Quick Answer
The best mafia book ever written is Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi — the basis for Goodfellas. The best comprehensive history of the American Mafia is Five Families by Selwyn Raab. The best insider account from within the mob is Underboss by Peter Maas, based entirely on Sammy Gravano’s first-hand testimony. All three are essential reading for anyone serious about mob history.
There are thousands of books about the Mafia. Most are sensationalised, inaccurate, or both. The ten books on this list are different — they are written by serious journalists, FBI agents, and in one case an actual mob boss, and they represent the best that has ever been written about organised crime in America. Whether you’re starting your mob history journey or you’ve been reading in this space for years, these are the books that belong on your shelf.
We’ve divided the list into three categories to help you find the right starting point: the essential trio every reader should begin with, the best family and regional histories, and the best first-hand accounts from inside the mob itself.
📚 QUICK NAVIGATION
The Essential Trio — Start here if you’re new to mob history
Family & Regional Histories — Deep dives into specific organisations
Inside the Mob — First-hand accounts from bosses, underbosses and agents
Also Worth Reading — Five more books that deserve a place on your shelf
FAQ — Common questions about mob books answered
The Essential Trio — Start Here
If you’ve never read a mob history book before, these three will give you everything you need — an accessible entry point, a comprehensive historical overview, and an authentic insider account. Read them in this order.
1. Wiseguy — Nicholas Pileggi
Best for: First-time readers | Best single mob book ever written
Wiseguy is the book that became Goodfellas. Henry Hill — associate of the Lucchese crime family and one of the most significant government informants in FBI history — told his story to journalist Nicholas Pileggi in extraordinary detail, and Pileggi shaped it into the most compelling account of mob life ever committed to paper. From Hill’s early days running errands for the mob in the Brownsville neighbourhood of Brooklyn, through his ascent into the inner circle of the Lucchese family, to the Lufthansa heist and his eventual entry into witness protection, every page crackles with authenticity.
Pileggi’s writing is razor sharp. The detail is extraordinary. And unlike so many mob memoirs that glamourise the life, Wiseguy is ultimately a story about the grinding reality of organised crime — the paranoia, the violence, the constant threat of arrest or death. It is the best book ever written on this subject. Start here.
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2. Five Families — Selwyn Raab
Best for: Comprehensive history of the American Mafia | The definitive single-volume overview
If Wiseguy is the best mob book ever written, Five Families is the most important. Selwyn Raab spent decades covering organised crime for the New York Times and this book is the culmination of that reporting — a comprehensive, authoritative history of New York’s five mob dynasties from their origins through to their near-destruction at the hands of Rudy Giuliani’s RICO prosecutions and beyond.
Five Families covers the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Colombo and Bonanno families in extraordinary depth. Raab traces how the American Mafia outwitted, outmanoeuvred and outgunned the FBI for half a century, building an empire that touched every industry from construction to garbage collection to labour unions. The book’s sweep is remarkable — from Lucky Luciano and the Castellammarese War to John Gotti and the Commission Case — and Raab’s access to law enforcement sources gives it an authority that no other single book on the subject matches.
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3. Underboss — Peter Maas
Best for: The Gambino family | The highest-ranking defector in Mafia history
Sammy “The Bull” Gravano was John Gotti’s underboss — the second most powerful man in the most powerful crime family in America. When he broke omertà and cooperated with the FBI in 1991 he provided the testimony that finally put Gotti away for life, and in doing so became the highest-ranking American Mafia member ever to turn government witness. His account of life at the top of the Gambino family, as told to Peter Maas, is unlike anything else in mob literature.
The murders he describes — including those he committed personally — are chilling in their matter-of-factness. The power dynamics, the rituals, the extraordinary wealth and the constant violence are all here, narrated by a man who lived it all. Underboss is brutally honest and completely compelling from first page to last.
Buy Underboss:
🎁 New to mob history? Start with all three:
Family & Regional Histories
Once you’ve read the essential trio, these books go deeper into specific families and regions — the investigations, the bosses, the rackets, and the downfalls.
4. Boss of Bosses — Joseph F. O’Brien & Andris Kurins
Best for: The Gambino family | The FBI investigation that brought down Paul Castellano
Written by the two FBI agents who spent years surveilling Paul Castellano — boss of the Gambino family — Boss of Bosses gives a unique law enforcement perspective on the highest levels of the American Mafia. The agents managed to plant a bug inside Castellano’s Staten Island mansion, the White House, recording conversations that provided extraordinary insight into how the Gambino family operated at the top. The book builds to its inevitable conclusion: Castellano’s murder outside Sparks Steakhouse in December 1985 and the rise of John Gotti.
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5. The Outfit — Gus Russo
Best for: The Chicago Outfit | The most underreported mob story in American history
The Chicago Outfit’s reach — from Prohibition-era bootlegging to Las Vegas casino control to Hollywood extortion to alleged involvement in the Kennedy assassination — is one of the most remarkable and least understood stories in American organised crime. Gus Russo spent years piecing it together and The Outfit is the result: meticulously researched, brilliantly written, and covering ground that had never been properly explored before. Essential reading for anyone who has ever wondered how Chicago’s mob extended its tentacles so far beyond the city itself.
Buy The Outfit:
6. The Westies — T.J. English
Best for: Irish-American organised crime | The most feared gang in New York history
Even among the mob, the Westies were feared. Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone built the most notorious Irish-American gang in history out of the Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood of Manhattan — their signature was not just murder but dismemberment, designed to prevent bodies from being found and identified. T.J. English tells their story with the pace of a thriller and the detail of serious crime journalism, covering their eventual alliance with the Gambino family and their ultimate destruction from within by Featherstone’s decision to cooperate with the FBI.
