Murder Machine: A True Story of Murder, Madness, and the Mafia

I have read numerous books on this subject and found this to be the most enlightening I have yet read. The authors write in compelling prose and succeed in keeping this long and complex story moving along. I was captivated. Uniquely, it explains how young men become inveigled into this monstrous life of crime. The authors show, and the reader will understand, how there should be no sympathy whatsoever for what these young men became and for the terrible crimes they committed during their “careers”as Mafia hit men. I highly recommend this book to anyone fascinated with organized crime.

Well written descriptive page turner.

Although cinematic portrayals of the Mafia have generated plenty of cringe-worthy moments, reading about the real-life deeds of Nino Gaggi’s murderous underlings makes the “Sopranos” appear like a series more suitable for Nickelodeon. MURDER MACHINE details the rise and fall of a Gambino-family crew that may have been responsible for up to 200 murders and how the legal system finally caught on to them.While I thought this was going to be a book exclusively about the notorious Roy DeMeo, it actually isn’t. MURDER MACHINE presents a broader perspective by illustrating DeMeo and his gang of thugs as an efficiently effective cog in the Gambino family wheel of criminal activity. The main underlying theme that runs throughout the book is the tempestuous relationship between Nino Gaggi and his nephew, Dominick Montiglio … a relationship that eventually gave law enforcement the tools necessary to shut down the “Murder Machine”.What I really liked about MURDER MACHINE is that the authors provide readers with a complete picture of Mafia serial killing. A story that starts with a patriarchal Nino Gaggi essentially stealing his nephew, Dominick, to serve as his pseudo-son and how that tenuous relationship ultimately implodes and ends with Dominick providing prosecutors the nails needed to seal the Gaggi/Demeo coffin. While the Gaggi/Montiglio team serves as bookends to the storyline; DeMeo and his crew provide the (no pun intended) “meat” in the middle. Mustain and Capeci do a good job illustrating the seedy atmosphere of New York in the 1970s that suitably caters to the criminal activity and grisly murders committed by the DeMeo gang. The detailing vividly covers events in a manner that make it easy to image the entire storyline in movie-like fashion. I particularly appreciated this aspect of the book as it thoroughly illustrates the depravity of Gaggi and DeMeo’s activities. While some may feel the minutiae bogs the story down, I considered it critical in providing the clarity needed with so many individuals and events meshing together.What separates MURDER MACHINE from so many other Mafia-related books is that it covers a particularly bloodthirsty group of men that seemed wired to kill and did so with relish. Roy Demeo angle was certainly interesting and it is clear that the man was an insecure thug without a conscience. DeMeo’s name gets all the attention, but his crew of underlings were just as bad, if not worse … and all killing was generally done with capo Gaggi’s unspoken approval. As long as the money flowed to Gaggi and his superior, Gambino boss Paul Castellano, no one seemed to care who was killed, how they were killed or how the money was made. The book eerily illustrates how the Mafia’s tendrils crept into the everyday lives New Yorkers and it didn’t just involve drugs or loan-sharking. DeMeo’s crew was responsible for stealing thousands of cars … every year. Paralleling the criminal activities is the slow creep of law enforcement linking murders to Gaggi/DeMeo and eventually building an operation to take them down by getting Mafia underlings to become witnesses for the prosecution.While murder and dismemberment are the book’s trademarks, I found the machination within the Gambino crime family and the characters involved more compelling. MURDER MACHINE continuously introduces readers to a cast of characters that keep things interesting. Aside from the insecurities of Gaggi and DeMeo, there is Dominick Montiglio, the Green Beret who fought with valor in Vietnam only to become embroiled in his uncle’s criminal empire and eventually succumbing to the debauchery associated with his uncle’s Mafia life. It is Dominick who seems to provide much of the book’s details. The other characters in the book give the stories color: Vito Arena, the obese gay hitman, the “Gemini Twins” and their enthusiasm toward dismembering victims, “Dracula” the creepy old mobster who actually lived in the apartment where the dismembering was done and a host of other interesting criminals and victims. In some cases, even friends become prey for the “murder machine”. We also get a clear picture of the guiltless lust for power and money exhibited by Mafia members and the paranoia it infuses within the ranks … no one is truly safe or invincible … as most of the characters, including DeMeo, find out.One thing I did find quite interesting is that Richard “Iceman” Kuklinski is NEVER mentioned in the 458 page book. My initial introduction to Roy DeMeo was from watching HBO’s “The Iceman Tapes” in which Kuklinski coldly places himself as a major hitman in DeMeo’s crew of killers. MURDER MACHINE either debunks Kuklinski’s claims or simply ignores his “contributions”. Considering the number of unsolved murders/missing people possibly linked to DeMeo, it is still hard to tell whether or not Kuklinski was or wasn’t involved with any of the killing.While I didn’t find MURDER MACHINE particularly “chilling”, it does reveal how ruthless the Mafia is and how indiscriminant its members can be when it comes to killing those who’ve crossed or inconvenienced them. The criminal activity and the story of those committing the crimes comprise the soul of MURDER MACHINE, not the grisly method of disposing bodies. This is certainly one of the better Mafia storylines I’ve read over the years and it seems to work hand-in-hand with the filthy, run-down image of New York City in the 70s.

Fantastic read I found by accident. I think I’ll reread in a few years because there’s just so much depth to it. The beauty of books like this and the access to the internet you can look up events, small time players, where are they now…..etc. etc. Highly recommend this book to anyone who likes true crime, mafia, gangster books/movies.

