Listen free for 30 days
-
The Black Hand
- The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, True Crime
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £18.79
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Tokyo Vice
- An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan
- By: Jake Adelstein
- Narrated by: Jake Adelstein
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 19, Jake Adelstein went to Japan in search of peace and tranquility. What he got was a life of crime reporting at the prestigious Yomiuri Shinbun. For 12 years of 80-hour workweeks, he covered the seedy side of Japan, where extortion, murder, human trafficking, and corruption are as familiar as ramen noodles and sake.
-
-
Misses...
- By AJ on 28-07-11
-
Killers of the Flower Moon
- Oil, Money, Murder and the Birth of the FBI
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee, Danny Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1920s the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And this was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.
-
-
Fascinating story that needs to be heard.
- By Elizabeth Lawlor on 16-01-18
-
True Crime Chronicles
- Serial Killers, Outlaws, and Justice...Real Crime Stories from the 1800s
- By: Mike Rothmiller
- Narrated by: Ken Solin
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What do Wyatt Earp, Belle Gunness, Big Foot the Renegade, Billy the Kid, Dr. H.H. Holmes, and The Black Hand have in common? They were all subjects of true crime newspaper reporting in the 1800s. Now their stories and that of many others are brought together in their original form in this compilation by New York Times best-selling author Mike Rothmiller. These classic works of journalism resurrect astonishing stories that will take the listener back to when these horrific tales mesmerized a nation.
-
-
Excellent!
- By John Marsden on 19-02-22
-
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
- The First Novel by Quentin Tarantino
- By: Quentin Tarantino
- Narrated by: Jennifer Jason Leigh
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Quentin Tarantino's long-awaited first work of fiction - at once hilarious, delicious and brutal - is the always surprising, sometimes shocking new novel based on his Academy Award-winning film.
-
-
Tarantino Showing Off
- By bwanasafari on 10-07-21
-
Lord High Executioner
- The Legendary Mafia Boss Albert Anastasia
- By: Frank Dimatteo, Michael Benson
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Umberto "Albert" Anastasia was born in Italy at the turn of the century. Five decades later, he would be gunned down in a barber shop in New York City. What happened in the years in between is one of the most brutal and fascinating stories in the history of American organized crime. This in-depth account of the man who became one of the most powerful and homicidal crime bosses of the 20th century from Mafia insider Frank Dimatteo is the first full-length book to chronicle Anastasia's bloody rise from immigrant to founder of the notorious killer's club Murder, Inc.
-
-
Worth a Listen
- By Anonymous User on 05-07-21
-
Lone Star Nation
- How a Ragged Army of Courageous Volunteers Won the Battle for Texas Independence
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lone Star Nation is the gripping story of Texas' precarious journey to statehood, from its early colonization in the 1820s to the shocking massacres of Texas loyalists at the Alamo and Goliad by the Mexican army, from its rough-and-tumble years as a land overrun by the Comanches to its day of liberation as an upstart republic.
-
Tokyo Vice
- An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan
- By: Jake Adelstein
- Narrated by: Jake Adelstein
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 19, Jake Adelstein went to Japan in search of peace and tranquility. What he got was a life of crime reporting at the prestigious Yomiuri Shinbun. For 12 years of 80-hour workweeks, he covered the seedy side of Japan, where extortion, murder, human trafficking, and corruption are as familiar as ramen noodles and sake.
-
-
Misses...
- By AJ on 28-07-11
-
Killers of the Flower Moon
- Oil, Money, Murder and the Birth of the FBI
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee, Danny Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1920s the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And this was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.
-
-
Fascinating story that needs to be heard.
- By Elizabeth Lawlor on 16-01-18
-
True Crime Chronicles
- Serial Killers, Outlaws, and Justice...Real Crime Stories from the 1800s
- By: Mike Rothmiller
- Narrated by: Ken Solin
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What do Wyatt Earp, Belle Gunness, Big Foot the Renegade, Billy the Kid, Dr. H.H. Holmes, and The Black Hand have in common? They were all subjects of true crime newspaper reporting in the 1800s. Now their stories and that of many others are brought together in their original form in this compilation by New York Times best-selling author Mike Rothmiller. These classic works of journalism resurrect astonishing stories that will take the listener back to when these horrific tales mesmerized a nation.
-
-
Excellent!
- By John Marsden on 19-02-22
-
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
- The First Novel by Quentin Tarantino
- By: Quentin Tarantino
- Narrated by: Jennifer Jason Leigh
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Quentin Tarantino's long-awaited first work of fiction - at once hilarious, delicious and brutal - is the always surprising, sometimes shocking new novel based on his Academy Award-winning film.
-
-
Tarantino Showing Off
- By bwanasafari on 10-07-21
-
Lord High Executioner
- The Legendary Mafia Boss Albert Anastasia
- By: Frank Dimatteo, Michael Benson
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Umberto "Albert" Anastasia was born in Italy at the turn of the century. Five decades later, he would be gunned down in a barber shop in New York City. What happened in the years in between is one of the most brutal and fascinating stories in the history of American organized crime. This in-depth account of the man who became one of the most powerful and homicidal crime bosses of the 20th century from Mafia insider Frank Dimatteo is the first full-length book to chronicle Anastasia's bloody rise from immigrant to founder of the notorious killer's club Murder, Inc.
