into his unique and wild background and life. From his United States Air Force service during Pearl Harbor to his associations with the mob and the CIA, Holt discusses his experiences and encounters in great detail. From a man who truly lived a rare and unique life, the book explains the ins and outs of his associations with Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination in this unique retrospective of a complex and occasionally dubious life.

More than 500 alphabetical entries provide information on the people, places and events associated with the Mafia.

The true crime story behind the film Casino from the mob enforcer who lived it and the author of The Accidental Gangster. Tony Spilotro was the Mob’s man in Las Vegas. A feared enforcer, the bosses knew Tony would do whatever it took to protect their interests. The “Little Guy” built a criminal empire that was the envy of mobsters across the country, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta helped him do it. But Tony’s quest for power and lack of self-control with women cost the Mob its control of Vegas, and Tony paid for it with his life. From Dennis N. Griffin: “I was a little nervous before my first meeting with former mobster Frank Cullotta. It turned out we had a pleasant conversation that ended with an agreement for me to write his book. As I drove home, I realized I had made a deal with a career thief and killer on a handshake. What was I thinking?” “Extraordinary insights.”—Nick Pileggi, #1 New York Times–bestselling author and screenwriter of Casino

Forget what you think you know about the Mafia. After reading this book, even life-long mob aficionados will have a new perspective on organized crime. Informative, authoritative, and eye-opening, this is the first full-length book devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s through 1950s. Based on exhaustive research of archives and secret files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, author and attorney C. Alexander Hortis draws on the deepest collection of primary sources, many newly discovered, of any history of the modern mob. Shattering myths, Hortis reveals how Cosa Nostra actually obtained power at the inception. The author goes beyond conventional who-shot-who mob stories, providing answers to fresh questions such as: * Why did the Sicilian gangs come out on top of the criminal underworld? * Can economics explain how the Mafia families operated? * What was the Mafia's real role in the drug trade? * Why was Cosa Nostra involved in gay bars in New York since the 1930s? Drawing on an unprecedented array of primary sources, The Mob and the City is the most thorough and authentic history of the Mafia's rise to power in the early-to-mid twentieth century.