Peter Maas
Peter Maas (* June 27, 1929 New York City; † August 23, 2001 ) was an American journalist and author.
He was known in particular by "The Valachi Papers", with which the revelations of Joe Valachi Pentito about the U.S. Cosa Nostra have been published. In particular, fell for the first time in public the name of La Cosa Nostra (it: our cause ) for the U.S. Mafia.
Maas was the first journalist who published the story about Joe Valachi and was therefore attacked by the Italian-American newspaper "Il Progresso " sharp; in an editorial, it was assumed that could suffer the image of Italians in the United States by the mention of the many Italian names. Political pressure has been built up by sending letters to senators and congressmen. The permission to publish the interrogation transcripts was withdrawn by the U.S. Department of Justice. However, Peter Maas published his book, despite these circumstances.
Further single releases Maas was considered a connoisseur of La Cosa Nostra; inter alia, he was the biographer of Frank Serpico, a police officer of the New York City Police Department, who testified against corrupt colleagues.
In 1997, he co-wrote with the gangsters Sammy Gravano, the book Underboss that was filmed a year later.
Peter Maas comes from a family that has both Dutch and Irish roots. He attended Duke University and was married to Audrey yells Maas; together they adopted a son.