-
-
Worth a Listen
- By Anonymous User on 05-07-21
-
Lone Star Nation
- How a Ragged Army of Courageous Volunteers Won the Battle for Texas Independence
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lone Star Nation is the gripping story of Texas' precarious journey to statehood, from its early colonization in the 1820s to the shocking massacres of Texas loyalists at the Alamo and Goliad by the Mexican army, from its rough-and-tumble years as a land overrun by the Comanches to its day of liberation as an upstart republic.
-
The Quick and the Dead
- By: Louis L'Amour
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Duncan McKaskel decided to move his family west, he knew he would face dangers, and he was prepared for them. He knew about the exhausting terrain, and he was expecting the punishing elements. What he worried about was having to use violence against other men - men who would follow him and try to steal the riches that he didn't even possess.
-
Tesla vs Edison
- A Captivating Guide to the War of the Currents and the Life of Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Duke Holm
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Human history has seen many surprising and profound turning points. The ways that humans learned to use raw materials to create activity and resources set the stage for the most compelling and life-altering phase of the modern era, the Industrial Revolution. Born during this time on different continents but connected by similar interests, two men indelibly marked their generation and those that followed with their genius and foresight. This audiobook covers the war of currents and the individual lives of Tesla and Edison.
-
-
All Five Stars
- By Aria on 23-04-18
-
Citizen 865
- The Hunt for Hitler's Hidden Soldiers in America
- By: Debbie Cenziper
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a story spanning seven decades, Citizen 865 chronicles the harrowing wartime journeys of two Jewish orphans from occupied Poland who outran the men of Trawniki and settled in the United States, only to learn that some of their one-time captors had followed. A tenacious team of prosecutors and historians pursued these men and, up against the forces of time and political opposition, battled to the present day to remove them from US soil.
-
The Burning
- Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
- By: Tim Madigan
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With chilling details, humanity, and the narrative thrust of compelling fiction, The Burning will recreate the town of Greenwood, Oklahoma, at the height of its prosperity, explore the currents of hatred, racism, and mistrust between its black residents and neighboring Tulsa's white population, narrate events leading up to and including Greenwood's annihilation, and document the subsequent silence that surrounded the tragedy.
-
Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Patriots
- By: Bill O'Reilly, David Fisher
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, Bill O'Reilly
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The must-have companion to Bill O'Reilly's historical docudrama Legends and Lies: The Patriots, an exciting and eye-opening look at the Revolutionary War through the lives of its leaders. The American Revolution was neither inevitable nor a unanimous cause. It pitted neighbors against each other as loyalists and colonial rebels faced off for their lives and futures. These were the times that tried men's souls: No one was on stable ground, and few could be trusted.
-
Juno Beach
- Canada's D-Day Victory: June 6, 1944
- By: Mark Zuehlke
- Narrated by: Steve Kehela
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On June 6, 1944, the greatest armada in history stood off Normandy and the largest amphibious invasion ever began as 107,000 men aboard 6,000 ships pressed toward the coast. Among them were 14,500 Canadians, who were to land on a five-mile-long stretch of rocky ledges fronted by a dangerously exposed beach. Drawing on personal diaries as well as military records, Juno Beach: Canada's D-Day Victory, June 6, 1944 dramatically depicts Canada's pivotal contribution to the critical Allied battle of World War II.
-
-
Awful narration
- By Blobbo on 14-12-14
-
Lords of the Bow
- The Epic Story of the Great Conqueror
- By: Conn Iggulden
- Narrated by: Russell Boulter
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The gathering of the tribes of the Mongols has been a long time in coming, but finally, triumphantly, Temujin of the Wolves, Genghis Khan, is given the full accolade of overall leader and their oaths. Now he can begin to meld all the previously warring people into one army, one nation. But the task Genghis has set himself, and them, is formidable. He is determined to travel to the land of the long-time enemy, the Chin, and attack them there.
-
-
Wrong Reader
- By CAL on 28-03-11
-
The Elusive Purple Gang
- Detroit's Kosher Nostra
- By: Gregory A. Fournier
- Narrated by: Rich Miller
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Elusive Purple Gang: Detroit's Kosher Nostra is a concise history of one of America's most notorious Prohibition gangs. The Burnstein brothers and their associates were the only Jewish gang in the United States to dominate the rackets of a major American city. From their meteoric rise to the top of Detroit's underworld to their ultimate demise, this is an episodic account of the Purple Gang's corrosive pursuit of power and wealth and their inevitable plunge toward self-destruction.
-
The Year of Dangerous Days
- Riots, Refugees, and Cocaine in Miami 1980
- By: Nicholas Griffin
- Narrated by: Pete Simonelli
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of The Wire, the “utterly absorbing” (The New York Times) story of the cinematic transformation of Miami, one of America’s bustling cities - rife with a drug epidemic, a burgeoning refugee crisis, and police brutality - from journalist and award-winning author Nicholas Griffin.
