Mob Daughter

From Karen Gravano, a star of the hit VH1 reality show Mob Wives, comes a revealing memoir of a mafia childhood, where love and family come hand-in-hand with murder and betrayal. Karen Gravano is the daughter of Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, once one of the mafia's most feared hit men. With nineteen confessed murders, the former Gambino Crime Family underboss—and John Gotti's right-hand man—is the highest ranking gangster ever to turn State's evidence and testify against members of his high-profile crime family. But to Karen, Sammy Gravano was a sometimes elusive but always loving father figure. He was ever-present at the head of the dinner table. He made a living running a construction firm and several nightclubs. He stayed out late, and sometimes he didn't come home at all. He hosted "secret" meetings at their house, and had countless whispered conversations with "business associates." By the age of twelve, Karen knew he was a gangster. And as she grew up, while her peers worried about clothes and schoolwork, she was coming face-to-face with crime and murder. Gravano was nineteen years old when her father turned his back on the mob and cooperated with the Feds. The fabric of her family was ripped apart, and they were instantly rejected by the communities they grew up in. This is the story of a daughter's struggle to reconcile the image of her loving father with that of a murdering Mafioso, and how, in healing the rift between the two, she was able to forge a new life.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author of Missing Beauty comes a fascinating inside look at the mafia. Growing up among racketeers on the Lower East Side of New York City, Arlyne Brickman associated with mobsters. Drawn to the glamorous and flashy lifestyle, she was soon dating "wiseguys" and running errands for them; but after years as a mob girlfriend, Arlyne began to get in on the action herself—eventually becoming a police informant and major witness in the government's case against the Colombo crime family.

Vince Luca is just like any other high school guy. His best friend, Alex, is trying to score vicariously through him; his brother is a giant pain; and his father keeps bugging him to get motivated. There is just one thing that really sets him apart for other kids—his father happens to be the head of a powerful crime organization. Needless to say, while Vince''s family''s connections can be handy for certain things (like when teachers are afraid to give him a bad grade), they can put a serious crimp in his dating life. How is he supposed to explain to a girl what his father does for a living? But when Vince meets a girl who finally seems to be worth the trouble, her family turns out to be the biggest problem of all. Because her father is an FBI agent—the one who wants to put his father away for good.

The world called him a killer. She called him Dad . . . “A riveting look at life inside a Mafia family.” —George Anastasia, New York Times–bestselling author. “We were always worried. Always looking over our shoulders . . .” Linda Scarpa had the best toys, the nicest clothes, and a close-knit family. Yet classmates avoided her; boys wouldn’t date her. Eventually she learned why: they were afraid of her father. A made man in the Colombo crime family, Gregory Scarpa, Sr. was a stone-cold killer nicknamed the “Grim Reaper.” But to Linda, he was also a loving, devoted father who played video games with her for hours. In riveting detail, she reveals what it was like to grow up in the violent world of the mob and to come to grips with the truth about her father and the devastation he wrought. “An amazing story of jealously, duplicity, hatred and betrayal.” —Sal Polisi, author of The Sinatra Club “Touching, shocking, revealing—Linda Scarpa’s memoir is more than a mob book; it’s a family book.” —John Alite, subject of Gotti’s Rules “An edge-of-your-seat page turner—jaw-dropping, raw, and real.” —Andrea Giovino, author of Divorced from the Mob INCLUDES SIXTEEN PAGES OF DRAMATIC PHOTOS [color photo inserts for ebook editions]

Sandi Lansky Lombardo grew up the only daughter of mob boss Meyer Lansky. Raised in upper-class Jewish splendor, first at the Majestic Hotel and then at the Beresford, at finishing schools and fancy stables, Sandi was the wild child of the late 40's, the 50's, and the early 60's. She was the Paris Hilton of her day, partying till dawn at El Morocco and the Stork Club, dating the biggest celebrities of the era. Her life was not without heartbreak and tragedy, including the insanity of her mother, and the crippling handicap of her baby brother – not to mention his drug addiction. Sandi was privy to her father's secrets as well as his unexpected tenderness. She always stuck closely to the strict code of omerta. In Daughter of the King, Sandi teams up with Nick Pileggi (author of the seminal Wise Guy, perhaps the best-selling mob book ever) and multiple time New York Times Bestselling writer Bill Stadiem. Nick has made a career in books and films chronicling the mob, and Bill has emerged as a master of recreating the glamour and romance of the golden era of American culture with bestsellers like Mr. S and George Hamilton's Don't Mind if I Do.

The children of notorious Mafia wiseguy and informant Henry Hill-the real-life subject of Goodfellas-tell their own story of danger, hurt, and family in this extraordinary account of growing up with an out-of-control father in the federal witness protection program. Henry Hill's business partner, Jimmy Burke, has whacked every person who could possibly implicate him in the infamous Lufthansa robbery at JFK airport. On his way to prison, lifelong gangster Henry is given two options: sleep with the fishes, or enter the FBI's Witness Protection Program. Unfortunately for his children Gregg and Gina, they're dragged along for the ride. Like nomads, they're forced to wander from state to state, constantly inventing new names and finding new friends, only to abandon them at a moment's notice. They live under constant fear of being found and killed. But Henry, the rock Gregg and Gina so desperately need, is a heavy cocaine user and knows only the criminal life. He is soon up to his old tricks and consistently putting their identities in jeopardy. And so it continues until the kids, now almost grown, can no longer ignore that the Mob might be less of a threat to them than remaining under the roof of their increasingly unbalanced father.

What's in a name? Everything... if you have my name. At her exclusive Manhattan high school, half the guys lust after seventeen-year-old Gia. The other half are afraid to even walk near her. After all, everyone knows who she is. They know that her father doesn't have a boss. He is the boss—the capo di tutti, boss of all bosses. But they don't know the real Gia. She's dreaming of a different life—one where she can be more than her infamous name. And lately, she's thinking way too much about Michael, the green-eyed cop who's wrong for her for so many reasons. And yet being with him feels so right. Now the real Gia is keeping secrets of her own alongside her family's. And she's breaking all the rules to get what she wants.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I was nine years old when I began to suspect that my father was a gangster. We were driving around neighborhoods in Staten Island, and my father pointed out a house that looked like it belonged to a mob boss. #2 I was constantly being confronted with the possibility that my father was connected - a mobster - because he had a lot of friends who were bouncers. I didn’t know what a mobster was, but I knew they were cooler than the other dads. #3 I knew that my father was a gangster when I was 12 years old. I knew not to ask any questions. I thought it was weird the way the men all kissed each other on one cheek and then exchanged a firm handshake. #4 I overheard my parents talking about a man who wanted to buy one of my father’s nightclubs. Dad said the man was nuts. I didn’t understand what the man was doing that made my father think he was out of his mind, but I knew it was beginning to piss off my father.