Review: Last Mafioso

Last Mafioso by Ovid Demaris
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Since reading Green Felt Jungle, Demaris's expose on Mafia operations in Las Vegas co-written with Ed Reid, I was intrigued to read is inside look on an acting boss found to be an FBI informant destined for the Witness Protection Program. I applaud Demaris for including the detailed "dramatis personae" to make sense of the myriad character spread over 500 pages. However, the story is not really engrossing until we, literally, "cut to the chase" in the final act as a Mafia contract pushes "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno out of the Mob, into hiding, and ultimately into the witness stand as a gov't-protected testifier. For some reason, Demaris chooses to fill a lot of the book with lengthy conversations that ring false; supposedly Demaris and his colleagues automatically lapse into narrating their own documentary about Mafia history and hits. I would like to know more about how he came to be an FBI source for so long. This important sub-plot is relegated to a passing reference.

The book is a revealing tale of life in the Mafia with an indepth look at the Los Angeles crime family, The Chicago Outfit, and The Cleveland crime family, and several notable mobsters. There are also notable non-mobsters featured with unsavory connections, including Frank Sinatra (willing to work with made men to make his mom proud to save a son in Knights of Malta), and murky mayor Joseph Alioto.

Johnny Roselli's life is also detailed and the book describes conversations the two had about John Roselli's involvement in the CIA's plot to assassinate Fidel Castro, known as "Family Jewels" when declassified in 2007. The book also mentions Roselli's alleged involvement in the John F. Kennedy assassination, but dismisses the notion that the Mafia had anything to do with the JFK murder while suggesting both Hoffa (for the scrutiny of RFK) and Castro (for uncovering the CIA's plot to assassinate him) had motive and intent to slay JFK.

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