LAST DON STANDING The Secret Life of Mob Boss Ralph Natale

The Total Tutor Neil Haley will interview Ralph Natale.

Ralph Natale, who was crucial to the return to power in the Philadelphia area of the Mafia, also became the first-ever La Cosa Nostra boss to turn federal witness. Natale gave unfettered access to award-winning writer Larry McShane and award-winning producer Dan Pearson to compile one of the most powerful never-before-told tales inside the workings of an organized crime “family” for the book LAST DON STANDING: The Secret life of Mob Boss Ralph Natale (Thomas Dunne Books, on sale March 21. 2017, $25.99).

Smart, savvy, and articulate, Natale came up through the ranks of the mob at first as the son of a numbers runner but quickly rose to the upper echelon of the crime syndicate. He began by serving as the brutal right-hand man for the boss Angelo Bruno as they launched their attempts to take over the Atlantic City casino unions. Zealous prosecutors jailed Natale in the late 1970s and he spent 16 years in lock up, never uttering a word about the life he led and refusing to testify against his fellow made men despite repeated efforts by the government – including a Senate investigative committee -- to entice him to talk.

Upon his release he came back home and quickly retook the crime family as his own. The result was a blood letting of a mob war that left bodies scattered all over South Philadelphia. Once in complete power as the Don of Philly, he worked tirelessly to forge  strong connections nationwide, invigorated the family with more allies than they had in decades, and achieved a status within the mob never seen before or since until he was betrayed by his own, younger, Mafia cohorts. With nowhere to turn, Natale did the unthinkable: he became the first Don to turn federal witness.