No Questions Asked: The Secret Life of Women In the Mob (Hardcover)

~ Claire Longrigg (Author) "I'm grateful to my father for making me a tough son of a bitch," says Lana Zancocchio..." (more)
Key Phrases: mob wives, mob wife, mob associates, New York, Las Vegas, Albert Tocco (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The legions of fans of the character of conflicted mob wife Carmela Soprano on the popular HBO series will eagerly devour British journalist Longrigg's second look at the role of women in traditional organized crime, after 1997's Mafia Women, which focused on the Mafia in Italy. Here the author moves beyond popular stereotypes to present a number of fascinating portraits drawn from America's experience of La Cosa Nostra. Some, like the Dapper Don's daughter, Victoria Gotti, are familiar figures, but some of the more obscure women prove even more interesting. Surprisingly, Longrigg has even managed to find a heroic character among the more typical victims of domestic violence and the pampered, superficial individuals who gladly indulged in an affluent lifestyle that their criminal relatives made possible. Betty Tocco, wife of a mob boss, bravely chose to cooperate with the FBI to protect her young son from his father's vicious way of life and became the first mob spouse to testify against her husband at trial. Despite the essential grimness of the world of the Mafia, Longrigg's ear for the humanity of those she describes and the rare moments of humor elevate this book beyond the usual self-serving mob tell-alls.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Longrigg deflates the popular image of the "mob moll" as a platinum-haired, bejeweled ditz with no idea how her husband makes his money. She interviewed daughters and wives of mobsters, and they reveal the complex, chancy reality of life among the wise guys. Stories like those of Brenda Coletti, an active participant in crime, and Virginia Hill, self-designated "best cocksucker in America" and possessor of "an independent power base within the Syndicate" belie the view that "women in the American Mafia . . . played no part in organized crime." So do those of Victoria Gotti, daughter of the Teflon Don; Camille Serpico, who married her mobster husband's killer; and recently deposed Cicero, Illinois, mayor Betty Loren-Maltese. Hill and Antoinette Giancana (author of Mafia Princess, 1984) may especially interest readers of Gus Russo's The Outfit (2002), in which the former's sometime paramour, Bugsy Siegel, and the latter's father, occasional James Ellroy supporting character Sam Giancana, figure prominently. An engrossing and fresh look at life in the criminal underworld. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Miramax (July 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401351859
• ISBN-13: 978-1401351854
• Product Dimensions: 14.3 x 9.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #939,011 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book sucked hard, June 16, 2006

By	Michael Tocco "M.A.T." (Chicago Heights) - See all my reviews

If you read this book -- you can thank the author for making you dumber.
If you spent money on this book -- you can thank the author for wasting your hard-earned cash.
If you enjoyed this book in any respect -- then you can thank the author for her talent in writing fiction.

Not only was this book chock full of crap, it didn't at all confer with the people involved to get the facts straight. This is all hearsay and press coverage that anyone could dig up googling the subject matter.
Now, if you believe what the press tells you -- then you're a real sucker.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars NO QUESTIONS ASKED OF ME, May 14, 2006

By	Dorothy Suffel - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The most accurate aspect of the book, insofar as it pertains to me, is the title, since Clare certainly did not ask any questions of me. From my perspective, it is little more than a smear-campaign and attempt to cash in on a popular topic.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY INTERESTING CLARE., January 7, 2006

By	Teresa Castronova (NEW YORK) - See all my reviews

THE BOOK WAS GENERALLY GOOD, HOWEVER SOME OF THE FACTS ARE OFF. sHE SHOULD HAVE INTERVIEWED THE WOMEN BEFORE WRITING ABOUT THEM.