Little Vic and the Great Mafia War

From award-winning New York Daily News reporter Larry McShane, the gritty, bloody, first definite biography of one of the Mafia's deadliest contenders for boss, "Little Vic" Orena, who battled it out in the streets with Carmine "The Snake" Persico for control of the Colombo Family and triggered the bloodiest Mafia war of our times . . .

June 20, 1991. A five-man hit team waited in a car outside the Long Island home of Victor Orena, the acting crime boss of the Colombo crime family. Orena recognized the vehicle--and managed to escape with his life. But it was just the beginning. Over the next year, more shots would be fired in what would become the last major mob war in New York's crime-soaked history--and one of the bloodiest. The war ended with Orena's 1992 arrest and conviction for racketeering. But the full story of "Little Vic's" astonishing rise and fall has never been told. Until now . . .

With shocking new revelations from Orena's son Andrew, this eye-opening account takes readers inside the criminal underworld of New York's infamous "Five Families" from the point of view of one of its rising stars. The grandson of Sicilian immigrants, Victor Orena ingratiated himself with the local Mafiosi during his teens, ultimately aligning himself with the Colombos. Ascending the ranks, he eventually became acting boss of the family when its don Carmine "The Snake" Persico was sentenced to prison. But as Persico struggled to maintain control from behind bars, Orena decided to seize that power for himself--launching a ruthless mob war the city would never forget.

It's all here: the Mafia hits, the FBI stings, the bullets and the backstabbings. Featuring a rogues gallery of legendary mobsters--from the Gallo brothers to the Gambinos and John Gotti--this riveting account sheds new light on one of the most fascinating chapters in American crime.

Author: Larry McShane
Publisher: Citadel Press
Published: 02/25/2025
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780806543604

About the Author
Larry McShane is an award-winning nonfiction author and crime journalist whose career spans more than four decades with the Associated Press and the New York Daily News. A native New Yorker who has chronicled the Five Families since the 1985 Mob hit on Gambino boss "Big Paul" Castellano outside Sparks Steak House, he has appeared as an expert on numerous television and radio programs, including the HISTORY documentary American Godfathers: The Five Families. He is the author of the nonfiction books Chin: The Life and Crimes of Mafia Boss Vincent Gigante, Cops Under Fire, Last Don Standing, and Little Vic and the Great Mafia War. He lives with his family in New Jersey.