Mafia Summit: J. Edgar Hoover, the Kennedy Brothers, and the Meeting That Unmasked the Mob
For much of the first half of the twentieth century, the oft-stated view and official policy of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover was that “organized crime” did not exist on a national level. This view allowed Hoover to concentrate on pursuing individual bank robbers and, of course, communists. But in November 1957, a rogues’ gallery of organized-crime figures convened in the small village of Apalachin, in upstate New York. Their purpose was to lay out ground rules so that various Mob factions could stop their incessant warfare. Thanks to the efforts of a determined and observant New York state trooper, Edgar Croswell, the gathering was put under surveillance and then raided. Scores of Cosa Nostra big shots from across the country were arrested and indicted. More important, even Hoover could not ignore the existence of a nationwide criminal organization. Reavill details the events leading to the meeting, and the aftermath, including the direct involvement of the federal government in fighting the Cosa Nostra. A well-done investigation. --Jay Freeman