Flipping Capo, Seamus McElearney
Flipping Capo, Seamus McElearney
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Flipping Capo
How the FBI Dismantled the Real Sopranos

Author: Seamus McElearney, Barbara Finkelstein

Narrator: Eric Smies

Unabridged: 11 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/28/2025


Synopsis

Séamus McElearney's early days on an FBI organized crime squad were full of grunt work.

For months he was mired in administrative tasks, including the transcription of secret recordings of the DeCavalcante and Bonanno crime families. Eighteen months later, McElearney assisted in his squad's arrest of thirty-nine Mafia suspects; he led the team arresting Anthony Capo, a DeCavalcante soldier linked to stock fraud and conspiracy to commit murder.

Barely a week after Capo's arrest, McElearney accomplished what no other law enforcement agent had ever done in the hundred years of the DeCavalcante crime family's existence: he flipped one of their made men.

What followed was a spiral effect of cooperation as McElearney and colleagues flipped three more DeCavalcante associates, one captain, and an acting boss. Flipping Capo resulted in the Bureau solving eleven murders, convicting seventy-one defendants, and dismantling the DeCavalcante crime family.

Thanks to the redemptive relationship he built with Capo, McElearney helped unmask a criminal network that led to the RICO convictions of the entire DeCavalcante hierarchy, just as the world was coming to know them as the "real Sopranos."

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nora Conley on October 28, 2025

So often, these true-life accounts of law enforcement efforts read dry. That's definitely not the case in this instance. There's a good mix of personal anecdotes from the FBI Agent's perspective and the details of the investigation, which give you real insight into the life and career of an FBI Agen......more

Goodreads review by Becky Christina on October 27, 2025

Genuinely interesting, but don’t expect to be too gripped; it’s not ‘The Sopranos’. Honestly? I don’t much care for ‘The Sopranos’ -it’s good, it’s just not for me- but I’m much more so drawn in by the “real-life” counterparts in book or documentary form. This book ticks that box, and if you’re worri......more

Goodreads review by Max on September 30, 2025

I was fortunate enough to receive an early pre-launch copy of this book and all I can say is that I was totally rapt from page 1 through the end. Such a fascinating story with all the juicy details a mafia/true crime buff could ask for. As a huge Sopranos fan as well, it felt like getting a behind t......more

Goodreads review by Fred Scully on February 05, 2026

This is absolutely not about the "real" life Sopranos. Wrong New York family connections throughout the story. It is however a fairly accurate account of what was left of the NJ (Mob North) after the Indictment of the 5 heads in NY. It is not a bad read from a historical perspective and it is always......more

Goodreads review by DarkTwistedReads on October 23, 2025

Thank you netgally for this ALC, all thoughts and opinions are my own. A book Seamus McElearney  and what it took for him and the FBI to take down the real sopranos.  This was great. Loved the narrator, thought he did a great job. The book was very informative, and at some points emotional. I cried a l......more