Mob Boss: The Life of Little Al D'Arco, the Man Who Brought Down the Mafia

by Jerry Capeci, Tom Robbins

Overview

Reminiscent of Wiseguy, Mob Boss is a compelling biography from two prominent mob experts recounting the life and times of the first acting boss of an American Mafia family to turn government witness

Alfonso "Little Al" D'Arco, the former acting boss of the Luchese crime family, was the highest-ranking mobster to ever turn government witness when he flipped in 1991. His decision to flip prompted many others to make the same choice, including John Gotti's top aide, Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, and his testimony sent more than fifty mobsters to prison.

In Mob Boss, award-winning news reporters Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins team up for this unparalleled account of D'Arco's life and the New York mob scene that he embraced for four decades.

Until the day he switched sides, D'Arco lived and breathed the old-school gangster lessons he learned growing up in Brooklyn and fine-tuned on the mean streets of Little Italy. But when he learned he was marked to be whacked, D'Arco quit the mob. His defection decimated his crime family and opened a window on mob secrets going back a hundred years.

After speaking with D'Arco, the authors reveal unprecedented insights, exposing shocking secrets and troublesome truths about a city where a famous pizza parlor doubled as a Mafia center for multi-million-dollar heroin deals, where hit men carried out murders dressed as women, and where kidnapping a celebrity newsman's son was deemed appropriate revenge for the father's satirical novel.

Capeci and Robbins spent hundreds of hours in conversation with D'Arco, and exhausted many hours more fleshing out his stories in this riveting narrative that takes readers behind the famous witness testimony for a comprehensive look at the Mafia in New York City.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250341464
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/03/2015
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	573,749
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.13(d)

About the Author

JERRY CAPECI is a New York-based news reporter, columnist, author and recognized expert on the American Mafia. He has written six true-crime mob books and has penned a weekly online column about the Mafia, ganglandnews.com, since 1996.

TOM ROBBINS has covered crime and politics in New York for more than thirty years as a reporter and columnist for the New York Daily News, New York Observer, and Village Voice. He is the co-author of Mob Boss. He now teaches investigative reporting at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

Table of Contents

Luchese Organized-Crime Family, 1991 ix

Preface xi

I La Scuola delle Strade 1

1 The Call 3

2 Kent Avenue 14

3 The Arctic Circle 39

4 Mott Street 50

5 Sing Sing 76

6 Mulberry Street 98

7 32 Spring Street 121

II In the Life 145

8 Flatlands Avenue 147

9 Ray Brook 172

10 21 Spring Street 195

11 Cleveland Place 214

12 Rockaway Boulevard 228

13 Fort Hamilton Parkway 246

14 Foster Avenue 270

15 Matamoras 294

16 Fingerboard Road 314

17 Prince Street 331

III The Outlaw 343

18 The Kimberly Hotel 345

19 Trumbull 357

20 In America 371

Afterword 401

Acknowledgments 405

Index 407

Editorial Reviews

…a gripping, novelistic biography of the diminutive man behind the big mouth…Extensive interviews with Mr. D'Arco allowed the authors to go beyond headlines and transcripts to mine the trials and tribulations of the avuncular crook…[Capeci and Robbins] score a bull's-eye.

The New York Times - Sam Roberts

A gripping, novelistic biography...the authors score a bull's eye.” —New York Times

“For authors Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins, the long road to their fascinating new book about mafia boss Alfonso D'Arco, who became the federal government's most successful cooperator, began a decade ago.” —Village Voice

“A raw and fascinating account of one mobster's daily activities and career.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This gripping biography [is] recommended to fans of Nicholas Pileggi's Wise Guy (1986), Philip Carlo's Gaspipe (2008), or coauthor Capeci's own Gotti: Rise and Fall (1996).” —Booklist

“Just a superb book. This is a powerful addition to the true history of the United States. Through hard, relentless reporting, Capeci and Robbins strip away the dark glamor and wormy movie myths about the American Mob and come as close to the truth as any outsiders might ever get. It's a dirty story about corruption and brutal power. The authors take us to many dirty places in our politics, trade unions, and ideals, and make clear that Mob power was too often enforced through a bullet in the skull. They also narrate the squalid tale of how Mob power declined and fell. The soundtrack for the dying version of the Mob was usually loud with the squealing of rats.” —Pete Hamill, New York Times bestselling author of Forever and North River

