It is difficult to get a precise view into the workings of La Cosa Nostra, but some books give readers a better idea. "Gangland" is one of those books. Told from the perspective of the agents who brought down John Gotti, the book is a real page-turner.

The begining of the book starts out slowly as the various members of the investigation team are being introduced. But once the surveillance activities begin, the book is tough to put down. Most people know the story, but the details provided add to the excitement. The rise of Gotti in the Gambino family is documented as it evolves. Gotti took the bold action of killing the Boss of Bosses to gain his Godfather status. Organized Crime expands under Gotti, making it a more desirable target for law enforcement. As the investigation unfolds parallel to Gotti's rise, Howard Blum tells the story with the mastery of a novelist. I loved the way he dropped hints about William Peist without directly suggesting him to be the mole. Most readers know Sammy "the Bull" Gravano turns "rat", but not even Gravano's book "Underboss" can give the story from this perspective.

Some readers will dislike the book as it omits certain elements. Little background is written about the men of the Gambino family being investigated. Almost no family history is documented either. There is a bounty of other books with this information. This book is a well plotted book of the fall of John Gotti.

Good Book

The book called, Gangland: How The FBI Broke The Mob by Howard Blum was a good book to read. I pick this book for the interest in the mob and how it works. The book is a big book and it holds a lot of details. Gangland is about the Gotti Family and the boss John Gotti. In the beginning of this book it really explains the FBI agents life and it also talks about how they were on to the mob. Howard Blum talks about what the mob is and what there about. Gangland tells you how they busted the mob one by one and who turned on his own boss to get them busted. If you really like mob stories and want to learn what happened to this family of gangster's, then read this book.

This book has everything in it about the most colorful character the mob has had since Al Capone (which wasn't necessarily a good thing). It is a very detailed account of not just Gotti's world but the world of the FBI who was trying to bring him down, from dealing with lawyers, to wiretaps in homes, to wiretapping cars on the street, to dealing with members of the mob themselves (as when the FBI heard a hit order was put out on a couple agents, how SAIC Mowe went to Gotti's front door to confront him personally), etc. If there is a drawback to this book, it is that some of the FBI details were a little long winded, and at some points seemed to slow the book down. But better to err on the side of details than to leave a reader asking questions, which there weren't that many after reading this book. On a sidebar note, it gives the reader an idea of how the cards are usually stacked against the good guys and the obstacles that they have to overcome to get the bad guys.

Gangland is the most thorough and professional telling of the fall of John Gotti. I was already familiar with the characters from other books, primarily "Boss of Bosses," so I was very pleased to wrap up the story as told by this highly skilled author and journalist.

The biggest difference between this and other mafia books is that almost all other books are written as first person accounts by the participants (i.e. FBI agents, mobsters, etc.). As an unbiased observer, Blum can tell the entire story in all of its fascinating detail - from FBI squad rooms to the inner circle of Gotti's most private mob retreats. This professional detachment does not in any way hamper the personal details of the story. Blum can still make you feel like an insider. Probably the best example of this is when he recounts Gotti and Sammy "the Bull" Gravano's murder of Gambino crime family boss Paul Castellano. When you read the story again later in the book - as part of Gravano's confession - it brings chills down your back yet again. You can sense the excitement of the government agents and prosecutors who are hearing the story for the first time. It is a true pinnacle in American organized crime history.

Gangland is a required companion to other fine mafia books like "Donnie Brasco," "Boss of Bosses," and to a lesser extent "Underboss." The only thing to remember is that its journalistic approach is markedly different from the "I was there" approach of other books. Just stick with it as everything unravels perfectly in the end.

I have always been a fan of true crime books dealing with the American mafia so I could be a bit biased in this review. I really enjoyed this book. It is a very interesting view of what took place with John Gotti. It had a lot of detail about how the FBI worked with other law enforcement organizations, and the techniques they used to gather the evidence that turned John Gotti into a ward of the state. This book moves fast and never gets bogged down in legalese. Another positive with the book is the author is a reporter and not a FBI official, therefore the writing is better. It is an interesting study of an important event in the American Mafia