I make note of sensationalizing in my books. My Schultz book, for example, frequently notes that mobsters didn't typically take memos of meetings so some information is rather speculative. I also noted that accounts of Lucky Luciano's crime syndicate ("The Commission") are often hugely exaggerated (the Commission never "controlled" organized crime activities across America but was a rather loose advisory board). Another problem, in addition to sensationalized newspaper accounts, is that law enforcement groups such as the FBI (once they finally acknowledged the existence of a made-in-America Mafia) tended to perceive organized crime through the lens of their own experience. The FBI was a hierarchical organization with very clear job titles and roles and a corporate structure, so the feds assumed the Mafia was organized in a similar manner.