Book Review: The Deadly Don

Anthony DeStefano, The Deadly Don: Vito Genovese, Mafia Boss. New York: Kensington Books, 2021.  ISBN: 9780806540931.

 

Genre: true crime

Subgenre: history, biography

Format: e-book galley

Source: NetGalley

 

This is a biography of mobster Vito Genovese, namesake of one of the New York City Cosa Nostra families active to this day. DeStefano takes us from Genovese's early rise as an enforcer to becoming the boss of the family. Along the way we see much of early to mid 20th century history of the Cosa Nostra in New York City. 

The book features an introduction, 26 chapters, an epilogue, notes, and a bibliography. You can see from the notes and bibliography that is a very well researched book. The author writes a bit on his research process: 

"As I have done with my other Mafia books, the approach for the Deadly Don was to immerse myself into the life of Genovese. This required a great deal of paper chasing through court files, both federal and state" (17). 

Early on, and then later in his epilogue and acknowledgements he writes more about sources and the research process he did. As a librarian, on a side note, I found reading about the research process interesting. 

The author states that the book is significant because there was no real substantial biography of Genovese: 

"While other mob bosses have been the subjects of recent biographical treatments, Genovese has not. The one exception is the 1959 book by the old Journal-American reporter Dom Frasca, who, along with his editor wrote King of Crime, a book long out of print and now going for close to $1,000 on the Internet" (14). 

Do note the Frasca book was written before Genovese's eventual heroin trafficking conviction. 

 

Genovese lived in interesting times, and he certainly shaped much of those times in his life of crime. He certainly was very shrewd and good judge of where the winds turned so he could take advantage. For example, when he self-exiled to Italy in the 1930s, he was able to stay on friendly terms with Mussolini, despite the dictator's massive and aggressive campaign against the Mafia. Once Genovese saw the Allies would succeed, he swiftly switched sides to Allied forces as an interpreter. All the while he ran a very lucrative black market operation. 

While the story and history are interesting, the narrative is not. The text is just slow, and this book often reads like a pretty dry college textbook. As much as I like the subject, the book is a slow read that drags at times. 

A strength of the book is in the research. The author often discusses and even compares sources to establish facts or reach conclusions. He engages with the sources, at times affirming or debunking common lore of the mob. This is a good reason to read the book. 

Overall I liked it, but I honestly wish the narrative was better, a bit more engaging. Still, it is well researched, and readers who enjoy this genre will want to read it. At this point, this is a good current resource on the life and times of Vito Genovese. Public libraries that collect true crime and Mafia books should add this one too. 

3 out of 5 stars. 

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