Download or read book Cosa Nostra A History of the Sicilian Mafia written by John Dickie and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Italian-American mafia has its roots in a mysterious and powerful criminal network in Sicily. While the mythology of the mafia has been widely celebrated in American culture, the true origins of its rituals, laws, and methods have never actually been revealed. John Dickie uses startling new research to expose the secrets of the Sicilian mafia, providing a fascinating account that is more violent, frightening, and darkly comic than anything conceived in popular movies and novels. How did the Sicilian mafia begin? How did it achieve its powerful grip in Italy and America? How does it operate today? From the mafia's origins in the 1860s to its current tense relationship with the Berlusconi government, Cosa Nostra takes us to the inner sanctum where few have dared to go before. This is an important work of history and a revelation for anyone who ever wondered what it means to be "made" in the mob.
Download or read book The Sicilian Mafia written by Diego Gambetta and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1996-02-01 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a society where trust is in short supply and democracy weak, the Mafia sells protection, a guarantee of safe conduct for parties to commercial transactions. Drawing on the confessions of eight Mafiosi, Diego Gambetta develops an elegant analysis of the economic and political role of the Sicilian Mafia.
Download or read book From Clans to Co ops written by Theodoros Rakopoulos and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2017-11-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Clans to Co-ops explores the social, political, and economic relations that enable the constitution of cooperatives operating on land confiscated from mafiosi in Sicily, a project that the state hails as arguably the greatest symbolic victory over the mafia in Italian history. Rakopoulos’s ethnographic focus is on access to resources, divisions of labor, ideologies of community and food, and the material changes that cooperatives bring to people’s lives in terms of kinship, work and land management. The book contributes to broader debates about cooperativism, how labor might be salvaged from market fundamentalism, and to emergent discourses about the ‘human’ economy.
Download or read book Octopus written by Claire Sterling and published by W. W. Norton. This book was released on 1990-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the development of the world's largest international crime syndicate and examines their control of the illegal drug trade
Download or read book Mafia written by A.G.D. Maran and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-09-02 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The pre-dawn arrests of the last remaining mafiosi in December 2008 signalled the end of the Sicilian Mafia as we know it. In Mafia: Inside the Dark Heart, A.G.D. Maran charts the complete history of the world's most infamous criminal organisation, from its first incarnation as an alternative form of local government in the Sicilian countryside and arguable force for 'good' to the more familiar form that has been immortalised in films such as The Godfather, and its final defeat after a long-awaited change of attitude by the Italian government. The author has used his many Italian contacts and a decade of exhaustive research to bring to life the story of the Sicilian Mafia while also exploring the links to the Cosa Nostra in America. Along the way, he asks many provocative questions, including: Why was Lucky Luciano, the father of modern organised crime, freed from a life sentence in America and deported to Italy, allowing him to organise the international drug trade? Was the Mafia involved in the death of Pope John Paul I? Why did the Mafia murder Roberto Calvi, known as God's Banker? What is the relationship between the Mafia and Freemasonry? Why did successive Italian governments fail to tackle the Mafia? Why did it take 40 years to find the Last Godfathers? These and many other riveting issues are covered in Maran's refreshing new take on a perennially enthralling subject.
Download or read book The Sicilian Mafia written by Diego Gambetta and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1996-02 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blood ceremonies, obscure symbols, elaborate codes, brutal executions: the arcane remnants of a defunct culture? The Mafia, this book suggests, is not nearly as bizarre as all that, not nearly as remote as we might think. In fact, as Diego Gambetta's analysis unfolds, the Mafia begins to resemble any other business. In a society where trust is in short supply, this business sells protection, a guarantee of safe conduct for commercial and social transactions. It grudgingly shares the market with other concerns like itself, of which it is merely the most successful. The author develops his elegant economic theory with ample evidence, much of it based on the remarkable work done by Judge Giovanni Falcone and his colleagues in Palermo and Agrigento in the 1980s. Drawing on the confessions of eight Mafiosi and the trials their revelations triggered, Gambetta is able to explain all manner of peculiar Mafia marketing strategies that have been endlessly misinterpreted in the past. He makes illuminating - and unexpected - comparisons between the business of protection and ordinary industries, such as automotive insurance, and advertising. And he teases out the subtle distinctions between protection and extortion, in which the protector himself poses a threat. This new approach reshapes traditional interpretations of the Mafia - its origins, functions, and social consequences. Applying informal economic analysis, Gambetta shows how such a recognized evil can perform a real service, and how such a recognizable service can inflict great harm on a society.
