America's Cosa Nostra

There are few institutions in the American imagination as enduring or as misunderstood as the Mafia. It is a word that conjures fear, fascination, and an air of mystery. For over a century, the Five Families of New York — Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese — operated not as mere gangs, but as a shadow government of the underworld. They influenced business, politics, labor unions, an...