-
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
- A History of Nazi Germany
- By: William L. Shirer
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 57 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer’s monumental study of Hitler’s German empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of the 20th century’s blackest hours. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich offers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print around the globe, it has attained the status of a vital and enduring classic.
-
-
Finished - what do I do now?
- By Colin on 18-02-11
-
The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia
- Corn Sugar and Blood
- By: Rick Porrello
- Narrated by: Keith Spillett
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
FBI Witness Rick Porrello writes about the important connection with mega-mobsters Charles Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, the Cleveland mob's move to Las Vegas, and the first top-level national meeting of the Sicilian-American Mafia.
-
The Killing Streets
- Uncovering Australia's First Serial Murderer
- By: Tanya Bretherton
- Narrated by: Rachael Tidd
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In December 1932, as the Depression tightened its grip, the body of a woman was found in Queens Park, Sydney. It was a popular park. There were houses in plain view. Yet this woman had been violently murdered without anyone noticing. Other equally brutal and shocking murders of women in public places were to follow. Australia's first serial killer was at large.
Summary
The gripping true story of the origins of the Mafia in America - and the brilliant Italian-born detective who gave his life to stop it.
Film rights optioned by Paramount Studios, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Beginning in the summer of 1903, an insidious crime wave filled New York City, and then the entire country, with fear. The children of Italian immigrants were kidnapped, and dozens of innocent victims were gunned down. Bombs tore apart tenement buildings. Judges, senators, Rockefellers, and society matrons were threatened with gruesome deaths. The perpetrators seemed both omnipresent and invisible. Their only calling card: the symbol of a black hand.
The crimes whipped up the slavering tabloid press and heated ethnic tensions to the boiling point. Standing between the American public and the Black Hand's lawlessness was Joseph Petrosino. Dubbed the "Italian Sherlock Holmes", he was a famously dogged and ingenious detective and a master of disguise. As the crimes grew ever more bizarre and the Black Hand's activities spread far beyond New York's borders, Petrosino and the all-Italian police squad he assembled raced to capture members of the secret criminal society before the country's anti-immigrant tremors exploded into catastrophe. Petrosino's quest to root out the source of the Black Hand's power would take him all the way to Sicily - but at a terrible cost.
Unfolding a story rich with resonance in our own era, The Black Hand is fast-paced narrative history at its very best.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Black Hand
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Navy Nick
- 16-03-18
Great historical storytelling.
This book is a rare glimpse into the repeating battle that each immigrant group must fight with earlier settlers and with itself in order to become Americans.
More than anything else it is a tribute to an amazing American.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- TOM
- 11-01-18
good listen
I thaught this was a great book. I had never heard of The Black Hand. Love the time period as well. All around good listen.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Leslie W. Stewart III
- 19-06-17
What a story...!
This is a audio/book that everyone with an interest in the Mafia, gangsters, organized crime or even New York should pickup. From what I know very few Italians either know or admit to their history and yet it's so rich with details and history.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- GM
- 04-06-17
Like a newspaper from the 19th century
struggled to stay awake. it was an interesting story and the narrator is servicable, but a little smug and snarky.
it's like the author is the boring guy at a dinner party that tells the excruciatingly long story that is interesting but goes on way to long
not a failure and certainly entertaining at points, this would be an excellent book if you were doing background research for your own novel
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Tabitha Rex
- 08-12-17
Not a great listen.
Skip this one. It’s not a great listen. Too many names and stories to follow casually by listening.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Caden Hensley
- 13-11-21
Great book but more about Petrosino
It's really a book about Joseph Petrosino. He certainly deserves it and a whole lot more than the minor accolades history has given him. But the book does give you a good idea of what the black hand was like, how terrible they were, and how ignoring them gave us a century or more of corruption in our major cities. Maybel we should be learning from them today.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- J. Miller
- 01-09-21
I had high hopes, but...
This was all very interesting but over halfway through, I got very bored because it had degenerated into a list of Italia last names doing terrible things to other people and it started to drag on and on, spinning into meh. I gave up.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mark
- 19-07-18
Listen and Learn.
I think if you come at this book with the expectation of a history lesson, you will enjoy it much more (if you like learning). It was a very interesting read. I never even heard of the Black Hand Society and the author did a great job teaching me.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Eeryn Lubicich
- 24-05-17
Society of the Black Hand/ Order of the Family
What made the experience of listening to The Black Hand the most enjoyable?
The back story of an Italian Detective noted for his photographic memory and integrity. During a time during the Birth of the dark side of the Mafia. Joe Petrosino would stop at nothing to protect innocent lives from unfathomable crimes.
Locations included are a learning tool I find useful. Naples in Italy, Boston, Midwest, and mainly Little Italy in New York.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Joe Petrosino
Have you listened to any of Scott Aiello’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Black Hand Society or Order Of The Family
Any additional comments?
Petrosino had a fond Love for the Violin and Opera
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- E
- 27-12-17
I was expecting a dramatization
Although this book was well written, well narrated and very interesting - I was expecting it to be a dramatization based on true events. When in actual fact it reads more like an interesting history book, with a spattering of dialogue peppered in.
Was a bit disappointing. I’m interested to see how they make it more engaging for the upcoming movie.