Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Five Families

  • The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires
  • By: Selwyn Raab
  • Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
  • Length: 33 hrs and 54 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (889 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Five Families cover art

Five Families

By: Selwyn Raab
Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £33.99

Buy Now for £33.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Mob Star cover art
Mafia Prince cover art
Murder Machine cover art
Donnie Brasco cover art
The Cigar cover art
The Westies cover art
Blood Covenant cover art
The Colombo Mafia Crime Family cover art
Sonny cover art
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich cover art
Mafia Democracy cover art
The Rise and Fall of a "Casino" Mobster cover art
Mafia Cop cover art
Carl Frampton cover art
Gotti's Rules cover art
Salford Lads cover art

Summary

Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo, and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals, and generational changes that produced violent, unreliable leaders and recruits. A 20-year assault against the five families in particular blossomed into the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century.

Selwyn Raab's Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons, from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the listener right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.

©2005 Selwyn Raab (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This masterpiece stands an excellent chance of becoming a bestseller with crossover appeal beyond devoted watchers of The Sopranos." ( Publishers Weekly)

More from the same

What listeners say about Five Families

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    617
  • 4 Stars
    197
  • 3 Stars
    54
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    10
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    561
  • 4 Stars
    153
  • 3 Stars
    46
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    10
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    551
  • 4 Stars
    156
  • 3 Stars
    52
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    8

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Would you listen to Five Families again? Why?

I'd listen to this again Because, not only is it the best book I've ever read about the Cosa Nostra in the United States, engagingly written and well-researched, but the narration is superb.

What did you like best about this story?

The subject has always fascinated me, and in The Five Families the author, Selwyn Raab, has literally created a 'one-stop-shop' for the history of the Mafia in America.

Have you listened to any of Paul Costanzo’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I've not listened to any other of the narrator's performances, but I will. He is excellent. He doesn't try to do accents and dialects - he reads the book in a lively and thoughtful way.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

This is the one...

Any additional comments?

This is destined to be one of my favourites.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

"Superb"

If you could sum up Five Families in three words, what would they be?

Well narrated, Interesting, informative,

What other book might you compare Five Families to, and why?

Mob Boss: The Life of Little Al D'arco, the Man Who Brought Down the Mafia, Along similar lines but different story and a different perspective of the life.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

"The Five Families: The money the lies and the killing’s from Bensonhurst to Broadway"

Any additional comments?

Superb book couldn’t recommend it highly enough.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent

Massively detailed breakdown of the mafia. interesting and full of fact. learnt loads from this but I can't talk about it.😉

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting and well-written history

Any additional comments?

This is the first book I've listened to (or read) on the subject. Fascinating, well-written, and well-narrated.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting but 10 hours too long

After recently listening to Puzo's Godfather I thought it would be interesting to research the truth behind the stories.

This book is incredibly informative and detailed almost to a fault. The result is a very well written and narrated book that seems to go on forever. from about 20 hours in it became a bit of a slog to finish it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Exceptional

The best book I've never read. Absolutely fascinating insight into the underworld. I highly recommend this audiobook.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A serious listen!

This is a seriously indepth and long book on the New York Mafia families. I certainly enjoyed this listen but it takes a lot of concentration to keep up with all the many stories and characters mentioned throughout the book. I marked the story down to 3 as the content and length of this book was too long for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

It has every single year from the mafias formation to "the end" in one book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great audio

It was narrated really well, the in depth knowledge was amazing and overall one of the best audio books I have listened to, if you are interested in Mafia history then this is for you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great mafia odyssey

Even though this book was 33 hours long, I really enjoyed it and will probably read it again sometime. it really did a deep dive on the bosses of each of the five families and their personalities and personal journeys through life as a mafiosa. I thought it may be a bit long but I loved it and it's only taken a couple of weeks to finish. I was familiar with a few of the characters already such as Gotti and 'the chin' so had a good base knowledge to start with. I'm gonna look for another mafia book right now! Kudos Selwyn! Kudos indeed!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful