The President Street Boys: Growing Up Mafia

Dimatteo’s writing will never be mistaken for Mario Puzo’s but life isn’t fiction either. Dimatteo tells it like it was: a dark and self-indulgent life where only a few got rich at the expense of others as well as their own souls and the unsettling knowledge that any day could be their last.I can’t review this book objectively because I know this neighborhood, both now and then, as well as a few of the characters that Dimatteo wrote about. I believe I even met Dimatteo at a waterfront district bar. I was a regular at Steve G’s bar on Hicks Street in the 90s too and this book pretty much confirmed my observations about The Life — that it was an extended family of guys who lived and died based on the Score, which was rarely as glamorous or as profitable as the Lufthansa heist in the 60s but were mostly chump change schemes to carry one over to the next opportunity. In this respect they were like feral animals in the big city looking for tonight’s meal with no guarantee that they would find the next one before the consequences of the feral life found them first. This book is an honest telling of what I believed I knew.Dimatteo wrote about how some cops were schoolyard bullies but I’ve long thought that they were both cut from the same cloth: predator vs. predator, although I have a lot more respect for those who at least did it “honestly” and not cowering behind a badge of authority, or the power of wealth, politics and respectability either for that matter.If nothing else this is a good “stay in school, apply yourself and keep your nose clean” read.

The book written pretty well. He covers in detail different members of the mob. He names the people he was associated with and having read other books on the different people he mentioned I can honestly believe the stories within the book. If that is the case why did I only give the book three stars? It is very simple. I did not care for the use of cuss words. It was not just here and there but constant throughout the book. He could have easily emphasized a sentence by using other words instead of using cuss words. I can not recommend this book to a young reader because of this. The book would have been just as good by the selection of different words. I will, however, try to find his other book he mentioned. I hope he will clean up the language in his future books.

Not a bad book but not much to say, author has the distinction of being at a place in time that was truly unique with the Gallo Brothers. A lotta cowboy gun stories which I find strange since what I know of wiseguys I thought they had guns close but only carried if they had a plan to use them but what do I really know? After the Goallos it kind of turns into a drunk a rogue. I am happy to report that he was a survivor in the fringes of crazy Crapo and he lives free to tell a story most guys from his knock around life are dead, or in prison for life.

AMAZING book! I love the way author writes and explains everything in detail. You end up "lost" in the book where you feel like you're only footsteps away from some the scenes he describes. Very entertaining and informing about not only organized crime, but New York City's history from a real estate perspective (For anyone reading this, I mention real estate because he discusses the demographical changes and the names of the boroughs and sections, restaurants etc. This isn't a business book on real estate.) Very good, as a fan of organized crime movies, books, etc.--definitely worth adding your personal collection.

My favourite author.read all of them. Frank how about constructing a list of mob rubouts from the 5 borroughs or from just brooklyn covering from say date when your dad was born until now, perhaps showing in columns name of deceased including nickname , date of hit .where it happened i.e street name, so we can google addresses etc. love to see how bad the frequency of killings were.also how about a book of crime photos from your area including mugshots. i google all mobsters in your books to get an idea of what they look like. dave from australia

Frank Dimatteo tells a great story about the Life he lived. Very entertaining, sometimes humorous, but deep down disturbing. A chance for readers like myself to see and experience the Life, but thankfully from a long distance away.

A Brutal World Laid BareThere are only two reasons why I’ve giving this book, recommended to me by a friend, 5 stars. One is, despite the author’s inability to write a paragraph without depending on the f-word, it’s a hard book to put down, like watching a train wreck or looking at a cobra.Frankie grew up in an area where almost everyone, men, wives, mothers, were involved with the Brooklyn mafia. He describes the people and their life of crime in detail, never glossing over it or romanticizing it in any way. He admits in a world where loyalty was seen as the highest virtue, that more often than not, it fell by the wayside to the gods of money and greed.The only admirable people in the book are his grandparents, who managed to stay straight in a crooked world and loved their grandson unreservedly, despite his wayward ways. I kept thinking as I read that their influence would surface, and the author would apologize for the unimaginable amount of misery and suffering his participation in organized crime caused, that he would say he was sorry for eroding the foundation of society instead of trying to build it up. When it became apparent that wasn’t going to happen, I began to wonder why he wrote the book in the first place. The answer lies in the last pages, where he makes a list of “rats” who had “flipped,” screaming at the reader, “I was loyal, but these jerks weren’t!”Despite all this, it is the author’s ruthless honesty that makes this book worthwhile, and the other reason I’m giving it five stars. He may or may not be sorry for anything he’s done, and that’s his business, not mine. But he never glamorizes the evil he witnesses, that and his breezy style of writing make this a good, if somewhat disturbing, read.

Great "Inside" look at the Gallo brothers and their "Crew" The author grew up with these people, and his father Ricky was very close to Larry Gallo. Don't expect a story of "Crazy Joe" this is more about the Gallo "Crew". If you are interested in the Mafia (like I am and especially The Gallo's) then this book is a must....great stories on some well known mobster's and some not so well known one's. I for one look forward to Frank's next book and the next stage of his amazing life.

Bought as a gift but recipient loved it.

Ok

a lot of promise but to me just doesn't deliver. The writer was there.... but his accounts differ considerably from other books of the same time and nature.

Good to while away two hours. And it confirms that criminals, and among them mafiosi, are vulgar, uncouth, macho, kitsch-loving uninteresting people.