The Mafia
Subtitle: history and legend
By: Marco Gasparini ; [translated from the Italian by Brian Eskenazi]
Contributors: Eskenazi, Brian, tr
Publisher: Flammarion; Thames & Hudson [distributor]
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Paris; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 207
ISBN-13: 9782080301505
Subjects: Mafia; History; Criminals
Description: "An illustrated history of the Mafia, focusing on this highly developed criminal organization both as a cult subject and an important social phenomenon. Movie classics like The Godfather epitomize our fascination with the underworld of the Mafia, conjuring images of cigar-smoking dons and shoot-outs in pizzerias. But behind the romantic myths of 'men of honor' and omertà lies a very real world of murder, racketeering, and organized crime. Marco Gasparini traces the evolution of the Mafia from nineteenth-century Sicily to the streets of twentieth-century New York, to the international cartels that rule the illegal drug and arms trades today. In this authoritative volume he exposes the many secrets of an 'octopus' organization that has remained impenetrable for decades, despite the efforts of heroic crime fighters such as New York police officer Joe Petrosino and the similarly ill-fated Italian judge Giovanni Falcone almost a century later. We discover the Mafia's greatest godfathers, underbosses, and 'soldiers, ' as well as its pentiti (or turncoats) and the most formidable wives of Mafiosi. This book not only focuses on the original Sicilian Cosa Nostra and its various branches--such as Al Capone's Chicago Outfit or the still existent Corleonesi--it also features the equally bloody Neapolitan Camorra, which inspired the compelling documentary Gomorrah, and the Japanese Yakuza, the largest organized crime group in the world today, as well as the ever-growing Russian and Chinese 'mafias.' Mafia reveals the multi-faceted reality behind a phenomenon that has sparked the popular imagination for decades."--Amazon.com.
Notes: Translated from the Italian.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 204-207), filmography (p. 202-203) and index.
Table of contents: title: The origins of the Mafia; title: The Mafia in the United States; title: Lucky Luciano and the Cosa Nostra get involved in international politics; title: The Mafia and politics in postwar Italy; title: Bosses, godfathers, and women in the Mafia; title: The Mafia's victims and methods of elimination; title: The war on the Mafia: judges and policemen alone against the octopus; title: The great pentiti: from Tommaso Buscetta to Giovanni Brusca; title: The financial organization of the Mafia; title: The international Mafias, from the Japanese Yakuza to the Russian and Chinese Mafias; title: The Mafia and film.