In the so-called Valachi hearings he gave the American public a firsthand account of Mafia activities in the United States.

Although Valachi was only expected to fill in the gaps in his formal questioning, the resulting account of his thirty-year criminal career was a rambling 1,180-page manuscript titled The Real Thing.

He hoped that publication of Valachi's story would aid law enforcement and possibly encourage other criminal informers to step forward.

[3][4] The American Italian Anti-Defamation League promoted a national campaign against the book on the grounds that it would reinforce negative ethnic stereotypes.

Katzenbach reversed his decision to publish the book after a meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson, an action that embarrassed the Justice Department.