PhillyMafiaHistory.com - The City and the Syndicate: Organizing Crime in Philadelphia

An interesting book: In 1985 it was published, five years after Angelo Bruno died. These Penn State University professors in the Administration of Justice wrote: “…Angelo Bruno may or may not have been head of Cosa Nostra family, but the power of the group is suspect, even if it does exist.” (p.ix). The professors believed that they had done good research “on the streets,” and with law enforcement, but they had never claimed to have spoken with the federal agents or offices whose RICO laws were violated by the very subjects they discounted. Apparently, the professors didn’t believe what the newspapers wrote either.

This book is detailed about Philly’s Jewish gangsters and relies upon the Pennsylvania Crime Commission reports, and their other publications. If these professors were academics in history, this book would have never survived a peer review, or had gotten printed. There is little about the Mafia specifically, and there are pure speculations about Mafiosi like Salvatore Sabella that are not based on any facts or information about his personality and work as a boss. One chapter is an interview with a “capo”, an unidentified man who the professors asked questions and got one-word answers for the most part. During the reading of this book, Potter and Jenkins constantly ask questions which they cannot answer in their research. They seem so unsure of themselves. So should the readers to this book. Read this and the Crime Commission reports and try to see which “history” is the right one. Guess.

	An interesting book: In 1985 it was published, five years after Angelo Bruno died. These Penn State University professors in the Administration of Justice wrote: “…Angelo Bruno may or may not have been head of Cosa Nostra family, but the power of the group is suspect, even if it does exist.” (p.ix). The professors believed that they had done good research “on the streets,” and with law enforcement, but they had never claimed to have spoken with the federal agents or offices whose RICO laws were violated by the very subjects they discounted. Apparently, the professors didn’t believe what the newspapers wrote either. This book is detailed about Philly’s Jewish gangsters and relies upon the Pennsylvania Crime Commission reports, and their other publications. If these professors were academics in history, this book would have never survived a peer review, or had gotten printed. There is little about the Mafia specifically, and there are pure speculations about Mafiosi like Salvatore Sabella that are not based on any facts or information about his personality and work as a boss. One chapter is an interview with a “capo”, an unidentified man who the professors asked questions and got one-word answers for the most part. During the reading of this book, Potter and Jenkins constantly ask questions which they cannot answer in their research. They seem so unsure of themselves. So should the readers to this book. Read this and the Crime Commission reports and try to see which “history” is the right one. Guess.		Click Here to enlarge image









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