
American Gangsters: The Life and Legacy of Lucky Luciano
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $3.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Stephen Paul Aulridge Jr.
About this listen
The Mafia has long fascinated Americans, who have made celebrated pop culture fixtures out of men like Al Capone and turned movies and television series like The Godfather and The Sopranos into American institutions despite the violence associated with organized crime. Of all the notorious mobsters of the 20th century, the one most instrumental in putting the organization into organized crime and thus establishing the Mafia as it's recognized today was Lucky Luciano.
The man who would become the Father of Organized Crime in the United States was born Salvatore Lucania in Sicily, but he would quickly make a name for himself after his family moved to New York City when he was still a child. By his teenage years, he was running the streets, organizing his own teenage gang, and moving in circles with the likes of Meyer Lansky, who would become key figures in Lucky's rise to power.
From the top, Luciano would implement the organizations and mob rackets that are so familiar to Americans today. In addition to having the New York scene divided into the Five Families, Luciano established The Commission to discuss and govern organized crime across the country, and dipped his toes into every conceivable racket, including gambling, bookmaking, loan-sharking, drug trafficking, unions, labor, construction and extortion.
Eventually Lucky would run out of luck. After being arrested dozens of times over a 20 year period, Luciano was imprisoned in the mid-'30s, and a decade later he would be deported back to Italy. Nevertheless, Lucky continued to try to fight for control of organized crime in New York from his jail cell, Italy, and Cuba, staying in the game until the very end.
American Gangsters: The Life and Legacy of Lucky Luciano looks at the life and crime of the mob boss, his influence on organized crime, and his legacy.
©2012 Charles River Editors (P)2015 Charles River EditorsListeners also enjoyed...
-
A Man of Honor
- The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno
- By: Joseph Bonanno
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Joseph Bonanno found his future amid the whiskey-running, riotous streets of Prohibition America in 1924, when he illegally entered the United States to pursue his dreams. By the age of only 26, Bonanno became a don. He eventually took over the New York underworld, igniting the "Castellammarese War", one of the bloodiest Family battles ever to hit New York City.
-
-
A must read
- By E. Orlando on 05-03-17
By: Joseph Bonanno
-
Al Capone
- His Life, Legacy, and Legend
- By: Deirdre Bair
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his heyday to the present moment, Al Capone - Public Enemy Number One - has gripped popular imagination. Rising from humble Brooklyn roots, Capone went on to become the most infamous gangster in American history. At the height of Prohibition, his multimillion-dollar Chicago bootlegging, prostitution, and gambling operation dominated the organized-crime scene.
-
-
Not the Capone story you want to read
- By Helmut F Hoyer on 08-26-19
By: Deirdre Bair
-
The Deadly Don
- Vito Genovese, Mafia Boss
- By: Anthony M. DeStefano
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano presents the rise and fall of Vito Genovese in this first comprehensive biography of the legendary mafioso - from his childhood in Naples, Italy, and the beginnings of his bullet-ridden criminal career on lower Manhattan's mean streets, through his self-exile in the mid-1930s back to his homeland where he ran a black market operation under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, and his return to New York where Genovese made a fortune as the head of an illegal narcotics empire.
-
-
Borderline fiction
- By Luke Murphy on 07-31-21
-
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
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
7326451
- By Mark on 10-13-16
By: Selwyn Raab
-
Meyer Lansky: The Infamous Life and Legacy of the Mob’s Accountant
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Scott Clem
- Length: 1 hr and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meyer Lansky: The Infamous Life and Legacy of the Mob’s Accountant profiles the controversial life of one of organized crime’s most notorious figures. You will learn about Meyer Lansky like never before.
-
-
good read
- By Kindle Customer on 12-11-18
-
Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky
- The Controversial Mobsters Who Worked with Lucky Luciano to Form the National Crime Syndicate
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Scott Clem
- Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky profiles the friends and partners as they rose from the streets of the Lower East Side to become some of the most influential organized crime leaders in America. You will learn about Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky like never before.
-
-
The quality of the sound was terrible. Listening to this sounded like I was hearing a story through a broken speaker.
- By Anonymous User on 01-22-25
-
A Man of Honor
- The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno
- By: Joseph Bonanno
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Joseph Bonanno found his future amid the whiskey-running, riotous streets of Prohibition America in 1924, when he illegally entered the United States to pursue his dreams. By the age of only 26, Bonanno became a don. He eventually took over the New York underworld, igniting the "Castellammarese War", one of the bloodiest Family battles ever to hit New York City.
