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The Black Hand
- The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
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Publisher's summary
The gripping true story of the origins of the Mafia in America - and the brilliant Italian-born detective who gave his life to stop it.
Film rights optioned by Paramount Studios, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Beginning in the summer of 1903, an insidious crime wave filled New York City, and then the entire country, with fear. The children of Italian immigrants were kidnapped, and dozens of innocent victims were gunned down. Bombs tore apart tenement buildings. Judges, senators, Rockefellers, and society matrons were threatened with gruesome deaths. The perpetrators seemed both omnipresent and invisible. Their only calling card: the symbol of a black hand.
The crimes whipped up the slavering tabloid press and heated ethnic tensions to the boiling point. Standing between the American public and the Black Hand's lawlessness was Joseph Petrosino. Dubbed the "Italian Sherlock Holmes", he was a famously dogged and ingenious detective and a master of disguise. As the crimes grew ever more bizarre and the Black Hand's activities spread far beyond New York's borders, Petrosino and the all-Italian police squad he assembled raced to capture members of the secret criminal society before the country's anti-immigrant tremors exploded into catastrophe. Petrosino's quest to root out the source of the Black Hand's power would take him all the way to Sicily - but at a terrible cost.
Unfolding a story rich with resonance in our own era, The Black Hand is fast-paced narrative history at its very best.
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very interesting popular history
- By D. Littman on 11-28-08
By: Howard Blum
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A Bright and Guilty Place
- Murder, Corruption, and L.A.'s Scandalous Coming of Age
- By: Richard Rayner
- Narrated by: Brett Barry
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In A Bright and Guilty Place, an exhilarating tale of murder in L.A., Richard Rayner finds the source of the city's darkness in real-life events that unfolded in the 1920s, when the booming early years of L.A. started to shade into the Depression, and the city of sunshine revealed the hidden darkness and corruption at its heart.
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Didn't hold my interest
- By Hopesurvives on 11-03-17
By: Richard Rayner
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Tinseltown
- Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood
- By: William J. Mann
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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By 1920, the movies had suddenly become America's new favorite pastime and one of the nation's largest industries. Never before had a medium possessed such power to influence; yet Hollywood's glittering ascendancy was threatened by a string of headline-grabbing tragedies - including the murder of William Desmond Taylor, the popular president of the Motion Picture Directors Association, a legendary crime that has remained unsolved until now.
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Everybody's a dreamer...
- By Steven on 01-08-15
By: William J. Mann
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Get Capone
- The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster
- By: Jonathan Eig
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Jonathan Eig blows the lid off the Al Capone story. Based on never-before-seen government documents and newly discovered letters written by Al Capone himself, Get Capone presents America's greatest gangster as you’ve never seen him before.
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Get this book
- By Jonathan on 05-13-10
By: Jonathan Eig
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Animal
- The Bloody Rise and Fall of the Mob's Most Feared Assassin
- By: Casey Sherman
- Narrated by: Jim Goad
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Joe Barboza knew that there were two requirements for getting inducted into the Mafia. You had to be Sicilian. And you had to commit a contract killing. The New Bedford-born mobster was a proud Portuguese, not Sicilian, but his dream to be part of La Cosa Nostra proved so strong that he thought he could create a loophole. Barboza’s legacy, buried for years thanks to the murders or deaths of its participants, is finally coming to light and being told in its unvarnished brutality by one of America’s most respected true crime writers.
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Well done. 5 stars.
- By robert price on 03-03-19
By: Casey Sherman
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The President and the Assassin
- McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century
- By: Scott Miller
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1901, as America tallied its gains from a period of unprecedented imperial expansion, an assassin's bullet shattered the nation's confidence. The shocking murder of President William McKinley threw into stark relief the emerging new world order of what would come to be known as the American Century.
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An Ideal History Book for the Audio Format
- By Nelson Alexander on 09-30-11
By: Scott Miller
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Killers of the Flower Moon
- The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee, Danny Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
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An outstanding story, highly recommended
- By S. Blakely on 06-22-17
By: David Grann
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City of Scoundrels
- The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago
- By: Gary Krist
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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When 1919 began, the city of Chicago seemed on the verge of transformation. Modernizers had an audacious, expensive plan to turn the city from a brawling, unglamorous place into "the Metropolis of the World". But just as the dream seemed within reach, pandemonium broke loose and the city’s highest ambitions were suddenly under attack by the same unbridled energies that had given birth to them in the first place.
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Great History of a Great City
- By Cookie on 08-30-12
By: Gary Krist
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Paddy Whacked
- The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster
- By: T. J. English
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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In Paddy Whacked, best-selling author and organized crime expert T. J. English brings to life nearly two centuries of Irish American gangsterism, which spawned such unforgettable characters as Mike "King Mike" McDonald, Chicago's subterranean godfather; Big Bill Dwyer, New York's most notorious rumrunner during Prohibition; Mickey Featherstone, troubled Vietnam vet turned Westies gang leader; and James "Whitey" Bulger, the ruthless and seemingly untouchable Southie legend.
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First Half - 4 Stars - Second Half - 2 Stars
- By Lulu on 08-29-16
By: T. J. English
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Boston Mob
- The Rise and Fall of the New England Mob and Its Most Notorious Killer
- By: Marc Songini
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The New England Mafia was a hugely powerful organization that survived by using violence to ruthlessly crush anyone that threatened it, or its lucrative gambling, loansharking, bootlegging, and other enterprises. From information based on newly declassified documents and the use of underworld sources, Boston Mob spans the gutters and alleyways of East Boston, Providence, and Charlestown to the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C., and Boston's Beacon Hill. Its players include governors and mayors, and the Mafia Commission of New York City.
