Customer Reviews

The Way of the Wiseguy: True Stories from the FBI's Most Famous Undercover Agent

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

There's really nothing to the book at all (I read it in two hours). Poor english, repetition of the same story multiple times, and no real flow to it at all.

However, if you're curious about mafia life, this is the book to let you know what is, and what isn't real. Pistone dispels several myths and ads a reasonable amount of relatively unknown info as well. Subject matter is fascinating, but he could have used a co author.

A quick look at this book and you can already tell what it is: another cash-in.

This is a slim 224 pages, with a lot of 'chapters' that consist of a single page, for instance. The book is a quick overview on, yes, the 'way of the wiseguy', a kind of 'guide' to wiseguys from the guy who was 'Donnie Brasco' to the mob. So we get bits about how wiseguys dress, what they do on an average day, whacking people out, eating out, scamming, scheming, etc, etc. The problem is that much of it is familiar. Matter of fact, anyone who's read a few books about the mob, watched your Godfathers and Goodfellas and Casinos and Sopranos, or grew up in New York, will already know most of the material in this book.

It's shameless, really. Okay, we had the book and film Donnie Brasco, both of which were fascinating. Next, the Brasco name was used to sell fictional mob stories. And now this. It's a funny thing, but while some mobsters become turncoats and sing songs for book deals, law enforcement officials are often more shameless as they roll out yet another Mafia book to a Sopranos-indoctrinated public.

I'm reminded of another Mob figure named Henry Hill, who is now a regular feature at your local bookstore as well. Aside from Wiseguy (and the excellent film Goodfellas) we have the Henry Hill cookbook, and Henry's own guide to 'the Mob's New York'. And, of course, in June 2004 Mr. Hill is coming out with another book, this one detailing his years on the run, in and out of Witness Protection.

Yes, the Mafia has provided us with yet another cottage publishing industry, and yes, there is an appetite out there for true crime. But this is definitely not one of the better offerings on the subject.

And ask yourself why it's appearing now, almost 25 years after Mr. Pistone's assignment with LCN ended. Yeah, I smell a dollar, too.

I am quite interested in the world of organized crime (we must all have a bizare interest...) and found this book both informative and fun. I am not sure how up-to-date this information may be, so I wouldn't recommend taking it as a bible if you mean to join the Mafia, but it is fun as a reference book. Since the work is broken up into short, nonconsecutive chapters, it is little like Pistone's first novel, "Donnie Brasco" of which I am a fan. For a worth while and blunt- and I mean BLUNT (there is a great deal of swearing and coarse language)- account of wiseguy life, this is the best book I have found.

This book is a concise and easy read that pulls you in with its brutally honest look at this fascinating sect of society. The audio CD, which contains a real FBI surveillance tape of Lefty Rugerro discussing murder and other business, is fascinating and chilling. I'd say that alone is worth the purchase.

If you read Donnie Brasco - or know even a little bit about the prototypical wiseguy - you do not need to read this book. It essentially details the way mobsters live their daily lives, what's important to them (money), why they kill people (also money), etc. If you have a brain in your skull you could have gleaned that from Pistone's first book, or the film Donnie Brasco, or any of the Godfather movies. What's worse, the book is littered with profanity, something that was missing (or at least not gratuitous) from the Donnie Brasco book. And it also surprised me because when you see Pistone interviewed, he seems like a class act. The profanity seems highly contrived as to make you think Pistone has more credibility if he talks like a scumbag.

Despite being a novelty book that can be read in its entirety on a lazy Sunday afternoon, Joe Pistone's "The Way of the Wiseguy" is as entertaining as it is insightful in allowing us to take a glimpse into the twisted world of the mafia. Expect no deep thoughts here though, just a series of anecdotes illustrating the basics of mob life (i.e. how to set up a racket, how hits are carried out, the mob hierarchy, etc). Some stories are hilarious, others are depressing, and some are just plain sick. Either way, anyone with the slightest interest in organized crime will surely not be able to resist at least browsing through, seeing how the story of Pistone's infiltration of the mob is legendary.

This book was an excellent read. Told in Joe Pistone?s authentic voice, it provides an alternative viewpoint to Hollywood?s glamorized version of the mafia?a viewpoint that we don?t see often enough.

I particularly enjoyed the format. The book is interspersed with some shorter chapters and some longer ones, each consisting of anecdotes that teach lessons about the wiseguy?s lifestyle. So whether you?ve got an hour to sit down and read it, or whether you?ve only got 10 minutes here and there, you can pick up The Way of the Wiseguy at any point and be entertained and enlightened.

Informative, funny, and poignant all at once, Pistone brought me closer to being inside the mafia than I'll ever be. And convinced me that I don't ever want to get any closer.

Forget The Sopranos. Ignore Scorcese. Chuck your copy of The Godfather DVDs into the Hudson and let it sleep with the fishes.

This is the real deal from a guy who was in tight -- close enough to smell what filthy rats mafia guys really are. It's about time somebody cut through all the Goodfellas/Code of Honor nonsense and showed these not-so-wiseguys for what they really are: ignorant brutes who'd put one in the back of their best friend's head for no reason at all. Thanks, Joe. You did a great service to society by putting dozens of these scumbags away. Now, you've set the record straight about what they're really all about in "The Way of the Wiseguy."

This is the first Donnie Brasco book I have read so I can't complain about it being repetitive. Although the book didn't have me on the edge of my seat (those I give 5 stars) I felt it was a good, quick read.

Unlike most books today which have a story that could be told in twenty pages, but which are filled with 200 pages of boring ramblings just to make it a book, this book is made up of short chapters of different topics.

Some chapters are a page long which I liked because they were quick and to the point. This also allows you to pick it up and read for only a few minutes at a time without having to remember where you were in the story when you last stopped reading.

I almost didn't get this book based on some of the negative reviews here. To play it safe, I got it from the library so didn't have to worry if the short length made it a good value. In the end I was glad I picked it up.

If you are looking for a long book that is going to take two weeks to read, this is not the one. I finished it in one day. However if you want some quick light reading to last a few hours, this is a good book.

The book has like 30 chapters whcih might make you think there is a lot of material. Not so. Many "Chapters" are 1 or less pages long. The whole book is basically anecdotal tales of Pistone's time in the Mafia. While it may be correct, it's very superficial. One or two stories per topic.

The last reveiwer was right. Lot's of profanity. It's almost as if he's trying to talk to people who are thinking of joining the Mafia just to let them know how it is. Not a lot of big words if you get my idea.

Also, for a < 200 page book, there is a lot of repetition. Each chapter could exist on it's own, so you end up reading about Joe/Donnie's sit-down more than once.

If you have seen any mob movies and the Sopranos, you know everything this books tells you. Even worse, is that he mentions Godfather and Goodfellows several times and mentions the Sopranos only once. Not that I really care, just that it's current and obvious that he is just cashing in on Soprano's current popularity.