Customer Reviews

Blood and Honor: Inside the Scarfo Mob, the Mafia's Most Violent Family

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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This is the book which got me started reading mob books. If ever there was a book written from the street level perspective of organized crime this is it. Caramandi and Anastasia have it down, scam to scam, hustle to hustle, score to score that a mobster makes just to stay afloat when he's starting out. Then as the Crow starts to move up in the criminal ladder he launches into long stories about mafia politics and the power struggles and the jealousy and the double cross that was his every day life for 10 years.. It's absolutely fascinating stuff. It's worth every penny one pays for it. I've read it four times.

George Anastasia got it right -- exactly right. Told from the point of view of a Mafiosi, Nicholas "Crow" Caramandi, a small time con man who rose through the ranks to become a "made guy," this book is right on target.

I was a newspaper reporter for a New Jersey paper during the late 1980s and was assigned to cover some of the big organized crime trials in Philadelphia that are mentioned prominently in Anastasia's book. After reading his book, I don't think there's a better reporter in this country than Anastasia.

Caramandi, the small time hood who gets his badge under Scarfo, is never a sympathetic character, but you can understand his motivations. Caramandi was doing fine as long as he kept within his abilities. He was a thief and a con man who lived by his wits. He only cheated others who had larceny in their hearts. However Caramandi was elevated in the Nicodemo Scarfo organization and he no longer had to be a con man, now he had the threat of violence of the mob behind him. And that led to his demise.

Nicodemo Scarfo, the crime boss of Philadelphia from the time of his predecessor's murder to his own arrest and incarceration, a period of about seven years, was the most violent mob boss of the modern age. Nearly two dozen murders have been attributed to Scarfo.

George Anastasia weaves a spell-binding tale. All the more spellbinding because every word of it is true. This book is a "must" read for anyone who wants to understand organized crime in America.

"Blood and Honor" is a well-researched account of the Philadelphia/Atlantic City Mafia family headed by Nicky Scarfo. The primary source of the author's information is Nick Caramandi who turned to the witness protection program once he became one of the many people on Nicky Scarfo's hit list. Caramandi is a low-life crook and murderer who claims of duping and robbing only the greedy, not the innocent. However, it is evident that anyone from whom he could make a dollar was fair game. For example, the young pharmacist he scammed didn't know that Caramdi was connected and eventually committed suicide once he knew he was in over his head. Nicky Scarfo was the volatile and paranoid Family boss who killed his most loyal people one-by-one at the slightest bit of perceived threat. The story of this family and Caramdi's account of the events are interesting and gripping at times. This Mafia Family could be described as backstabbing, violent, disorganized, and greedy, but not the "most violent". Anyone interested in the most violent family of organized crime, should read the "Murder Machine" which describes in great detail the brutal murders committed by Roy Demeo's gang - a faction of the Gambino crime family. Finally, there are so many names mentioned in "Blood and Honor" that the who-and-what of the story is sometimes hard to follow. Had the author not included a special section for the names of the people involved, the story would've been even harder to follow.

All in all, "Blood and Honor" is an interesting book for those interested in factual accounts of Organized Crime.

i was born in south philly and played baseball with most of these men this is the most chilling,mafia true story,i have ever read.

From the title, and all of the enthusiastic reviews on this book I really went out of my way to find it (not an easy task). I spent $55.00 on a used first edition hardcover. Well, you could probably guess I thought this was going to be one of the great mob books--it's not. Maybe it's because I like them real violent and this one focused more on the scams and backstabbing and not enough on the "most violent family" part. Also, there wasn't enough on Nicky Scarfo himself. Don't get me wrong, it's still a very interesting read because it tells us about a crime family from Philly rather than the abundant books on the New York families.

This book is nearly impossible to put down. Excellent story telling by ex- mobster, Nicky the crow Caramandi. This book gets deep into the daily routines of a mobster. Best book I've ever read.

I was surfing the net and decided to see if the BEST non-fiction book I read was listed, and it was. It was chilling to hear a person talk about murder, intimidation, corruption, etc., in such a matter-of-fact tone. The book really showed how the ways of the old mafia of operating in the shadows, with little violence, were replaced with methods which are leading (have lead0 to the final demise of this organization. The resulting random street violence is tied to this to some extent, since there is no overpowering controlling influence over this particular aspect of American society. What I found the most startling was that if Nicky Scarfo did not sanction the hit on Nick Caramandi, he might still be free and running his organization. Caramandi was going to take the fall and due the time, which was probably somewhere from three to five years. Under Angelo Bruno, according to the book, Caramandi's family would have been cared for, if took the weight and did the time. But, under Scarfo the rules were different. If you get caught, you must die, because you MIGHT talk. I don't have these people look over the shoulder all day and night. It must be a relief to some of them when they are finally apprehended. The points/thoughts I have expressed George Anastasia hits you head on with in this fine literary piece. It is a must read if you are a fan of the "Goodfellas" genre.

Talk about disfunctional!!!! This book starts fast and doesn't slow up at all. Nicky Scarfo gives a new meaning to the expression " abuse of power". There isn't a lick of honor anywhere in this family. The breakdown of the Bruno killing, Phil Testa's send off, and the treachery used to get Salvie Testa showed that there is no such thing as a "family". I've read over 42 books on the mob. The only one that comes close is "Murder Machine". Constant plotting and backstabbing brought this family down and I'll be shocked if it bounces back. Nicky Crow did what he had to do.

The image of Angelo Bruno shot dead in a car is etched in my mind because I saw newspaper pictures of his corpse when I was about 10, living in the suburbs of what seemed like a very scary city at the time. And then there's Bruce Springsteen's 1982 song "Atlantic City" ("well they blew up the Chicken Man in Philly last night... and they blew up his house, too"). For some reason, having these memories gave me a weird nostalgic feeling reading this book 20 years after the events. Anastasia is a great writer. His style is straightforward, and he lets his main source, Nick Caramandi, tell the story in his own words. Do we believe everything Caramandi says? No, but he's a great storyteller, a somewhat redeeming quality for a hardened criminal and murderer. Anastasia tempers his source's stories with the truth, as best as he can determine it with solid reporting. If for no other reason, read this book for the character names: Tony Bananas, Chicken Man, Frankie Flowers. One of the reasons America is fascinated with the Mob, and wrongly harbors a secret admiration for it, is because of nicknames like these. I confess to the fascination.

An all-time great work of storytelling and journalism. "Blood and Honor" follows the career of Nicky Scarfo from his rise in the Atlantic City of the 1970s to his life sentence in the '80s. Anastasia clearly has good sources in high and low places. As a writer, he produces a fast flow. The real-life characters (especially Bruno and Scarfo) are drawn fully -- or at least well as you can do with homocidal psychopaths), without cliches or hyperbole.