From Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy —the #1 bestseller that became Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award–winning film GoodFellas—comes the brilliantly told true story of love, marriage, adultery, murder, and revenge, Mafia-style . . . the shattering inside account of how the mob finally lost its stranglehold over the neon money-making machine it created: the multibillion-dollar casino gambling industry of Las Vegas.

No one knew more about casinos than Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, the gambling mastermind who, along with his best friend and partner, Anthony Spilotro, virtually ran Las Vegas for the mob. For years, it was the perfect arrangement—Lefty provided the smarts, while Tony kept the bosses happy with their weekly suitcases filled with millions in skimmed cash.

It should have lasted forever, but Lefty’s obsession with running the town—and Tony’s obsession with Lefty’s beautiful showgirl wife, Geri—eventually led to the betrayals and investigations that exploded into one of the greatest debacles in mob history.

This is the true-crime bestseller that was the basis for Martin Scorsese's film masterpiece GoodFellas, which brought to life the violence, the excess, the families, the wives and girlfriends, the drugs, the payoffs, the paybacks, the jail time, and the Feds...with Henry Hill's crackling narration drawn straight out of Wiseguy and overseeing all the unforgettable action. "Nonstop...absolutely engrossing" (The New York Times Book Review).

Read it and experience the secret life inside the mob--from one who's lived it.

The enthralling story of Henry Hill's life as a gangster and notorious participation in the Witness Protection Programme, made into the hugely acclaimed Martin Scorsese film _________________________ 'Absolutely engrossing' - New York Times 'The best book ever written on organised crime' - Cosmopolitan 'A riveting account of organised crime as a way of life ... extraordinary' - Publishers Weekly _________________________ 'At the age of twelve my ambition was to be a gangster. To me being a wiseguy was better than being president of the United States. To be a wiseguy was to own the world.' GoodFellas is Henry Hill's own story, telling the fascinating and sometimes brutal details of the day-to-day life of a working New York mobster - the violence, wild spending sprees, his wife, his mistress, his code of honour. From the small-time scamming of his early years, his first arrest at the age of sixteen and initiation into the dealings of his wiseguy friends and bosses, Henry Hill tells of the good times, dodgy dealings, indulgences, and the insularity of the mob-controlled neighbourhoods. But things start to go too far. To save his own life, Hill turns into a Federal witness, and the mob is to this day still hunting him down for revealing their involvement in hundreds of crimes including arson, extortion, hijacking, the six-million dollar Lufthansa heist (the most successful cash robbery in US history), and murder.

Rao's, the hundred-year-old restaurant with a mere ten tables tucked in a corner of East Harlem in what was once a  legendary Italian
neighborhood, is one of the most sought-after restaurants in all of Manhattan. Its tables are booked months
in advance by regulars who go to enjoy what The New York Times calls its "exquisitely simple Italian cooking" from traditional recipes,
many as old as Rao's itself. You may not get a table at Rao's, but now with this book you can prepare the best Italian home-style food in the
world in your own kitchen. Here for the first time are recipes for all of Rao's fabulous classics--its famous marinara sauce, seafood salad,
roasted peppers with pine nuts and raisins, baked clams, lemon chicken, chicken scarpariello, and on and on.
The recipes are accompanied by photographs that re-create Rao's magic and testimonials from loyal Rao's fans--
from Woody Allen to Beverly Sills. Here too is a brief history of the restaurant by Nicholas Pileggi and a Preface by Dick Schaap.
Both will convince you that what you have in your hands is a national treasure, a piece of history, and a collection of the best Italian
American recipes you will ever find.