For more than 25 years as a reporter with the Philadelphia Inquirer George Anastasia has made tracking the demise of the American Mafia his regular beat, writing investigative pieces, profiles and slices of underworld life. Mobfiles is a compilation of some of his best work stories told from street level and often based on insights and access provided by investigators, prosecutors and the mobsters themselves. They are tales of murder and mayhem, love and betrayal, and the loss of honor and loyalty. All of these factors have contributed to the disintegration of La Cosa Nostra. Indeed, the steady deterioration of the mob s own internal value system and sophisticated law enforcement have combined to take down the once secret and powerful underworld society. The characters around whom the stories are framed include mob bosses, turncoat witnesses, high living wiseguys and the women who loved and lost them. The names Nicky Scarfo, John Gotti, Phil Leonetti, Vincent Gigante, Ralph Natale, Joey Merlino will be familiar to anyone who has followed the headlines. Mobfiles provides the true stories around which classics like The Godfather and The Sopranos have been built. Anastasia s writing is a rare window into this murky world, bringing the reader up close to the principal players, their crimes, and their ultimate fates
