Carmine the Snake

In this blistering street-level account, "e;Mafia survivor"e; Frank DiMatteo teams up with true-crime master Michael Benson to take down one of the most notorious figures in the American La Cosa Nostra. This is the real inside story of Carmine "e;the Snake"e; Persico, from his crime-filled childhood on the streets of Brooklyn to the long-term jail sentences that didn't stop him from controlling his criminal empire, with the help of his brother-the equally kill-crazy Alphonse "e;Allie Boy"e; Persico.This is the story of his deadly teen years as leader of the fearsome Garfield Boys; his recruitment into the Profaci-later the Colombo-crime family; his bloody betrayal of the Gallo brothers; his role in the hair-raising ambush and slaying of Albert Anastasia-the Lord High Executioner of Murder, Inc.-as he sat in a barbershop chair getting a shave; the terror he struck into the hearts of the New York Mafia's other families, and even his own crews; and the many courtroom trials where Persico walked after witnesses came down with sudden cases of "e;amnesia."e;Today, Persico schmoozes with Ponzi king Bernard Madoff behind bars. There, at age eighty-four, his legend-packed as it is with coldblooded brutality-continues to inspire goodfellas everywhere.