One of the best mafia books, without a doubt. If you like books on mob history this is a must read.

I went to school with one of the subjects in the book and I was interested in what happened to him after high school. The book was interesting and I enjoyed reading about something I knew nothing about, crime!

Murder Machine is written in such a way that you feel that you are right there in the mix of all the murder and mahem that is going on within a faction of the Mafia. And boy, there is more murder than I might have guessed. I found the first 60% of the book to be fascinating. I felt that it bogged down somewhat after that where I'd just skim pages for awhile. I did read in more detail near the end because I wanted to find out what happened in or out of court with the main characters. If you have interest in the Mafia, this book is recommended reading.

This book brings you to the time and events as if you are standing next to the events unfolding in front of you. It accurately puts both crime and punishment in balance and keeps you hoping for the good to prevail until the very end...This is the1st organized true crime I read in 2001 and have been hooked since. I re-read it now in 2017 and again I couldn't put it down. What's most amazing to me is that the facts have held up over time and alighned with crimes and arrests after, this could only mean that the sources have been truthful and the authors investigated the facts to a superb level, before printing. I would challenge Any reader to not be addicted to organized true crime after reading this book. Furthermore this book should go down as a true crime classic and a basis for historians interested in organized crime in the late 70s to the mid eighties Era. Truly the best true organized crime book I've ever read.

Ive read this book 3x already, i gave it away to goodwill 10yrs ago, and regret it, so i had to refresh my brain on how much i love this book. My favorite book ever is fight club by chuck pahlaniuk, but this book is #2 hands down. You will learn all about roy demeo, the mafia associate, (who was never a made member, because of his involvement in drugs (which were forbidden in the gambino family), and his uncontrollable attitude), you will learn about the gemini twins, (roys hitmen), and above all else the gemini method, which was responsible for close to 200 murders, you'll also learn about the ICE MAN, who became roy's personal hitman, and because the ice man was not italian, roy used him to defy orders from the family, because most did not even know about a polish man's involvement...this book goes in brutal details of most murders, roy's involvement in loansharking, hijacking, stolen cars, drugs,You think of it, roy probably did it. Demeo was the biggest earner in the gambino family, and he was never a member. It was a job to him, not a lifestyle. Wikipedia has great info on him too, but this book comes from FBI and witness first accounts. I highly recommend after reading this book, you also read "for the sins of my father", which is a book roy's son wrote about his accounts growing up oblivious to his father's career. The best mob book you will ever read i promise

Fantastic Book. Well written and researched. I am from Sydney Australia. Had never heard of Roy De Meo and Nino Gaggi etc, but reading the story, it was like better than the book Wiseguys. If Scorsese made this book into a movie, it would be better than Goodfellas, and Goodfellas is a good story.

This is a truly unique story and the depths of depravity that Roy & his crew sank to are truly unprecedented in the anals of organized crime ! The story is well researched and well written by the author. Pictures of the main players are included and understandably there are no grisly crime scene pictures in the book because most of the victims of the DeMeo crew wound up in the Fountain avenue dump !There are lots of fascinating characters in this book not least Danielle Deneux and you will realise why towards the end of the book ! Other fascinating people who crossed the paths of the crew include Cherie Golden, Babette Questal and Andrei Katz, at this point I should advise potential readers to look out for a particular detail of what Andrei Katz (a self professed ladies man I should add !) was wearing underneath for his date with Babette Questal on his fateful night ! The story is captivating and amazing in the sense that even Roy ,despite what he did, really loved Chris Rosenberg ….I like the way the author really went inside the lives of the players involved and the story almost unfolds like a soap and its at the end that the true extent of the destruction is apparent – its hard believe the events described really happened but they did - What a story . !

Roy de Meo war sicherlich der spektakulärste Killer, Gangster und Mafiosi in der Geschichte New York. Das überrascht vielleicht, weil John Gotty, Paul Castellano oder Carlo Gambino sicherlich bekannter sind, aber zu unrecht. Roy de Meo war nicht nur ein kriminelles Talent, ein Rain-Man, jemand der Geld sprichwörtlich regnen lassen konnte, sondern auch ein kranker psychopathischer Mörder, der seine Opfer auseinanderschnippelte und auf diese Weise verschwinden lies. Und de Meo war ein charismatischer Anführer: Er baute regelrecht eine kleine Horror-Gemeinde um sich herum auf. Das Buch ist sehr ausführlich, dennoch bleibt unklar, warum sich eine Mafia-Gruppe so extrem, so gewaltätig und krank entwickeln konnte. Ein Erklärungsversuch war sicherlich, dass Antony Gaggi und Paul Castellano nicht nur extrem gut an diesen Menschen verdienten, sondern auch viel Macht durch deren Mörder-Eigenschaften gewannen, viele andere Crews des Gambino-Clans hatten extreme Angst vor De Meo, Gaggi und Castellano, weil sie nicht wußten, ob sie auf der Liste landeten oder nicht. Dazu kam dann ja noch der Bruch mit der alten Mafia: Die De-Meo-Crew war jung, vollgedröhnt und hemmungslos. Ein Mord mehr oder weniger beunruhigte niemanden, denn lange genug konnte die Gruppe sogar gänzlich außerhalb von FBI- und Polizeiermittlungen ohne großes Risiko arbeiten.

good read