Download or read book Men of Dishonor written by Antonino Calderone and published by William Morrow. This book was released on 1993 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Sicilian mafia boss for 20 years, Don Antonio Calderone's sensational confessions in 1992 brought about the 1993 capture of Toto Riina, the Sicilian "boss of all bosses". Calderone's revelations are the first behind-the-scenes glimpse of the Cosa Nostra--the real Mafia. Photos.
Download or read book History of the Mafia written by Salvatore Lupo and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When we think of the Italian Mafia, we think of Marlon Brando, Tony Soprano, and the Corleones iconic actors and characters who give shady dealings a mythical pop presence. Yet these sensational depictions take us only so far. The true story of the Mafia reveals both an organization and mindset dedicated to the preservation of tradition. It is no accident that the rise of the Mafia coincided with the unification of Italy and the influx of immigrants into America. The Mafia means more than a horse head under the sheets it functions as an alternative to the state, providing its own social and political justice. Combining a nuanced history with a unique counternarrative concerning stereotypes of the immigrant, Salvatore Lupo, a leading historian of modern Italy and a major authority on its criminal history, has written the definitive account of the Sicilian Mafia from 1860 to the present. Consulting rare archival sources, he traces the web of associations, both illicit and legitimate, that have defined Cosa Nostra during its various incarnations. He focuses on several crucial periods of transition: the Italian unification of 1860 to 1861, the murder of noted politician Notarbartolo, fascist repression of the Mafia, the Allied invasion of 1943, social conflicts after each world war, and the major murders and trials of the 1980s. Lupo identifies the internal cultural codes that define the Mafia and places these codes within the context of social groups and communities. He also challenges the belief that the Mafia has grown more ruthless in recent decades. Rather than representing a shift from "honorable" crime to immoral drug trafficking and violence, Lupo argues the terroristic activities of the modern Mafia signify a new desire for visibility and a distinct break from the state. Where these pursuits will take the family adds a fascinating coda to Lupo's work.
Download or read book Men of Respect written by Raimondo Catanzaro and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The global crime organization which we know as the Mafia traces its origins to the orange groves of the Conca D'Oro, the rich hinterland of Palermo, Sicily, during the early nineteenth century. It was here that the "mafia of the gardens", made up of loose networks of bandits, built their industry of crime. In exploring the Mafia's remarkable rise to power, Raimondo Catanzaro shows how these rural bands successfully opposed the encroaching authority of the Italian government in Sicily during the 1840s, as they infiltrated it, took control of its agencies, and effectively replaced it as the force of law throughout the island. Unlike past chroniclers, Catanzaro sees no break between the traditional rural mafiosi of the nineteenth century and the flashy criminals of today. To the contrary, he demonstrates that the fluid and unstructured composition of the early Mafia enabled it to change its form and thereby survive the many lethal threats it encountered, where a more rigid and unified organization would have failed. This ability to adapt was never more apparent than during the Socialist movement of the Sicilian Fasci in the 1890s. While older, established mafiosi intimidated and murdered local party organizers, younger mafiosi extended the Mafia's power by joining and then subverting these political movements. In his presentation of the recent history of the Mafia Catanzaro makes particularly ingenious use of the Italian Parliament's 40,000 page Commissione Anti-Mafia report to trace the explosive growth of this criminal enterprise since World War II. Here his narrative details the increasing involvement of mafiosi in clandestine commerce, first of tobacco, and then, during the last twodecades, of drugs and arms. Catanzaro presents the hitherto untold story of an organization that continues to affect us to this day.
Download or read book Excellent Cadavers written by Alexander Stille and published by Vintage. This book was released on 1996-08-06 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1992 Italy was convulsed by two brazen Mafia assassinations of high-ranking officials. The latest "excellent cadavers" were Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the Sicilian magistrates who had been the Cosa Nostra's most implacable enemies. Yet in the aftermath of the murders, hundreds of "men of honor" were arrested and the government that ad protected them for nearly half a century was at last driven from office. This is the story that Stille tells with such insight and immediacy in Excellent Cadavers. Combining a profound understanding of his doomed heroes with and unprecedented look into the Mafia's stringent codes and murderous rivalries, he gives us a book that has the power of a great work of history and the suspense of a true thriller. "Riveting...a well-paced and highly informative account stocked with well-drawn characters."--Philadelphia Inquirer "Masterful...[Stille] delivers a stiletto-sharp portrait of the bloodthirsty Sicilian mafia."--Business Week
Download or read book Defiance written by Tom Behan and published by I.B. Tauris. This book was released on 2008 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation In 1960's Sicily, the Mafia were everywhere -- and never seen. In the town of Cinisi, known as 'Mafiopoli', their power was unspoken, and absolute: 'it's in the air that you breathe' as the locals used to say. One man however, dared to speak out. Like many Sicilians, Peppino Impastato was born into a family with strong Mafia affiliations. When his uncle was brutally murdered in 1963, Peppino decided to dedicate his life to opposing the Mafia. No-one had ever talked about the Mafia in publicbefore, let alone attacked them. Determined to take on the forces of corruption and privilege, Peppino led a people's movement against the Mafia, launching a national radio station on which he savagely pilloried both the organization and its allies in the Catholic Church. Peppino was punished for his defiance -- he was violently murdered. The spark he lit, however, has not died. On the anniversary of his death, Italy held its first ever national anti-Mafia rally, and today a new generation of activists inspired by Peppino campaigns for truth and justice. In this compelling book, based on exclusive interviews with members of the Impastato family and those who knew them, Tom Behan takes us inside the murky world of 'Mafiopoli', and tells for the first time a tale of courage and resistance in the very heartland of Mafia power.
