If ever there was a heartthrob in the Mafia, it was Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano. A vain man of good looks, small means, and no family links to the mob, this handsome, fastidious ladies man steadily worked his way from gopher to acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, asserting himself as leader when official boss Joseph Massino went to the clink in 2003. In that respect, Basciano was like many of the men who had risen in the world of organized crime-but he was also different. At a time when the mob was crawling with secret operatives and informants who caved to government pressure to flip and stand witness, Basciano remained steadfast to the code of La Cosa Nostra. "I got faith in one guy," Basciano told a group of mobsters during a secretly taped breakfast meeting at a Long Island diner. That man was Joseph Massino, head of the Bonanno borgata, as the family is known. But for all his loyalty, Basciano was still a hot-headed, cold-blooded killer, which ultimately led to his arrest. Then, in a remarkable betrayal that shook the Five Families to their foundation, Massino secretly cooperated with the FBI-the first family head ever to roll over.

As a result, Basciano faced the death penalty, but a federal jury, disturbed by the inequality of FBI protection of criminal informants, reached a surprising verdict. Veteran crime author Anthony M. DeStefano tells the riveting story of the last true believer in the Mob's cult of brotherhood and how he was betrayed by the only man whom he ever trusted.