Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book on the spur of the moment. It was in the sale and I thought, "What the heck, I've nothing else to read tonight!"

The author Albert DeMeo pulls no punches as he chronicles not only his father's life, the Mobster Roy DeMeo and his steady rise to power in the Mafia in New York but also his own involvement from the tender age of five in a world that was seductively charming as it was dangerous. "For the Sins of my Father" is a brutal, candid, violent, tender portrayal of a life in a huge glass bubble in which escape is not an option for anyone.

However Albert DeMeo is not an apologist for his father's actions, rather he pulls the reader in a world in which corruption is at the heart of everything. Just as you can't feel sorry Roy DeMeo for the choices he made in his life you also cannot feel anything for the Police, the FBI, the Government, the Court system because they were often as corrupt as the people they claimed they were trying to bring to justice.

Albert's father knew many people and many considered themselves law abiding whilst at the same time asking and getting favours from the Mafia Capo who was their "neighbour" and "friend".

In one chapter the young Albert helps his father's "crew" to work out how wipe clean some audio tapes that could send one of their members to jail; magnets the child tells them men can wipe clean magnetic tapes of all their contents. It is a corrupt police officer who puts a magnet next to the audio tapes so that they will be blank when they are played in court.

It is also to Mafia owned drinking dens that many court officials, police officers and other city officials attend to drink, buy drugs and enjoy the company of Prostitutes.

Roy DeMeo's murder in the early 1980s is a brutal wake up call for the teenage Albert and hounded by both the Mafia who want his silence and the FBI wanting him to turn State's evidence, Albert somehow manages to salvage his life out of the wreckage of violence his father has left behind.

This is not a fairy tale, there is certainly no happy ending but Albert DeMeo is living proof that you can walk a way from organised crime and go on to live a legitimate life, all it takes is a lot of courage, the memory of how your father, a man you loved beyond all words, died in a hail of bullets, murdered by the very people who were supposed to be his friends and associates.

This book is very different from the gratuitous Best Seller "The Murder Machine" which demonises Albert's father; this is a book that puts a life into perspective, warts and all. Violence, car crime, prostitution, gambling, protection rackets, corrupt officials, loan sharking, pornography are put on display and it is left up to the reader to judge where the line between right and wrong lies.

There is no moving away from the fact that Roy DeMeo was a murderer, a Mafia Capo and a man with a criminal mind, but the world he worked in was a world providing services and commodities that people wanted and even the law was not above the stench of death, and corruption.

Read this book with an open mind and remember a father's love can transcend even the most vile of crimes....

I read this book in one day-couldn't put it down! I grew up in Massapequa, NY and went to school with Al DeMeo. It blew me away to read what he was going through, while attending high school and acting like a "normal" kid. We all knew that his father was "in the mafia" but it was presumed that most weathly Italian men in this area also had links to the mob. While I was drawn to it for my hometown connections, my husband, who is not from LI, also could not put it down! I have recommended it to many family and friends. Excellent story about the home life of a member of the mafia and the repercussions it has on his family, the ones he tried so hard to protect.

I couldn't put this book down as I rooted for Al all the way through. However, I think this book will be much more appreciated if you read MURDER MACHINE first. Al DeMeo describes his childhood as the only son of a high ranking mobster, and the double life he led as a kid at school and a wiseguy in training. I admire him for surviving all he describes and becoming a man of whom his father surely would have been proud. I wish him every success and happiness.

Great Book! Keep's you reading until it's done. I had seen the review put out by "Concerned Citizen" and had to laugh. Does he think the writer of the "Murder Machine" had all the right answers to all that went on with Roy DeMeo? I guess no-one person has all the answers but I am open minded enough to hear all the perspectives. Albert had first hand knowledge of the events and was trying to write a human interest story and not a crime novel. Did Al get rich off the blood money? could have,but no amount of money will bring back a lost parent, fix a failed marriage or give back the years he has lost to depression. Read this book, it will give anyone more humility.

