The Don: 36 Rules of the Bosses

From Cosa Nostra expert RJ Roger and publishing genius Joost Elffers, a riveting history of the Mafia in America, the undeniable sweep and power of The Five Families, and their Machiavellian strategies - all condensed into an electrifying guidebook for understanding and harnessing the Mafia’s philosophy of successfully rising within any hierarchy (legally, of course).

A captivating history of the Mafia in America as well as an illuminating breakdown of the formidably effective—indeed ruthless—success strategies of the infamous Five Families that ruled, for anyone who’s ever wondered what it takes to be a boss.




The Don: 36 Rules of the Bosses is the fascinating culmination of author RJ Roger's extensive research into the Italian-American Cosa Nostra. Analyzing more than 100 years of underworld history, Roger has distilled the behavior of the bosses of the Five New York Mafia families—the most powerful in the United States—into 36 rules. Unwritten until codified in The Don, these rules were the foundation of the bosses’ success for over a century.

Created in collaboration with Joost Elffers, the producer behind Robert Greene’s international bestseller The 48 Laws of Power, Roger’s The Don: 36 Rules of the Bosses details the history of the American Mafia. More important, it elucidates the strategies by which the bosses of the Five Families achieved and held power.

Many of these leaders were devotees of Niccolò Machiavelli's treatise The Prince, a manual for would-be rulers written in 1513 and still read today by power brokers of many kinds around the world. Understanding the influence of this book on the most successful Mafia bosses, and also applying his expertise in contemporary business practices and his deep knowledge of America’s underworld, Roger has identified 36 rules common to them all. In The Don, he explains these rules in ways that will be useful to any reader hoping to gain power, whether personally, politically, or in business.