by: Ralph Blumenthal
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Philadelphia’s Sicilian
“Zip” Mafia members seem like minor players in this book by
New York Times reporter Ralph Blumenthal. The Sicilian Mafiosi from western
Sicily are the main characters with their counterparts in New York who
deal in heroin as they had been doing with Carlo Gambino supposedly back
in the 1950s.
As far as the Philly Mob and its history are concerned, the Zips (Mafiosi from Sicily) that were living in Camden County, New Jersey and in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania were part of this. FBI agents also tracked several pizza parlors in Center City Philadelphia and in the suburbs that were part of the sting that made Rudolph Giuliani’s reputation as a prosecutor. Blumenthal focused on his turf of New York, so the reader of this book would have to get local newspapers to match what was going on in Philadelphia U.S. Attorney’s and FBI offices that were here. It’s a book that reminds fans of the Mafia’s history of
where it began: in the western part of the island of Sicily, a small
area of the island. It should remind Italian Americans that this is
a history of a culture in that area, and not of Italy, of Rome or of
Florence. Blumenthal will make the reader do map study because of the
worldwide trade that “The Pizza Connection” investigation
found. The book is fascinating and about fascinating people. |
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 Stand Up Book! |
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| 2008 PhillyMafiaHistory.com |
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