The American mafia has long held powerful sway over our collective cultural imagination. But how many of us truly understand how a clandestine Sicilian criminal organisation came to exert its influence over nearly every level of American society?

In BORGATA: RISE OF EMPIRE, former mafia member Louis Ferrante pulls back the curtain on the criminal organisation that transformed America. From the potent political cauldron of nineteenth-century Sicily to American cities such as New Orleans, New York and the gangster's paradise of Las Vegas, Ferrante traces the social, economic and political forces that powered the mafia's unstoppable rise. We follow the early mob as they provide alcohol to the American public during prohibition, aid U. S. Naval Intelligence during the Second World War, establish a gambling mecca in the Nevada desert - and unofficially take control of the island of Cuba.

Ferrante's vivid portrayal of early American mobsters - among them Lucky Luciano, Vito Genovese, Frank Costello and Meyer Lansky - fills in crucial gaps of mafia history to deliver the most comprehensive account yet of the world's most famous criminal fraternity.

This volume is the first in a groundbreaking new trilogy from a man who has seen it all from the inside. Ferrante's masterful account journeys from the group's inauspicious beginnings to the height of their power as the most influential organised criminal network in America.

Historians have previously glazed over the mafia's formative years. In this first volume, Ferrante explores its Sicilian roots, before following a cast of larger-than-life characters who arrived as fugitives on American shores. Through these and other lives - including legendary mobsters Lucky Luciano, Vito Genovese, Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Seigel - Ferrante tells the extraordinary story of the mafia's rise in America, as they provided alcohol during Prohibition, created the gambling mecca Las Vegas and practically took over the island of Cuba.

The average Mafia don knows more about effective leadership than a trunkful of Fortune 500 CEOs. For all the mob's well-deserved reputation for violence and immorality, its most successful members have always been remarkably astute businessmen. Former mobster Louis Ferrante reveals their surprisingly effective management techniques and explains how to apply them in any legitimate business. As an associate of the Gambino Family, Ferrante pulled off some of the biggest heists in U.S. history before the age of twenty-one, netting millions of dollars. His natural talent for management led bosses like John Gotti to rely on him. Now he offers time-tested Mafia wisdom, such as: * Three can keep a secret (if two are dead): Build trust with your colleagues. * You don't always need a gun to hit a target: Lead people without force. * It's never personal: When circumstances demand it, never hesitate to pull the trigger. Ferrante brings his real-life experience to the book, offering fascinating insights into Mafia behavior and sharing behind-the-scenes episodes almost as outrageous as those occurring on Wall Street every day.