“Tom Robbins and Jerry Capeci have written a fascinating, inside look at the mob, in this biography of a major mafia boss who turned government witness once the knives were out for him. Even mob cognoscenti will learn all sorts of things they never suspected. By turns horrifying, suspenseful, and darkly hilarious, Mob Boss is a terrific read.” —Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd

“If you read one book about the decline and fall of the mafia in America, let it be Mob Boss. Capeci and Robbins, two first-rate reporters at the top of their game, present an unforgettable portrait of Little Al D'Arco, who presided over the last big mafia war in New York, then took the stand in court to once and for all obliterate the Honored Society. An astounding read that belongs in the upper tier of organized crime literature.” —T.J. English, author of The Savage City and Havana Nocturne

“Al D'Arco loved two things: His wife and his gangster life, not necessarily in that order. This book makes me wish I'd known him better. This is a genuinely great mob story about a genuine New York gangster told by two of the city's best reporters.” —Jimmy Breslin, author of The Good Rat and The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight

“This is the dramatic story of the most important mobster to testify against the Mafia since Joe Valachi, as told by two of New York's top investigative reporters. This is a must-read for anyone concerned about the connection between organized crime and labor racketeering.” —Robert M. Morgenthau, longest serving Manhattan District Attorney

“Al D'Arco was the quintessential wiseguy – and the mob's worst nightmare. Capeci and Robbins have used Little Al's incredible insight about ‘The Life' and their own reporting skills to write a compelling book about the rise and decline of the American Mafia, from the days of Al Capone and Lucky Luciano to the heyday of Chin Gigante and John Gotti. It's a true crime story that reads like a novel.” —Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy and Casino

“Little Al D'Arco had to choose between which family he would forsake. The mob family he commanded as boss, or his own family, including the son who had succumbed to the very drugs the mob helped move onto the streets. When D'Arco made his choice, it shocked Cosa Nostra to its core. Never before had the "Boss" of a mob family decided to break the "code of omerta". The secrets that "Little Al" could reveal were not just the secrets of the Luchese Crime Family—he knew the secrets of the bosses of all the families. No two reporters have ever navigated the secret world of the Mafia more adeptly than Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins. This book is their masterpiece.” —John Miller, senior correspondent at CBS News and former deputy in FBI and NYPD

“Not since Abe Reles first identified Murder Inc. before dropping to his death from the Half Moon Hotel has someone 'in the life' made such a gift to law enforcement as when Little Al D'Arco called the FBI to keep his real family safe from the criminal one in which he'd served as boss. This account treats its subject as an entirely believable human being, and not just a figure out of bloody folklore. Only a few Mob books achieve that. Capeci and Robbins have told D'Arco's story but in their own way. Well done.” —Nathan Ward, author of Dark Harbor: The War For the New York Waterfront

From the Publisher

Veteran New York reporters tell the story of a Mafia kingpin's rise to power, his decision to leave the mob and his role in testifying against his former partners in crime. Leading Mafia authority Capeci (Wiseguys Say the Darndest Things: The Quotable Mafia, 2004, etc.) and former New York Daily News reporter Robbins (Investigative Reporting/CUNY School of Journalism) use hours of interviews with Al D'Arco to recount his progression toward becoming the Lucchese crime family's acting boss in 1990. D'Arco grew up the son of an Italian immigrant in New York's Little Italy during the 1940s, where the Mafia was like a "forest" surrounding him. With neighbors, friends and family in the "Life," D'Arco assumed it was just a matter of time before he joined one of New York's five families. After a short stint in the Army during the Korean War, D'Arco received mentorship from a cousin who was a made member of the Mafia, and he associated with a Lucchese family crew under the leadership of the notorious Paul Vario (featured in the book Wiseguys and the movie Goodfellas). Inheriting his father's determined work ethic, D'Arco put his energy toward a successful career in the Mafia, including having his oldest son follow in his trade. D'Arco's labors bore fruit when the Lucchese family's boss and underboss were forced to go on the lam, making him the organization's acting boss. As a boss, he attempted to reconcile his sense of honor with the crimes he was pushed to commit. When members of the crime family conspired to kill him, his personal code was tested further with his decision to turn to the FBI and testify against his former associates. While tension grows with D'Arco's decision to leave the Life, the most interesting portions of the book follow the colorful cast of characters he encountered during his Mafia career. A raw and fascinating account of one mobster's daily activities and career.

Kirkus Reviews