The stunning blood-soaked saga of a real-life Godfather—Don Carlo Gambino—the quiet gangster with a whispery voice who struck fear into his enemies as he rose to the top of the Mafia family ladder, told by an insider who lived in that world, knew those families, and met Gambino face-to-face . . .

He was one of the four Mafia leaders who inspired Mario Puzo’s The Godfather—and perhaps, next to Lucky Luciano, the most powerful Mob boss of them all. Born into a mafioso family in Sicily, Carlo Gambino came to America illegally as a stowaway in 1921. Jumping ship in Virginia, he joined his cousins in Brooklyn and the Sicilian gangs that ruled the streets. By 1931, he was a soldier in Joe “The Boss” Masseria’s war with the Castellammarese clan, a bloody rivalry between Old World crime families that ended with the creation of the Five Families system by Luciano. Over the next three decades, Gambino rose higher in the ranks after a series of brutal Mob hits and executions. In 1957, following the murder of Albert “Lord High Executioner” Anastasia, Gambino took over—becoming the biggest crime boss in America.

This is the life and times of an underworld legend. Packed with shocking details and firsthand insights, Carlo Gambino: Boss of Bosses is the definitive account of this real-life Godfather, written by someone who grew up in that world and met Gambino personally. Author Frank DiMatteo’s chilling recollections of his encounters with Gambino add a rare human dimension to one of the greatest crime sagas ever told. It is the story of a quietly understated Mob boss who allegedly orchestrated some of the Mafia’s most infamous hits—including the barbershop shooting of Anastasia—but who miraculously served time only for tax evasion. For better or worse, Gambino’s story is the story of America, filled with ambition, fueled by greed, and riddled with bullets.