For the Sins of My Father: A Mafia Killer, His Son, and the Legacy of a Mob Life

From Publishers Weekly
While it' s understandable that the publisher compares this memoir of life in a Mob family to The Sopranos, the book stands firmly on its own as one of the most searing volumes ever written about the Mob. (Mafia cognoscenti will recognize the DeMeo name, for the author' s father, Roy, gunned down by fellow mobsters in 1982, has in recent years gained a reputation as one of the most ruthless members of the Gambino family, responsible for dozens of killings.) DeMeo' s coauthor, Ross (In the Company of Men), probably deserves credit for the fluid, dark-hued prose that surges throughout the narrative, but what really sets this book apart, in addition to its brutal honesty, is its unique perspective: that of a child drawn into a macho world of fear and violence, money and power. Before Albert was a teen, he had become the principal confidant of his father, who was a soldier and then a made man with the Gambinos, picking up payoffs, familiar with wise guys and guns; Albert' s involvement was such that only a few years later he practiced, with his dad, at what angle he would shoot Roy when and if Roy needed to fake his own death. There' s the familiar other side of Mob life here, too, the wide circle of eccentric acquaintances and the robust celebrations centered around a nuclear family in which mom and kids (other than Albert) floated unaware of the crimes of father and son; but what eats through this book like acid is the horror, mixed with undying love and loyalty, that Albert feels as over the years he learns just what his father did for money a horror that as an adult would send the author into a mental hospital but which he has now assimilated sufficiently to write this painful, intense, unforgettable memoir. (Aug. 20) Forecast: With the success of HBO' s The Sopranos, which will begin airing again September 15, plus the recent death of Gambino head John Gotti, expect much interest in, and many sales for, this electrifying title. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
How bad it is when your father is a goodfellaAhead of the Gambino familyAand you've looked up to him your whole life. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review

Offers a remarkable perspective on how a brutal mobster could lead a sweet home life as a suburban dad.” —New York Times

“One of the most searing volumes ever written about the mob . . . An] unforgettable memoir.” —Publishers Weekly

“Admirers of Mafia fiction . . . should enjoy DeMeo’s attempt to strip off the gaudy veneer of what is, what was, and [what] always will be very dirty business.” —Detroit Free Press



Review

Offers a remarkable perspective on how a brutal mobster could lead a sweet home life as a suburban dad.? ?New York Times

FROM OUR EDITORS

Moviegoers and TV audiences seem to have an endless fascination with mobsters. For Brooklyn-born Al DeMeo, however, goodfella life holds no voyeuristic thrills. His father, Roy, was not just a loving family man; he was a notorious Mafia killer. As his father's confidant, young Al heard firsthand stories of gangland misdeeds and executions; then, on his 17th birthday, those stories became terrifyingly real when his father's corpse was found in the trunk of a car. This memoir portrays a father-son bond as it is shaken by the grimmest of realizations and perceptively describes the author's coming to grips with his family's past.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"In the early 1960s, Roy DeMeo became involved with John Gotti and other members of the infamous Gambino crime family. Roy rose rapidly through the ranks to become a Gambino soldier, and eventually a capo, a made member of the family. He masterminded the biggest auto-theft ring in New York history, and by the late 1970s had also become one of the most feared hitmen in the city - with more than 200 brutal slayings attributed to him. At home, however, Roy DeMeo was an attentive and caring husband and father to his children - the kind of man who provided for his family and doted on his son." In For the Sins of My Father, DeMeo's only son, Albert, recounts the chilling rise and fall of the man who led the Gambino family's most fearsome killers and thieves. Coming of age in an opulent Long Island house where money is abundant but its source unclear, Al becomes his father's confidant, sent to call in loans at age fourteen when Roy is forced into hiding.

SYNOPSIS

A suspenseful, emotionally charged real-life Sopranos: The son of New York's most notorious Mafia killer reveals the conflicted life he led being raised by a cold-blooded murderer, who was also a devoted family man, and the wrenching legacy of Mafia family life.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New Yorker

From the age of eight, Al DeMeo spent a lot of time with his father, Roy -- on loansharking collections, in the auto-repair shop from which he directed New York's largest car-theft operation, and in Little Italy social clubs where his Mafia associates gathered. But Roy DeMeo was also abstemious, devoted to his wife and children, and a prudent businessman whose many legitimate enterprises camouflaged his criminal ones; his son's account of this complex, compartmentalized life is a rich stew of anthropological detail, confusion, and shame. It was onlyafter Roy was murdered -- shortly before Al's seventeenth birthday -- that the author learned his father had been a hit man, rumored to be responsible for more than a hundred killings. This heartsick memoir charts DeMeo's attempt to come to terms with that discovery.

