Have you ever fantasized about living by your own rules, free from authority, and feared by everyone around you? In Underworld: How to Survive & Thrive in The American Mafia, true crime author Roman Martín presents the first-ever “self-help guide” to La Cosa Nostra—based on real interviews with high-ranking mobsters and insiders.

From loansharking, leg-breaking, and corpse disposal to secret Mafia initiation rituals and codes of honor, Martín takes readers deep inside the Italian-American Mafia. Drawing on decades of research and interviews with former mafiosi, wiseguys, and goodfellas, he exposes both the brutal realities and the cultural myths of organized crime in America.

But this book is more than dark comedy—it’s also a revealing exposé of how the Mafia operates, complete with FBI secrets, witness intimidation tactics, and the code of omertà. Martín explores the origins of the Sicilian Mafia in post-feudal Italy, its evolution into powerful Mafia clans in America, and the violent struggles that defined its legacy.