You've probably gotten a good grasp of the traditional Mafioso scene by now. Anyone who's seen the Godfather or watched an episode of The Sopranos must figure s/he has a good sense of what every mafia-related story is all about.
However, it would be wise to toss away those preconceptions of Italian-American novels when picking up Albert DeMeo's "For the Sins of My Father." This story does not spend hundreds of pages and hours of your time detailing a glamorous life in the mob gone wrong. Instead, the novel is an original, sad, and honest look at Albert's father, Roy, who was a member of the mob who was later killed by his fellow gangsters in 1982. What sets this book apart from traditional Italian Mafioso stories is the fact that it comes from the perspective of a mobster's son who, from a young age, is exposed to this lifestyle without ever truly discovering what it means for his father and the rest of the family until it is too late. By adding the element of a mobster's family, DeMeo gives readers a new way to read into the life of America's most recognizable, and most stereotypical, groups.
Throughout the novel, DeMeo reveals his courage and describes the heartache of being in a family with close ties to the mob, paying special attention to the psychological ramifications. DeMeo's struggles not only to live under his father's Mafioso umbrella but also to live through the pain of the memories after his father's murder make for an emotional, genuine inside look at the real effect the mob has on those families that are tied to it.
Never mind the glamour that the life of a gangster occasionally granted Albert's father, Roy. Never mind the power that Roy held in the form of being a "made man." For Albert, it would've been easy to trade all of that away to live a life without the fear of the mafia constantly in the rear-view mirror. For all of those in our society that glorify the mob, this book reveals the truth behind the decision to join organized crime and just how far reaching the consequences can be.

As a self admitted mafia aficionado I was very interested in this book from the son of one of the most notorious mob hitmen in history,especially since I had already read MURDER MACHINE and was well aware of roy demeo's reputation.Albert seems to be a relatively good guy who was born into something that would be very hard to handle if you were 30,much less a teenager.Good for him for making it,but being a mobster's son apparently carries a born hatred for the police trying to put away a murderer and reporters who write about the horrific things your father did.Yes the guy was his father but if Roy did half the things he was accused of,it seems an impossibility to humanize Roy DeMeo as Al tries to.Read Murder Machine as well to get the other side of Roy.Albert deserves compassion,his father doesn't.

I was about to read the Murder Machine by Gene Mustain when l came across this book in the library, it certainly challenged all l have read about Albert's father Roy Demeo. Essentially Albert tells all and speaks from his heart in this book.

He describes the effects of his father's criminal life on the family and the strain and tension it creates on the family fabric, especially on Albert who realizes from a young age that his father is a mafia stand over merchant and murderer. The contrast though is the presentation of the father as a man who loves his children and loves to spend time doing activities with them. However you get the impression that Roy was grooming Albert for the criminal life in spite of the dangers this would have on his son.

Albert is brutally honest about his father's criminal life and how it eventually destroys him and puts all his family, especially Albert under incredible strain as Roy realizes he is to be hit and cannot do a damn thing about it. When Roy kills an innocent young man just trying to earn a few bucks, through mistaken identity, you sense Roy's days are numbered. Somehow Albert comes through it all and takes the straight path to earning money, much like Al Capone's son Sonny. I will certainly read Murder Machine with a more critical eye than l would have before this book.

I've not read a book that absolutely kept me spellbound like this one did. What a life this author had to live. I'm sure everyone involved with Roy DeMeo has their own story. This just happens to be his son's. It is HIS story and I think readers have to accept that.

The Godfather, The Sopranos, Godfellas, all classic movies that basically display America's fascination with mob life. What do American's like more than mob stories? True stories! There is no better combination than a true story about mob life.
In Albert DeMeo's book, "For the Sins of My Father," he dives into his dark past of being the son of one of the Gambino families top killing machines, Roy DeMeo. From the days of carrying a gun as a young child to his teen years of running the family business and dealing with prostitutes, he faces everything that the mafia has to offer. Albert never gets to live the life of young boy , instead he spends countless hours covering for his father after he became a made man in the mob.
Although mobsters seem to live a glamorous life, Albert DeMeo describes his father's rise and fall in organized crime. Albert goes into great detail about his father's attempts to escape the law in other countries and how Roy DeMeo eventually dies by the gun.
Albert's life was deeply affected after his father's death, from the times when the FBI harass him to his own mental struggles. What is great about this mob tale is that Albert eventually ends up on top. Although he deals with tough times , he rebuilds a better life in which he is an accomplished author and on living a much healthier lifestyle. But I strongly suggest if you want a peak into the world of Al Capone, John Gotti, or Sammy the Bull read this page turning memoir of the lifestyles of the rich and the powerful.

I read this book at work during slow hours, and must admit it was more than I expected. This isn't your average mafia story, so for all of you mob fanatics out there...be prepared for something a little more sensitive and emotional than your time watching the Godfather and Goodfellas. This was an excellent read. It might not be written by a bestselling author, but it was written by a son that had to endure more than your average joe, or jane for that matter. I'll admit, I almost found myself tearing up, and that's not easy to admit. Just by this book, you won't regret it. Thanks to Albert DeMeo for sharing his memories and pain with us readers.