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Entertaining
- By joeyg1963 on 12-07-19
By: Marc Songini
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Gangsters vs. Nazis
- How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in Wartime America
- By: Michael Benson
- Narrated by: Gabriel Vaughan
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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As Adolph Hitler rose to power in 1930s Germany, a growing wave of fascism began to take root on American soil. Nazi activists started to gather in major American cities, and by 1933, there were more than one hundred anti-Semitic groups operating openly in the United States. Few Americans dared to speak out or fight back—until an organized resistance of notorious mobsters waged their own personal war against the Nazis in their midst. Gangland-style.
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What, you couldn’t find one culturally Jewish narrator?
- By Deborah Bancroft on 12-29-22
By: Michael Benson
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Hellhound on His Trail
- The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin
- By: Hampton Sides
- Narrated by: Hampton Sides
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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On April 23, 1967, Prisoner #416J, an inmate at the notorious Missouri State Penitentiary, escaped in a breadbox. Fashioning himself Eric Galt, this nondescript thief and con man - whose real name was James Earl Ray -drifted through the South, into Mexico, and then Los Angeles, where he was galvanized by George Wallace's racist presidential campaign. With relentless storytelling drive, Sides follows Galt and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the crushing moment at the Lorraine Motel.
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History Comes Alive
- By L. Lyter on 06-29-10
By: Hampton Sides
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Dark Invasion
- 1915: Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America
- By: Howard Blum
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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When a “neutral” United States becomes a trading partner for the Allies early in World War I, the Germans implement a secret plan to strike back. A team of saboteurs - including an expert on germ warfare, a Harvard professor, and a brilliant, debonair spymaster - devise a series of “mysterious accidents” using explosives and biological weapons, to bring down vital targets such as ships, factories, livestock, and even captains of industry like J. P. Morgan. New York Police Inspector Tom Tunney, head of the department’s Bomb Squad, is assigned the difficult mission of stopping them.
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German American Intrigue in World War I
- By Hans Rigelman on 10-24-19
By: Howard Blum
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Midnight in Peking
- How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China
- By: Paul French
- Narrated by: Erik Singer
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Peking in 1937 is a heady mix of privilege and scandal, opulence and opium dens, rumors and superstition. The Japanese are encircling the city, and the discovery of Pamela Werner's body sends a shiver through already nervous Peking. Is it the work of a madman? One of the ruthless Japanese soldiers now surrounding the city? With the suspect list growing and clues sparse, two detectives - one British and one Chinese - race against the clock to solve the crime before the Japanese invade and Peking as they know it is gone forever.
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When history can be stranger than fiction
- By Jeremy on 01-04-13
By: Paul French
What listeners say about The Black Hand
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- TOM
- 01-11-18
good listen
I thaught this was a great book. I had never heard of The Black Hand. Love the time period as well. All around good listen.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mark
- 07-19-18
Listen and Learn.
I think if you come at this book with the expectation of a history lesson, you will enjoy it much more (if you like learning). It was a very interesting read. I never even heard of the Black Hand Society and the author did a great job teaching me.
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- Navy Nick
- 03-16-18
Great historical storytelling.
This book is a rare glimpse into the repeating battle that each immigrant group must fight with earlier settlers and with itself in order to become Americans.
More than anything else it is a tribute to an amazing American.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Lindsey
- 12-20-23
Fascinating
I had no idea about the black hand and found the whole story fascinating. It was an easy listen and really informative.
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- Leslie W. Stewart III
- 06-19-17
What a story...!
This is a audio/book that everyone with an interest in the Mafia, gangsters, organized crime or even New York should pickup. From what I know very few Italians either know or admit to their history and yet it's so rich with details and history.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Shane Hensley
- 11-13-21
Great book but more about Petrosino
It's really a book about Joseph Petrosino. He certainly deserves it and a whole lot more than the minor accolades history has given him. But the book does give you a good idea of what the black hand was like, how terrible they were, and how ignoring them gave us a century or more of corruption in our major cities. Maybel we should be learning from them today.
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- E
- 12-27-17
I was expecting a dramatization
Although this book was well written, well narrated and very interesting - I was expecting it to be a dramatization based on true events. When in actual fact it reads more like an interesting history book, with a spattering of dialogue peppered in.
Was a bit disappointing. I’m interested to see how they make it more engaging for the upcoming movie.
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- GM
- 06-04-17
Like a newspaper from the 19th century
struggled to stay awake. it was an interesting story and the narrator is servicable, but a little smug and snarky.
it's like the author is the boring guy at a dinner party that tells the excruciatingly long story that is interesting but goes on way to long
not a failure and certainly entertaining at points, this would be an excellent book if you were doing background research for your own novel
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3 people found this helpful
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- Eeryn Lubicich
- 05-24-17
Society of the Black Hand/ Order of the Family
What made the experience of listening to The Black Hand the most enjoyable?
The back story of an Italian Detective noted for his photographic memory and integrity. During a time during the Birth of the dark side of the Mafia. Joe Petrosino would stop at nothing to protect innocent lives from unfathomable crimes.
Locations included are a learning tool I find useful. Naples in Italy, Boston, Midwest, and mainly Little Italy in New York.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Joe Petrosino
Have you listened to any of Scott Aiello’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Black Hand Society or Order Of The Family
Any additional comments?
Petrosino had a fond Love for the Violin and Opera
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- Andy Kucharski
- 03-10-23
very good book
great book and story loved the history and the gritty and sometimes gruesome details but poor narration
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