Women of honor
Subtitle: Madonnas, godmothers and informers in the Italian mafia
By: Milka Kahn, Anne Véron. ; translated by James Ferguson
Contributors: Véron, Anne, author; Ferguson, James, translator
Edition: English language edition.
Publisher: Hurst
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 213
ISBN-13: 9781849048064
Subjects: Mafia; Women and the mafia; History
Work titles: Femmes dans la mafia
Description: The role of women in the Italian mafias has long been overlooked. So who are they? Pure and virtuous Madonnas or dangerous Godmothers? Reduced to victim status and relegated to domestic life, women serve as the mafia's respectable facade: virtuous and docile. But, as Milka Kahn and Anne Véron reveal in this absorbing book, women have always been at the heart of Italy's criminal organisations. While the men are behind bars or on the run, it is left to their wives and mothers to uphold and pass on the 'family values'. Once widowed, some push their sons to vendetta; others become mafia chiefs in their own right. Yet many also decide to risk their lives, collaborating with the authorities and renouncing mafia society in search of normality. Through first-hand accounts of submission, complicity and revolt, Women of Honor paints a complex and fascinating portrait of the women in Italy's mafias who have overcome a culture of silence to share their extraordinary stories.--
Notes: Originally published in French by Nouveau Monde éditions, 2015.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Translated from French.
Table of contents: title: pt. One; title: Women in Cosa Nostra -- -- 1.; title: Ninetta Bagarella: Wife of the ̀Butcher of Corleone' -- -- 2.; title: Rita Atria: The Young Rebel -- -- 3.; title: Giusy Vitale: The First ̀Godmother' of Cosa Nostra -- -- 4.; title: Carmela Iuculano: For the Love of Her Children -- -- pt. Two; title: Women in the 'Ndrangheta -- -- 5.; title: Giusy Pesce: Wind of Revolt -- -- 6.; title: Lea Garofalo: The Price of Treason -- -- 7.; title: The Land of Suicides -- -- pt. Three; title: Women in the Camorra -- -- 8.; title: Pupetta Maresca: Insulted Honour -- -- 9.; title: Erminia Giuliano: ̀Lady Camorra' -- -- 10.; title: Maria Licciardi: ̀The Godmother' -- -- 11.; title: Giuseppina Nappa: Faithful to S̀andokan' -- -- 12.; title: Anna Carrino: The Woman Who Scared the Casalesi Clan.