Publishers Weekly

While it' s understandable that the publisher compares this memoir of life in a Mob family to The Sopranos, the book stands firmly on its own as one of the most searing volumes ever written about the Mob. (Mafia cognoscenti will recognize the DeMeo name, for the author' s father, Roy, gunned down by fellow mobsters in 1982, has in recent years gained a reputation as one of the most ruthless members of the Gambino family, responsible for dozens of killings.) DeMeo' s coauthor, Ross (In the Company of Men), probably deserves credit for the fluid, dark-hued prose that surges throughout the narrative, but what really sets this book apart, in addition to its brutal honesty, is its unique perspective: that of a child drawn into a macho world of fear and violence, money and power. Before Albert was a teen, he had become the principal confidant of his father, who was a soldier and then a made man with the Gambinos, picking up payoffs, familiar with wise guys and guns; Albert' s involvement was such that only a few years later he practiced, with his dad, at what angle he would shoot Roy when and if Roy needed to fake his own death. There' s the familiar other side of Mob life here, too, the wide circle of eccentric acquaintances and the robust celebrations centered around a nuclear family in which mom and kids (other than Albert) floated unaware of the crimes of father and son; but what eats through this book like acid is the horror, mixed with undying love and loyalty, that Albert feels as over the years he learns just what his father did for money a horror that as an adult would send the author into a mental hospital but which he has now assimilated sufficiently to write this painful, intense, unforgettable memoir. (Aug. 20) Forecast: With the success of HBO' s The Sopranos, which will begin airing again September 15, plus the recent death of Gambino head John Gotti, expect much interest in, and many sales for, this electrifying title. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

VOYA - Cynthia Faughnan

Albert DeMeo grew up in New York in the 1970s, the only son of Roy DeMeo of the Gambino crime family. In this memoir, Albert portrays his father's love for his family and his own growing understanding of his father's business. By age six, Albert learns to shoot a gun. At twelve, he carries one to school in case he or his younger sister is threatened by his father's enemies. He finds that his father runs a successful stolen car operation and helps collect payments from his father's sex shops and pornography outlets. Slowly, he discovers that his father also carries out hits for the mob. Seventeen when his father is murdered, Albert becomes responsible for shielding his family from knowledge about his father's profession. He is determined not to continue his involvement in the Mafia, but changing his life is not easy. As a young adult he attempts suicide, ends up in a mental hospital, and begins to recover. Most of this book takes place during Albert's childhood and adolescence, doing a good job of showing what it was like to grow up in a Mafia family. Because of some graphic scenes, it is not easy nor is it a lighthearted rendition of life within a crime family as portrayed in Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman (Hyperion, 2002/VOYA Februray 2003). Mature readers and fans of The Sopranos will find Albert's story and the comparison to their own lives intriguing. Photos. VOYA Codes: 3Q 2P S A/YA (Readable without serious defects; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2002, Broadway Books, 275p,

Library Journal

This is DeMeo's answer to Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci's Murder Machine: A True Story of Murder, Madness, and the Mafia, published in 1992. Their subject was mobster Roy DeMeo, Albert DeMeo's father. Albert states that Murder Machine contains several untruths. For the Sins of My Father portrays Roy as the man Albert knew, a caring father and devoted family man who happened to be a member of the Mafia. Albert's story is told from the viewpoint of a loving son so caught up in the Mafia lifestyle that he is taught how to fire a gun at age six and in the eighth grade begins making cash collections for his father's loan shark business. On Albert's 17th birthday, Roy's body was found in a car trunk, and Albert began a slow downward spiral into his own private hell. Several years passed before he was finally diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder and got the help he needed. A well-written, engaging story of Mafia life told from a different perspective; recommended for public libraries, especially those that carry the Mustain and Capeci book. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/01.] Sarah Jent, Univ. of Louisville Lib. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews