us fifty, sixty years to do." This is Godfather fiction come to life and it is powerful reading. After reading the story of Sammy the Bull, I felt I had read information that could be applied to some of the things I have learned this semester in Organized Crime. I liked "Underboss" because it presented a case that was personally interesting to me and I thought it was something that was worthwhile reading. One of the more intriguing aspects of the book is that way that Maas narrates Gravano's life story while at the same time quoting directly from him. One early quote sets the whole scene for the book when Sammy says, "I wouldn't have minded going to Vietnam. You got medals for killing people there." Through the details descriptions of Sammy's involvement in the Mafia as a hit man, I got a real sense of Gravano's life. I learned things reading the book that I might not have known otherwise. I learned that Gotti and Gravano masterminded and carried out the murder of Paul Castellano, that both were eventually indicted on murder, and that Sammy opted to rat on Gotti and served only five years. One of the most interesting things that I learned about the book was that it provoked a lawsuit by relatives of Gravano's victims because they thought that Gravano was paid for his contributions. In reading "Underboss" I also learned some lessons about morality; through Sammy Gravano, it teaches the reader lessons about good and evil, rights and wrongs. Because of the way that the author tells the story, I felt as if I was actually in the secret parts of Cosa Nostra, almost as if I was being a witness to the power, greed, and deception of the inner workings of the Mafia. It was exciting because, as with anything dealing with organized crime, the possibility of death was never really far away. "Underboss" is a good reading because it deals with different issues that have connections to Organized Crime lessons. It teaches a...
