The Goodfella Tapes

As mob families go, the Philadelphia Mafia is the most dysfunctional family of all—with brother turning against brother, sons turning on their fathers. In 1993, an embittered legacy of rivalry and hatred exploded into a brutal, bloody battle between old world mobster and the young, flamboyant Joey Merlino. However, this would be warfare different from any other. This time, the FBI had it all down on tape.

Among the mobsters caught on tape:

John Stanfa, the violent, often irrational, paranoid old-school mob don battling a new generation of savage young turks.

Rosario Bellocchi , the young Sicilian-born hitman in love with his boss’s daughter, who would do anything to get ahead—even kill his best friend.

John Veasey, the two-hundred-pound mad dog hitman who once had to postpone a hit—in order to visit his parole officer.

Drawing on four years of investigative work, and more than two thousand taped conversations, veteran true crime journalist George Anastasia takes readers inside the world of mobsters at war, and FBI agents so close on their heels that t hey even watched one hit unfold live through a surveillance camera.