From Publishers Weekly
This brisk, no-holds-barred biography of Mafia boss John Gotti often makes The Godfather look tame. Gotti, recently acquitted of ordering the murder of a union official, is portrayed as a violent thug who worked his way up the mob's ranks, gaining expertise in contract murder, airport theft, hijacking, heroin trafficking, illegal gambling and extortion. In tracing Gotti's "perverse American success story"--his climb from young bookmaker stalking East Harlem in all-purple outfits to Gambino family boss--Cummings and Volkman (coauthors of The Heist ) also perform a biopsy of a social cancer, the modern Mafia. This is must reading for anyone who wants to understand La Cosa Nostra. Photos. Author tour. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Gotti, the media's current Mafia superstar, is known as "the dapper don" for his expensive clothes and his flamboyant high profile. The authors, who last wrote The Heist (LJ 9/15/86), chronicle the ascent of Gotti and his buddies ( goombata ) from street hoodlums to leadership of New York City's Gambino crime family. This a fast-paced, readable story filled with the usual crimes, murders, vicious thuggery, and perversely comic incidents typical of organized crime. Gotti, who just was acquitted of his latest round of criminal charges, was also profiled in Mob Star by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci (Watts, 1988). Both books tell a similar tale, and those libraries without Mob Star may wish to add Goombata .- Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., DavisCopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
The Dapper Don
A cocky kid from the streets of East New York, he rose to become one of the most feared men in the nation.
Establishing a power base through brilliant politicking and blood-chilling ruthlessness, at 45 he took control of America's richest, most powerful crime family following the gangland-style execution of his predecessor.
Though the target of almost contionous FBI and police surveillance, he has spent little time in prison . . . and has never been convicted of racketeering, drug-trafficking or murder.
Prize-winning journalists John Cummings and Ernest Volkman's shocking true account of the brutal and meteoric rise of John "Johhny Boy" Gotti from Brooklyn "bone-breaker" to lord of the Gambino Family -- a riveting exploration into the the bloody machinery of La Cosa Nostra operating on the dark side of the American dream.
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