Undercover Cop by Mike Russell with Patrick W. Picciarelli

Undercover Cop:  How I Brought Down the Real-Life Sopranos, Mike Russell with Patrick W. Picciarelli.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 2013.  e-book, 237 pps.

     Mike Russell was working undercover with a rep as a rogue cop that had been fired.  He was working the streets of Newark looking for some action.  First he hooked up with a couple of young thugs from the Lucchese  Mafia family but that didn't go so well.  After that, he happened to meet Andy Gerardo who was one of the higher-ups of the Genovese family.

     Andy Gerardo believed Mike Russell's cover story-- that he was in the oil delivery business and also removed furnaces.  But nothing much happened for awhile until Russell hired himself out as a bodyguard for a crooked Jersey police chief.  His rep got around and he was in.

     After the plug was pulled on the undercover op, Russell went freelance so that way he could still work undercover which resulted in a bunch of arrests.

sapphoq reviews says:  I enjoyed Undercover Cop immensely.  It is an excellent addition to any library involving the Mafia.  Some of the last names in this book and the landmarks were familiar to me.  Undercover Cop has the smell of truth.  Mike Russell comes off as a tenacious individual who served the community well in taking some killers and extortionists off the street.  Highly recommended.

Made Men by Greg B. Smith

Made Men:  The True Rise-and-Fall Story of a New Jersey Mob Family, Greg B. Smith.  New York: Penguin Group, 2003.  e-book, 240 pps.

It didn't really take the HBO series "The Sopranos" to call my attention to the goings on of the New Jersey mafioso, in spite of what the book claims.  Some of us knew that the Mafia was alive and doing well in Jersey and the rest of us were in serious denial.  Made Men offers a time-limited slice of the Jersey mob.  The thing is, I have no recall of any real-life reference to the fellows as "farmers."  I'm not saying that wasn't a true nickname.  I'm just saying that I've never heard of the Jersey guys referenced that way before I read Made Men.

I don't know what took me so long to find this book.  We've got lots of other histories of various crime personalities and organizations laying around the house.  At any rate, I did find it.

sapphoq reviews says: The book Made Men is notable for what was left out as well as for what was included.  There is no or very little mention of a problem with the State Troopers, counterfeiting, or corrupt Newark officials.  Also not included was the splitting of the guys into several locations besides Newark-- Atlantic City and Philadelphia to be specific-- and the in-fighting which resulted in that split.  I noted with some amusement the claims that the Jersey Mafia is dead, wiped out, gone.  Those claims-- as well as the claims that the Mafia on the whole is on the way out thanks to the F.B.I. and a bunch of turncoats-- are inaccurate.  
     Made Men is a severely limited snapshot of the DeCavalcantes crime family.  Certainly, a sequel covering the trial and afterwards would have been welcome.  As it is, I cautiously recommend Made Men to those with lower reading levels and to those who read all Mafia histories regardless of quality.  Actually, perhaps I don't recommend it at all.  There is a slew of other books which cover the same period of time with grave attention to much more detail. Go find yourselves one of them to read instead.