Peter Maas, who chronicled the lives of Mafia informants, government whistleblowers and incorruptible cops during a prolific 50-year career as an author and journalist, has died at the age of 72.
He made his name with the Valachi Papers (1969), the story of Joe Valachi, Mafia enforcer turned informant. Ironically, the manuscript was initially turned down by 24 publishers, who told Maas that "the Mafia didn't sell". When the book was taken up, the US government tried to block publication, claiming it would be "injurious to law enforcement".
Finally published, the first print run sold out in three days. The book went on to sell 2.5m copies, was translated into 14 languages and was made into what Maas called "one of the worst movies I've ever seen" (with Charles Bronson in the lead role). Maas's determination pioneered a new genre: The Godfather was published a year later, and there have since been more than 150 books about the Mafia.
Born to Dutch and Irish parents in New York, Maas first became interested in journalism while studying political science and history at Duke University. Working for the student newspaper, he got his first scoop - and $1,000 - after sneaking into a hospital to interview labour leader Walter Reuther, who was recovering from an assassination attempt.
After graduating in 1949, he worked for the New York Herald-Tribune in Paris, before joining Collier's magazine in 1955. Although drafted into the US navy during the Korean war, he saw no combat, and, after completing military service, worked for a variety of magazines before evolving into an investigative and campaigning reporter.
Maas was among the founding contributors to New York Magazine and considered himself part of the new journalism movement, with fellow writers Jimmy Breslin and Tom Wolfe, bringing the flourishes of fiction-writing to news stories during the early 1960s. But he insisted that he cared less about the storyline than what motivated strong characters. He drew national attention for his story about a black man who had served more time on death row than any other US prisoner.
It was, however, organised crime that made his name. His big break came in 1963, when he learned that an important underworld figure had turned government informer. Joseph Valachi was the first person to reveal the existence of the Mafia, at a time when there was great argument in America about whether it existed at all. Maas broke the story, and followed his series of articles with a book.
Three years later, he enjoyed another big success with Serpico, the story of the undercover New York police officer Frank Serpico, who refused to accept payoffs. The book gave rise to a shortlived television series, and Sidney Lumet's Academy Award-nominated film, starring Al Pacino.
Although The Valachi Papers brought Maas fame, his first book, The Rescuer, had been published two years earlier, in 1967. The true story of the admiral who developed the diving bell and masterminded the world's first submarine rescue on the eve of the second world war, it sold badly because, according to Maas, "it was Woodstock and nobody was interested in a submarine that went down in '39". A reworked version, The Terrible Hours (1999), topped the bestseller list.
Other titles by Maas included Killer Spy (1995), about the capture of turncoat CIA agent Aldrich Ames; King Of The Gypsies, an inside look at a power struggle within a Gypsy family; and Marie, about the Tennessee official Marie Ragghianti, who exposed widespread corruption.
Four years ago, Maas returned to the theme of organised crime with Underboss: Sammy "The Bull" Gravano's Story Of Life In The Mafia. Another bestseller, the book also courted controversy, when Gravano testified in court that he had received a portion of Maas's advance - a claim denied by the writer - and stood to make money from the sale of the film rights.
Maas is survived by screenwriter John-Michael Maas, the son of his marriage to Audrey Gallen, who died in 1975; and by his third wife, Suzanne, and their son, Terrance.