This is a biography of a person who was born and raised in a family highly connected to the mafia. This book was very good and I learned a lot about Joseph Bonanno. It discusses Joseph Bonanno, his mafia family, and how Bonanno went up the ranks to become a leader of the mafia family. This book shows what goes through a person’s mind when committing crimes and how people can justify their violent actions.  One interesting factor about the book is after its publication,  members of the mafia identified in the book were arrested from RICO law. RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. RICO law connects everyone a person talked about to the mafia and this book was used as direct evidence for prosecution under the RICO law. Bonanno does not think that the mafia will go on in the U.S., because the U.S. does not allow the business they had in Italy.

This book shows you how Joseph Bonanno was  introduced to organized crime and how he handled being in the mafia. This book describes Bonanno growing up in a poor immigrant neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY in the early 1900’s, and how the surroundings changed around him. Bonanno had a hard life because both of his parents died while he was young. He had to go to his uncle, which was not the best role model for him. His uncle, who worked in the mafia, introduced Bonanno to organized crime. This would later lead Bonanno to commit many crimes. Bonanno even was in a mafia war with Al Capone and the Capone mafia family!

  This book is a great example of how surroundings can change your relationship with the law. Most people will never know how it is to be a criminal. For instance, Bonanno watched as some of his friends and family members were injured or killed by rival families. This book allows people to see how Bonanno was raised, how he became such a big criminal, and how he became such a big part of the problem of organized crime in America. But in Bonanno’s eyes, he was carrying on a tradition and this is what he wanted to do and the right thing to do. He was raised not knowing right from wrong. Every day of his life he thought he was doing the right things.

The book shows what’s going through Bonanno’s mind when he does the crimes. His first real interaction with a mafia boss was when a person wanted to kill him. He was scared like anyone else would be. A man who was mad at Bonanno, because Bonanno was dating his daughter, threatened him and he felt scared for his life. This is when he started carrying around a gun with him at all times. Even though it was a felony to carry an illegal firearm, he did not care. This showed how Bonanno did not care about, or even think twice about violating the law. This was the start of Bonanno falling into organized crime.

In conclusion, the book “A Man of Honor” by Joseph Bonanno was a good book that would also make a great movie because it told tales of the actual mafia. It told us what Bonanno did, what he knew as common sense, and what was going on in his mind. If you are reading this without knowing Bonanno, you may think he is crazy and he never cared about anyone. This is not true because he stopped himself from doing things because of his wife and kids. This is surprising, but he also never killed or hurt a woman or a child. This is what I think would be the human part of him stopping him from doing something he would regret for the rest of his life. Bonanno was lucky because he never had to go to prison. He had been arrested, but not convicted and sent to prison. Bonanno did not know most of the things he was doing were wrong, and if he knew, he would most likely not have done them. The book had engaging storytelling, and it told the right amount of detail to get a good image in your mind to understand Bonanno’s life. If you're looking for a book to read and are interested in the history of organized crime, “A Man of Honor” is the book for you!