Peter Maas

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Peter Maas (born June 27, 1929 New York City , † August 23, 2001 ibid) was an American journalist and author .

He was best known for "The Valachi Papers" , with which the revelations of Pentito Joe Valachi about the American Cosa Nostra were published. In particular, it was here that the name La Cosa Nostra (Italian for “our cause”) for the US mafia was mentioned in public for the first time .

Maas was the first journalist to publish the story about Joe Valachi and was therefore sharply attacked by the Italian-American newspaper "Il Progresso"; An editorial assumed that mentioning the many Italian names could damage the image of Italians in the United States. Political pressure was built up through letters to senators and congressmen. The US Department of Justice withdrew its permission to publish the interrogation records . However, Peter Maas published his book despite these circumstances.

Through further publications Maas was considered a connoisseur of the American Cosa Nostra ; u. a. he became the biographer of Frank Serpico , a New York City Police Department officer who testified against corrupt colleagues.

In 1997 he wrote along with the gangster Sammy Gravano the book underboss , which a year later made into a film was.

Peter Maas comes from a family that has both Dutch and Irish roots. He attended Duke University and was married to Audrey Gellen Maas; together they adopted a son.

Works

  • 1967 - The Rescuer: The Extraordinary Life of the Navy's “Swede” Momsen and His Role in an Epic Submarine Disaster. (Parts were later republished in The Terrible Hours .)
  • 1969 - The Valachi Papers. ISBN 0-399-10832-7
  • 1973 - Serpico. Viking Press. New York. ISBN 0-670-63498-0 (together with Anthony Sampson )
  • 1974 - King of the Gypsies. ISBN 0-670-41317-8
  • 1979 - Made in America: A Novel. ISBN 0-670-44555-X
  • 1983 - Marie: A True Story. ISBN 0-671-60773-1
  • 1986 - Manhunt: The Incredible Pursuit of a CIA Agent Turned Terrorist. ISBN 0-394-55293-8
  • 1989 - Father and Son: A Novel. ISBN 0-671-63172-1
  • 1990 - In a Child's Name: The Legacy of a Mother's Murder. ISBN 0-671-69416-2
  • 1994 - China White: A Novel. ISBN 0-671-69417-0
  • 1996 - Killer Spy: Inside Story of the FBI's Pursuit and Capture of Aldrich Ames, America's Deadliest Spy. ISBN 0-446-60279-5
  • 1997 - Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's story of life in the Mafia , New York 1997, HarperCollins Publishing Company. ISBN 9780061096648 (German translation by Harald Riemann: Underboss: I was the second man; the life story of the Mafia boss Sammy “The Bull” Gravano , Munich / Vienna 1998. Bern / Scherz. ISBN 3-502-18430-5 )
  • 1999 - The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History. ISBN 0-06-019480-4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dagobert Lindlau : The Mob. Research on organized crime , dtv , Munich 1989, ISBN 3-455-08659-4 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Maas, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American journalist and author
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH August 23, 2001
Place of death New York City