About the book: the year / Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo and Lucchese. For decades, these five families ruled New York and turned the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into a criminal empire. Today the Mafia is a dying breed, battered and besieged by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals and generational changes that have produced cruel and untrustworthy leaders and recruits. The twenty-year crackdown on five families in particular resulted in the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century. The book "Five Families" is a vivid story of the rise and fall of the leading dons of New York, from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano, John Gotti and others. The book also introduces the reader to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement turn their attention to national security and fight organized crime..