Books: Mob Life for Dummies

Two books reveal everything you always wanted to know about the Mafia (but were afraid to ask)

Somehow we can't seem to satisfy our appetite for the Mob. We've heard those murky wiretap recordings, seen the grainy surveillance photos, obsessively watched The Godfather and The Sopranos. But we want to know more, whether it's about the prep work for plunging an ice pick into someone's neck (tape the handle to avoid fingerprints) or the supplies needed for going to war with another crime family (bring big pots for marinara sauce to feed everyone at the safe house). Now two breezy new gangland guides, Donnie Brasco's The Way of the Wiseguy (Running Press; 224 pages) and Henry Hill's forthcoming...

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