The Cigar

Carmine Galante, Mafia Terror

By: Frank Dimatteo, Michael Benson

Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin

The son of Sicilian immigrants, Camillo Carmine Galante was raised in Manhattan's Little Italy and by all accounts born bad. By fifteen he was terrorizing the streets of New York's Lower East Side, scoring high marks for the "errands" he was running for his La Cosa Nostra elders. When he turned twenty, Galante was already one of the mob's top enforcers­-a sadistic thrill killer and clinically diagnosed psychopath with big dreams: whack his way into controlling organized crime the world over, vowing to kill Mafia chieftans Tommy Lucchese and Carlo Gambino and take control of their mob families.

Carmine "Lilo" Galante's rise to Mafia star was infamous: hit man for the Luciano and Genovese crime families; named consigliere by Joseph Bonnano; he wiped out eight members of the Gambinos; on behalf of Mussolini he assassinated the publisher of an anti-Fascist newspaper. Galante helped orchestrate one of the largest heroin trafficking operations on record-a power move too dangerous for his rivals in the narcotics trade. The heads of the five New York families decided that the psychotic Galante had to be stopped. On July 12, 1979, finishing his lunch in a Brooklyn restaurant, Galante got what he'd dished out his whole life: a shotgun blast to the face, his trademark cigar still clenched in his teeth . . .

©2023 Frank Dimatteo and Michael Benson (P)2023 Tantor

Excellent Audiobook!

The narrator really makes this book. Great voice and subtle injections of humor along with an excellent story makes this well worth a listen. Audible, I did enjoy this program!

meh ... not the best, but not Moby dick

There are some good organized crime stories out there, but this is not one of them. This read like someone who wrote a book after reading some articles as opposed to someone who wrote a book based on interviews, research, and true knowledge of the subject.

Fascinating

Excellent story and narration Definitely held my interest. Highly recommend the chapters move quickly. Fascinating audiobook

This Thing of... His???

I usually root for the bad guy, I do (it's entertaining), but even knowing everything that was going to happen, I still found myself exited for Galante to be hit and grew anxious as I waited for it to happen. What does this have to do with anything? Well, the story was great enough to pull me all the way in to the point where I was actively looking forward to its subject matter to be murdered. But, there are some pretty interesting tidbits you may have not heard about yet, and some of the more popular Galante stories you have heard contain new or unheard information by a guy who lived in Brooklyn, and actually met and had coffee with Carmine Galante. Along the way I felt as if I were there in the car as Galante was arrested for speeding. I was hiding with him at the Apalachin Summit. Playing handball in prison in upstate Connecticut.

The author isn't your run of the mill gangster turned author and mob historian. Frank DiMatteo is no rat. He has never cooperated with the law and cares about the people he writes about, and it comes through on the page. He has a real gift for story telling. It flows from his keyboard with ease, and there's no exaggeration or revisionist history to make himself or thise around him look better. He tells it as-is, and allows you (the reader) to make the call on feelings towards the characters. I almost skipped this book after reading some of the reviews, but I've read some of his other work, and based on my experience reading Frank's stories, I purchased this title. I'm glad I did, and you will be too.

From Bushwick

Lived in that area it's a crazy lifestyle like in Goodfellows, you spotted those guys with the silk suits, Ferrari's and Lambos.
The book brought chills down my back.