-
-
A must read
- By E. Orlando on 05-03-17
By: Joseph Bonanno
-
Al Capone
- His Life, Legacy, and Legend
- By: Deirdre Bair
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his heyday to the present moment, Al Capone - Public Enemy Number One - has gripped popular imagination. Rising from humble Brooklyn roots, Capone went on to become the most infamous gangster in American history. At the height of Prohibition, his multimillion-dollar Chicago bootlegging, prostitution, and gambling operation dominated the organized-crime scene.
-
-
Not the Capone story you want to read
- By Helmut F Hoyer on 08-26-19
By: Deirdre Bair
-
The Deadly Don
- Vito Genovese, Mafia Boss
- By: Anthony M. DeStefano
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano presents the rise and fall of Vito Genovese in this first comprehensive biography of the legendary mafioso - from his childhood in Naples, Italy, and the beginnings of his bullet-ridden criminal career on lower Manhattan's mean streets, through his self-exile in the mid-1930s back to his homeland where he ran a black market operation under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, and his return to New York where Genovese made a fortune as the head of an illegal narcotics empire.
-
-
Borderline fiction
- By Luke Murphy on 07-31-21
-
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
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
7326451
- By Mark on 10-13-16
By: Selwyn Raab
-
Meyer Lansky: The Infamous Life and Legacy of the Mob’s Accountant
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Scott Clem
- Length: 1 hr and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meyer Lansky: The Infamous Life and Legacy of the Mob’s Accountant profiles the controversial life of one of organized crime’s most notorious figures. You will learn about Meyer Lansky like never before.
-
-
good read
- By Kindle Customer on 12-11-18
-
Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky
- The Controversial Mobsters Who Worked with Lucky Luciano to Form the National Crime Syndicate
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Scott Clem
- Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky profiles the friends and partners as they rose from the streets of the Lower East Side to become some of the most influential organized crime leaders in America. You will learn about Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky like never before.
-
-
The quality of the sound was terrible. Listening to this sounded like I was hearing a story through a broken speaker.
- By Anonymous User on 01-22-25
-
The Mob and the City
- The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York
- By: C. Alexander Hortis
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Forget what you think you know about the Mafia. After reading this book, even life-long mob aficionados will have a new perspective on organized crime. Informative, authoritative, and eye-opening, this is the first full-length book devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s through 1950s.
-
-
Hard one to rate....
- By Jeffery D. Giuliani on 09-24-20
-
Little Man
- Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life
- By: Robert Lacey
- Narrated by: Ron Silver
- Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on interviews with Lansky's family, his close friends and criminal associates, law enforcement experts, and using previously unpublished documents written by Lansky himself, this is both the biography of a mob boss and a social history of American crime.
-
-
A good, straight, factual account
- By Philo on 12-17-14
By: Robert Lacey
-
The Godfather
- 50th Anniversary Edition
- By: Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola - introduction, Anthony Puzo - note, and others
- Narrated by: Joe Mantegna, Anthony Puzo, Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With its brilliant and brutal portrayal of the Corleone family, The Godfather burned its way into our national consciousness. This unforgettable saga of crime and corruption, passion and loyalty continues to stand the test of time, as the definitive novel of the Mafia underworld. A #1 New York Times bestseller in 1969, Mario Puzo's epic was turned into the incomparable film of the same name, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is the original classic that has been often imitated, but never matched.
-
-
Huge fan of the movie, loved this audiobook!
- By Dana on 10-04-13
By: Mario Puzo, and others
-
Mafia Democracy
- How Our Republic Became a Mob Racket
- By: Michael Franzese
- Narrated by: Michael Franzese
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Greed. Lies. Corruption. These are the foundational elements of the American Mafia story. Here, the pursuit of power overshadows even the desire for a dollar, and self-interest outweighs the greater good. It’s a world that’s foreign to the average American—or is it? The values of our democracy and those of Mafia culture are separated by a thin line that’s quickly disintegrating.
-
-
Pro Trump drivel
- By mrr1111 on 04-18-23
By: Michael Franzese
-
Mafia Prince
- Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family and the Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra
- By: Phillip Leonetti, Scott Burnstein, Christopher Graziano
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mafia Prince is the first-person account of one of the most violent eras in Mafia history - "Little" Nicky Scarfo’s reign as boss of the Philly family in the 1980s - written by Scarfo’s underboss and nephew, "Crazy" Phil Leonetti. The youngest-ever underboss at the age of 31, Leonetti was at the crux of the violent downfall of the traditional American Mafia in the 1980s when he infiltrated Atlantic City after gambling was legalized, and later turned state’s evidence against his own.
-
-
Guilty pleasure.
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 03-28-14
By: Phillip Leonetti, and others
-
The Gotti Wars
- Taking Down America's Most Notorious Mobster
- By: John Gleeson
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Gotti was without a doubt the flashiest and most feared Mafioso in American history. He became the boss of the Gambino Crime Family in spectacular fashion—with the brazen and very public murder of Paul Castellano in front of Sparks Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan in 1985. Not one to stay below law enforcement’s radar, Gotti instead became the first celebrity crime boss. His penchant for eye-catching apparel earned him the nickname “The Dapper Don;” his ability to beat criminal charges led to another: “The Teflon Don.”