Download or read book Midnight In Sicily written by Peter Robb and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2014-08-05 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year From the author of M and A Death in Brazil comes Midnight in Sicily. South of mainland Italy lies the island of Sicily, home to an ancient culture that--with its stark landscapes, glorious coastlines, and extraordinary treasure troves of art and archeology--has seduced travelers for centuries. But at the heart of the island's rare beauty is a network of violence and corruption that reaches into every corner of Sicilian life: Cosa Nostra, the Mafia. Peter Robb lived in southern Italy for over fourteen years and recounts its sensuous pleasures, its literature, politics, art, and crimes.
Download or read book Mafia Inc written by Andre Cedilot and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Updated and available for the first time in English, Mafia Inc. reveals how the Rizzuto clan built their Canadian empire through force and corruption, alliances and compromises, and turned it into one of the most powerful criminal organizations in North America. Relying on extensive court documents, police sources and sources in the family's home village in Sicily, Montréal journalists André Cédilot and André Noël reconstruct the history of the Rizzuto clan, and expose how its business extends throughout Canada and the world, shaping the criminal underworld, influencing politicians and bending the will of business leaders to their own self-satisfying ends.
Download or read book Men of Honour written by Giovanni Falcone and published by Sphere. This book was released on 1993 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Judge Falcone, who led the war against the Mafia in Italy, was assassinated with his wife and three bodyguards in a car-bomb explosion in May 1992 - just as he was to be given powers to investigate the organization nationally. Written the previous year, this is his account of the Mafia.
Download or read book Fascism and the Mafia written by Christopher Duggan and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sicilian mafia is a subject of endless fascination, but few serious books have been written about it. In this provocative work, Christopher Duggan argues that the idea of the mafia is a fiction, born of political calculation and genuine misunderstanding of the behaviour of Sicilians. The first part of the book looks at the development of the idea of the mafia from the 1860s, when the term first appeared, to the Second World War. Although all serious observers realised that there was no organised criminal society in Sicily, Duggan explains why the idea was perpetuated. When the island became part of unified Italy in 1860, hostility to the new state was claimed by officials to be criminally inspired, and they spoke for the first time of 'the Mafia'. The distinctive values of the Sicilians, such as their belief in private justice and unwillingness to cooperate with the police, reinforced the idea of a secret criminal society. From then on, many of Sicily's political and social problems were attributed to this mythical organisation. In the second part of the book, to illustrate the general observations made in the first, Duggan provides a detailed study of the repressive campaign conducted by the fascist government against the mafia in the 1920s. Making use of private papers, police files, and trial proceedings, he concludes that the mafia was primarily an idea exploited for political ends, and that its use only strengthened many Sicilians' deep mistrust of the state. This lively book is a penetrating account of the origins of the mafia myth and the first study of the impact of fascism on Sicily. It will be of great interest to historians of modern Italy, to anthropologists, and to criminologists, as well as to those who are actively engaged in the fight against organised crime. Christopher Duggan was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and Lecturer in Italian History and Director of the Centre for the Advanced Study of Italian Society at Reading University. He is co-author, with Denis Mack Smith and Moses Finley, of 'A History of Sicily' (1986).
Download or read book Power on Earth written by Nick Tosches and published by Arbor House Publishing. This book was released on 1986 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michele Sindona's Explosive Story.
Download or read book The Sicilian Mafia written by Anita Bestler and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-07-27 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a completely new approach to the complex social phenomenon of the Mafia: In addition to the origins, organization and actions of the Mafia, the author Anita Bestler examines above all the close connection between organized crime and politics. In the process, readers [also] gain an interesting insight into the complicated political development of Italy from the founding of the state to the present, as well as an answer as to why Italians have a different political mindset.