Buy The Westies:
Inside the Mob — Boss Biographies & First-Hand Accounts
These books go deep on individual figures — the bosses, the agents who pursued them, and in one extraordinary case, an autobiography written by a boss himself.
7. Mr. Capone — Robert J. Schoenberg
Best for: Al Capone | The most thoroughly researched Capone biography ever written
The mythology around Al Capone is vast and mostly wrong. Schoenberg cuts through it all with the most thoroughly researched biography ever written about America’s most famous gangster. The real Capone — his rise through the ranks of Chicago organised crime, his extraordinary wealth, his political corruption, his violent methods, and his eventual downfall at the hands of the IRS — is far more interesting than the caricature. This is the book that shows you who he actually was.
Buy Mr. Capone:
8. Accardo: The Genuine Godfather — William Roemer
Best for: Tony Accardo | The most powerful mob boss you’ve probably never heard of
Tony Accardo ran the Chicago Outfit for six decades and never spent a night in prison. He is widely regarded by law enforcement and mob historians as the most successful organised crime boss in American history — more powerful, more durable, and more strategically brilliant than Al Capone, John Gotti, or Carlo Gambino. FBI agent William Roemer spent his career pursuing Accardo and this book is the definitive account of the man he called The Genuine Godfather. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how the Outfit really worked at its peak.
Buy Accardo:
9. A Man of Honor — Joseph Bonanno
Best for: The Bonanno family | The only autobiography written by an actual mob boss
Joe Bonanno — widely believed to be one of the inspirations for Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather — is the only major American Mafia boss to have written a genuine autobiography. A Man of Honor is a remarkable document: self-serving in places, candid in others, and illuminating throughout. Bonanno reveals the inner workings of the Commission, the rituals and traditions of the Sicilian Mafia transplanted to American soil, and his own version of events across decades of organised crime history. Read it knowing what he’s leaving out, and it becomes one of the most fascinating primary sources in the genre.
Buy A Man of Honor:
10. Takedown — Ernest Volkman & John Cummings
Best for: The Lucchese family | The biggest mob takedown in New York City history
The true story of a young NYPD detective’s undercover odyssey that led to the biggest mob takedown in New York City history. Going deep inside the Lucchese family’s operations, the detective gathered the evidence that brought down an entire crime organisation from the inside. It reads like fiction — the tension, the close calls, the gradual building of trust among killers — but every word is true. A modern classic of true crime writing and an essential complement to the Lucchese family’s timeline.
Buy Takedown:
Also Worth Reading — Five More Essential Mob Books
These didn’t make the top 10 but belong on the shelf of any serious mob history reader.
Gotti — Jerry Capeci & Gene Mustain
The definitive account of John Gotti’s rise and fall — from his street days in Queens to his conviction in 1992. Capeci is the most authoritative mob journalist in America.
Casino — Nicholas Pileggi
Pileggi’s follow-up to Wiseguy — the true story behind the Scorsese film, covering the mob’s control of Las Vegas casino operations through Frank Rosenthal and Tony Spilotro. A worthy companion piece to the essential trio.
The Valachi Papers — Peter Maas
Joseph Valachi was the first made member of the American Mafia to publicly break omertà, testifying before the US Senate in 1963. His account — the first public confirmation that the Mafia existed as a formal organisation — was a sensation and remains essential primary source material.
Motor City Mafia — Scott Burnstein
The definitive account of the Detroit Partnership — one of America’s most secretive and durable Mafia families. Burnstein is the foremost authority on Detroit organised crime and this is the only book that does the subject justice.
Blood and Honor — George Anastasia
The best book on the Philadelphia Crime Family — covering the Scarfo era’s extraordinary violence and the FBI investigation that eventually brought it down. Anastasia is the definitive chronicler of the Philadelphia mob.
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Frequently Asked Questions — Best Mafia Books
What is the best mafia book ever written?
Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi is widely considered the best mafia book ever written. The first-hand account of Henry Hill’s life inside the Lucchese crime family — which became the basis for Goodfellas — is gripping, authentic, and brilliantly written. Five Families by Selwyn Raab is the most comprehensive single-volume history of the American Mafia.
What is the best book about Al Capone?
Mr. Capone by Robert J. Schoenberg is the most thoroughly researched Capone biography. For a broader account of the Chicago Outfit that Capone led, The Outfit by Gus Russo and Accardo: The Genuine Godfather by William Roemer are both essential.
What is the best book about the Gambino crime family?
Underboss by Peter Maas — based entirely on Sammy Gravano’s first-hand account as John Gotti’s underboss — is the best Gambino book. Boss of Bosses by FBI agents O’Brien and Kurins, which covers the investigation that brought down Paul Castellano, is an essential companion piece.
Are there any mafia books written by actual mob bosses?
Yes. A Man of Honor by Joe Bonanno is the autobiography of the Bonanno Crime Family boss and the only book written by a genuine American Mafia boss in his own words. Underboss by Peter Maas is based entirely on Sammy Gravano’s testimony — the highest-ranking made member ever to cooperate with federal authorities.
What mafia books are best for beginners?
Start with Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi for the most accessible, gripping entry point into mob history. Then Five Families by Selwyn Raab for the comprehensive historical overview. Complete the starter trio with Underboss by Peter Maas. Those three books together give you everything you need to understand the American Mafia.
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