In the early 1900s, in New York, the Italian Black Hand extortion rings preyed on their own people. Joseph Valachi was born in Harlem in 1904 of a poor family. He became a member of the Minute Men gang in the 1920s, specializing in burglary. He went to prison (Sing Sing) more than once. He met Vincent "The Gap" Petrilli who promised to get him into the mob. From 1930 to 1931, the Castellammarese War, begun by Joe "The Boss" Masseria, waged like a feudal war and Valachi learned who killed whom and why. Charles "Lucky" Luciano engineered many of these murders and set up cooperative ventures between the families.

During this time, Valachi was initiated into the Cosa Nostra. Joe "Bananas" Bonanno became his gombah, or Godfather. Luciano kept consolidating his power, especially after the murders of Salvatore Maranzano and Arthur "Dutch Schultz" Flegenheimer. Luciano remained the head of the...