Born to the Mob: The True-Life Story of the Only Man to Work for All Five of New York's Mafia Families [Paperback]

Frankie Saggio (Author), Fred Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2004

Frankie Saggio reminisces about the era of true wise guys like his Uncle Philly —a contemporary of Al Capone. After all, it was Frankie's uncle who "taught him the value of a dollar and how to steal it from someone else." Uncle Philly was from a day when being in a mafia family meant being bound by blood and honor, not like modern day families whose only concern is money. For Frankie, the only way to avoid the modern mob treachery is to avoid getting involved with any single mob family, working "freelance" for all five. Frankie can do this because he is one of the biggest earners in the business, pulling down millions and kicking a share upstairs to the bosses. Though he fights the decision, Frankie is tied by blood to the Bonanno family, Uncle Philly's family, and current home to Philly's murderer. Soon after joining the Bonannos, Frankie narrowly escapes an assassination attempt and is busted for a major scam. With little choice, and even less loyalty to the Bonannos, Frankie turns himself over to the Feds on the one condition that he will tell the feds everything, but will not squeal on his own relatives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The apparently insatiable public appetite for insider stories from the world of organized crime gives Saggio's dramatized third-person narrative, co-written with true-crime veteran Rosen (Lobster Boy), a built-in audience, but don't expect another Wiseguy or Donnie Brasco. Saggio, a federally protected witness following his cooperation against his former partners in crime, relates a familiar, clichéd tale without offering much new. While his schemes involved mail fraud scams and stock manipulation rather than violence, more detailed and better-written accounts of mob infiltration of Wall Street have appeared recently (e.g., Gary Weiss's Born to Steal and Salvatore Lauria's The Scorpion and the Frog). Purple prose ("With a crackle of gears, the bus descended to hell") mingled with blatant errors (the underboss, not the capo, is "one rung below boss"; Rudy Giuliani never prosecuted John Gotti) and "revelations" that are not news (Carmine Galante's assassins have been publicly named before) add up to a disappointing by-the-numbers story. The few touches of humorâ€"Saggio refers to the mob's ruling body, the Commission, as the "Justice League" and compares his life to that of Harry Potterâ€"don't make Saggio, who comes off here as greedy and conscienceless, any more endearing. Readers with a background in law enforcement will dispute Saggio's accusation that FBI undercover agent Joe Pistone was complicit in three murders and that the FBI let those hits go forward.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (May 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560255595
• ISBN-13: 978-1560255598
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,013,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than the sopranos, June 11, 2004

By 

"bigpoppap" (Cherry Hill, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Born to the Mob: The True-Life Story of the Only Man to Work for All Five of New York's Mafia Families (Paperback)

This was one of the best mob books I have ever read. I found the book to be factual and entertaining. I study the mafia as a hobby and Mr. Saggio's life provided suspense and eye opening facts. A must read.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the real story, June 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Born to the Mob: The True-Life Story of the Only Man to Work for All Five of New York's Mafia Families (Paperback)

I read this in two days; it was that good and easy to read. "Born to the Mob" is a real-life Sopranos, much more realistic though. You can hear the wise guy's voice - he obviously can't resist bragging about the scams that have succeeded. What I'm interested in now is what happens next - the ending sort of implies that he's going straight, which seems a stretch given his past. If he DOES go straight, that would be an even better story.
I stumbled onto the book because Saggio's cowriter is a true crime author who wrote the cult class "Lobster Boy," a must-read if you're into crime, or the bizarre (or both).

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Page Turner!, May 21, 2004

By 

DebbieT. (WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Born to the Mob: The True-Life Story of the Only Man to Work for All Five of New York's Mafia Families (Paperback)

This book was Astutely researched and engagingly written. I disagree with the gentleman from Kentucky's review I do not think he read the book at all or has read many books, there were some typos some information could possibly get mixed up with information being translated from one author to another especially while the guy is in W.P. and a publisher then re typing the info you have to allow for minor error give us a break KY. I am a criminal justice educator and have studied,read & have seen documentaries on many true crime stories obviously this book was well researched, and as far as Frank Saggio being who he says he is there are public record docs and family members verifying that information to be true in the book. Fred Rosen is an astounding veteran author in True Crime he is new to writing organized crime my applaud to him in writing a well written thouroughly researched book.
If you are interested in true crime and family this book had me in suspense, how much more can go wrong to this family right to the very end of the book. Two Thumbs up!