Carmine the Snake: Carmine Persico and His Murderous Mafia Family

Carmine Persico is one of those rare gangsters that make it to his 80s. The life of a gangster usually results in an early grave or a life in prison. Persico currently resides in a rather cushy prison in North Carolina. I did like the description on the hit Persico and Crazy Joey Gallo along with two others engineered on on "The Mad Hatter", Albert Anastasia, "The Lord High Executioner." Persico and Gallo were the shooters as I've read in other books as well. I did find it hard to keep track of all of the various gangsters in the book several of which I had never heard of. The trial and conviction of Carmine Persico is covered very well in the book. Persico acted as his own lawyer and the judge did praise his misguided intelligence. It's too bad Carmine didn't apply himself in a lawful endeavor. Other Persico family members were involved in crime as well.This book is a worthy addition to anyone's crime library. I'm somewhat surprised it took this long for a book on this gangster to materialize.

This account of Carmine Persico's life of crime kept my interest throughout. He came across as human. I wish there had been more about his day to day life, relationships with family and such. But people are dead or not talking. For all that, it wasn't just a list of facts strung together. The book is interesting.Persico is smart, but doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes. He's in jail, his fourth decade there. His kids, nephews, brothers--everyone behind bars. For years and years. I wonder if he ever asked himself if life in organized crime was worth the results.

Good book adding details not found elsewhere. At first read like any other old Mafia book, but found its legs and drew me in as a reader. Overall one of the better Mafia books published

Some rough spots in the editing. Otherwise quite readable.

One of the best mob books ever. Writing style and research make this book both informative and entertaining. It was nice to read a mob book about a person not frequently discussed

lots of great inside info about the Colombo Family and Carmine's rise to become Boss. nothing shocking in terms of new info, but still some great bits that I had not heard before.

Anastasia was a friend of costello. It was Genovese who put the hit on costello with chin gigante as actual shooter. Gigante was arrested for the shooting. Costello kept oath of omerta and did not identify chin while on the stand. Chin walked and Genovese took over costello rackets but allowed him to live. Good book .

Good book

Good book. Keeps you intrigued

Great

Great book.

Another fine book on the mob

Very informative and an engaging read.