Mafia Summit, Gil Reavill
Mafia Summit, Gil Reavill
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Mafia Summit
J. Edgar Hoover, the Kennedy Brothers, and the Meeting That Unmasked the Mob

Author: Gil Reavill

Narrator: Keith Szarabajka

Unabridged: 8 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/22/2013

Synopsis

Here is the true story of how a small-town lawman in upstate New York busted a Cosa Nostra conference in 1957, exposing the Mafia to America.In a small village in upstate New York, mob bosses from all over the country—including Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Joe Bonanno, Joe Profaci, Cuba boss Santo Trafficante, Jr., and future Gambino boss Paul Castellano—were nabbed by Sergeant Edgar D. Croswell as they gathered to sort out a bloody war of succession.For years FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had adamantly denied the existence of the Mafia, but young Robert Kennedy immediately recognized the shattering importance of the Apalachin summit. Appointed attorney general after his brother John became president, Bobby embarked on a campaign to break the spine of the mob, engaging in a furious turf battle with the powerful Hoover.Detailing mob killings, the early days of the heroin trade, and the crusade to loosen the hold of organized crime, this momentous story will caputre fans of Gus Russo and Luc Sante. Reavill scintillatingly recounts the beginning of the end for the Mafia in America and how it all began with a good man in the right place at the right time.

About Gil Reavill

Gil Reavill is an author, screenwriter, and playwright whose work has been widely featured in magazines. He is the author of Aftermath, Inc. and coauthor of Beyond All Reason and the screenplay that became the 2006 film Dirty, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. He lives in Westchester County, New York, with his wife, Jean Zimmerman, and their daughter.

About Keith Szarabajka

Keith Szarabajka has appeared in many films, including The Dark Knight, Missing, and A Perfect World, and on such television shows as The Equalizer, Angel, Cold Case, Golden Years, and Profit. Szarabajka has also appeared in several episodes of Selected Shorts for National Public Radio. He won the 2001 Audie Award for Unabridged Fiction for his reading of Tom Robbins’s Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates and has won several Earphones Awards.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Scott

November 14, 1957 was an extremely important day in American history. It was the day that the Mafia in the U.S. began its steady decline and fall, and it started with an observant police sergeant running the license plate of a Chrysler Crown Imperial limousine, a car that seemed out of place for the......more

Quotes

“A close investigation into the crime bosses’ upstate New York summit and its grisly aftermath, Reavill’s book accurately recreates one of the golden eras of American organized crime.” Publishers Weekly

“In November 1957, a rogues’ gallery of organized-crime figures convened in the small village of Apalachin, in upstate New York…Reavill details the events leading to the meeting, and the aftermath, including the direct involvement of the federal government in fighting the Cosa Nostra. A well-done investigation.” Booklist

“Screenwriter and playwright Reavill vividly recreates that miasmic era of ignorance and innocence with all the blunt-end aplomb befitting coldblooded killers and crooked lawmen…An exciting, comprehensive chronicle of one of the most pivotal events in mob history.” Kirkus Reviews

“Mafia Summit is the best, and best-written, true-crime story I’ve ever read. It’s as suspenseful, detailed, racy, and knowing as a novel by Hammett or Chandler. At its heart is a bona fide American hero, Sgt. Edgar Croswell. Sgt. Croswell’s tireless investigation of the mobster bosses who met at the tiny upstate New York hamlet of Apalachin provides a unique window into the ‘turning point in American law enforcement’s battle against organized crime.’ Mafia Summit is a terrific read about one very good policeman’s courageous fight to put many very bad criminals exactly where they needed to be—behind bars.” Howard Frank Mosher, award-winning author

“A dramatic investigation into one of the most notorious Mafia gatherings, shining a spotlight on the mob—with much fresh material.” Tim Newark, author of Boardwalk Gangster

“Here is gangland history that is compelling, thoughtful, and well-grounded in scrupulous research. With a lively cast of characters that includes ruthlessly ambitious bosses such as Vito Genovese and ambitiously ruthless politicians such as Bobby Kennedy, Mafia Summit is a set-the-story-straight page-turner.” Gus Russo, author of The Outfit and Supermob

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