-
-
I spoke to soon.
- By Ductman on 04-20-24
By: John Gleeson
-
The Life We Chose
- William “Big Billy” D’Elia and the Last Secrets of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Family
- By: Matt Birkbeck
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The “adopted” son of legendary organized crime boss Russell Bufalino, for decades D’Elia had unequaled access to the man the FBI and US Justice Department considered one of the leading organized crime figures in the United States. But the government had no real idea as to the breadth of Bufalino’s power and influence—or that it was Bufalino, from his bucolic home base in Pittston, Pennsylvania, who reigned over the five families in New York and other organized crime families throughout the country.
-
-
Interesting read about mafia
- By J. Frantz on 03-12-24
By: Matt Birkbeck
-
Gaspipe
- Confessions of a Mafia Boss
- By: Philip Carlo
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the boss of New York's Lucchese crime family, was a Mafia superstar, responsible for more than 50 murders. Currently serving 13 life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado, Casso has given journalist and New York Times best-selling author Philip Carlo the most intimate, personal look into the world of La Cosa Nostra ever seen.
-
-
The author fails the objectivity test
- By William on 11-29-08
By: Philip Carlo
-
American Mafia
- A History of Its Rise to Power
- By: Thomas Reppetto
- Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Organized crime - the Italian American kind - has long been a source of popular entertainment and legend. Now Thomas Reppetto provides a balanced history of the Mafia's rise - from the 1880s to the post-World War II era - that is as exciting as it is authoritative. Structuring his narrative around a series of case histories featuring such infamous characters as Lucky Luciano and Al Capone, Reppetto draws on a lifetime of field experience and access to unseen documents to show us a locally grown Mafia.
-
-
Mob at its best
- By Thomas on 02-14-23
By: Thomas Reppetto
-
Murder Machine
- A True Story of Murder, Madness, and the Mafia
- By: Gene Mustain, Jerry Capeci
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were the DeMeo gang - the most deadly hit men in organized crime. Their Mafia higher-ups came to know, use, and ultimately fear them as the Murder Machine. They killed for profit and for pleasure, following cold-blooded plans and wild whims, from the mean streets of New York to the Florida Gold Coast, and from coast to coast. Now complete with personal revelations of one of the key players, this is the savage story that leaves no corpse unturned in its terrifying telling.
-
-
stop browsing and just get it.
- By Patrick on 04-20-21
By: Gene Mustain, and others
-
The Cigar
- Carmine Galante, Mafia Terror
- By: Frank Dimatteo, Michael Benson
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The son of Sicilian immigrants, Camillo Carmine Galante was raised in Manhattan's Little Italy and by all accounts born bad. By fifteen he was terrorizing the streets of New York's Lower East Side, scoring high marks for the "errands" he was running for his La Cosa Nostra elders. When he turned twenty, Galante was already one of the mob's top enforcers-a sadistic thrill killer and clinically diagnosed psychopath with big dreams.
-
-
Lazy Attempt; Awful Narrator
- By Rich on 05-05-23
By: Frank Dimatteo, and others
-
King of the Godfathers
- “Big Joey” Massino and the Fall of the Bonanno Crime Family
- By: Anthony M. DeStefano
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 20 years, Joseph "Big Joey" Massino ran what was called the largest criminal network in the US, employing over 250 made men and untold numbers of associates. The Bonanno family was responsible for over 30 murders, even killing a dozen of its own members. He would be brought down by Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale, the underboss who was not only Massino's closest and most trusted friend but also his brother-in-law. King of the Godfathers is the story of the brutal mob war that made Massino head of the Bonanno family and the most powerful gangster in America.
-
-
a great book
- By tim on 04-11-22
What listeners say about American Gangsters: The Life and Legacy of Lucky Luciano
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- CJ
- 11-15-24
What can I say
What can I say
For history of Charles lucky Luciano and the audio version of this book gave us a very interesting version of his life. The narrator voice throughout this audiobook is used perfect to convey the seriousness impact Charles lucky Luciano was able to do
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Steve Adams
- 01-26-24
A nice overview of Lucky Luciano
It’s a short but very thorough biography on a very intriguing kingpin of the American underworld of the 20th century. It was an enjoyable read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lady Pamela
- 01-20-22
Lucky
Good light read that gives more background to Lucky Luciano. CRE did a good job summarizing his life and career in this short "read." If I write more, it will be longer than the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Will B
- 06-14-24
Horrible
It was like a high school book report. No detail. “He lived he did a few things he died”. You have just read the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!