Borgata: Autumn of Empire

The explosive conclusion to Louis Ferrante's epic trilogy about the rise and fall of the American mafia.Borgata: Autumn of Empire is the propulsive conclusion to Louis Ferrante's epic trilogy about the rise and fall of the American mafia. Following the mafia's golden age of prosperity-and triumphs over internal and external adversaries-we arrive at the final stirring volume of this trilogy, as the reader follows the American mafia's descent into a murderous rampage, with lieutenants scrambling to lord over the remnants of a shrinking empire. The story picks up with men-like Carlo Gambino-who are forced to cede power to a new generation of mobsters who lack the skill to steer the mob into a new era of prosperity. The painstaking art of diplomacy is replaced by murder, which becomes the answer to nearly everything. Family values, however twisted, are supplanted by individualism. And the old-world sanctity of omertá gives way to the age of the informant. Facilitating the mob's decline is law enforcement's new resolve to dismantle organized crime by way of strike forces, the RICO law, and the Witness Protection Program. As a result of the legal spotlight, America's police and political establishment shy away from bribes, and the mafia finds itself devoid of that deep layer of protection they had always relied upon. With colorful characters taking center stage-such as John Gotti, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, Vincent "Chin" Gigante, Joseph Massino, and Carmine "The Snake" Persico-the American mafia is ruptured by cataclysmic changes that are beyond its ability to control; one borgata is beset by civil war as another undergoes an internal blood purge, and a third is toppled by coup. Labor unions that have been under mob control for decades are suddenly lost, opportunities are squandered, top earners are foolishly murdered, and the mob is expelled from industries that took a century for them to infiltrate. This third volume of the Borgata trilogy follows the years of decline from 1975 to 2005-and is written by a man who knew many of the characters involved and experienced first-hand the external pressures and violent bloodbaths that finally sounded the mob's death knell.