These are not solitary or static criminal organisms, nor are the Mafiosi that comprise them primitive gangsters. The largest mafia factions control much of Europes wholesale cocaine trade and about three percent of Italys total GDP. The staggering reach of organized crime in Italy hangs over a nation racked by debt, political paralysis, and widespread corruption.

The mafias have corrupted Italys institutions, drastically curtailed the life-chances of its citizens, evaded justice, and set up their own self-interested meddling as an alternative to the courts. Each of these brotherhoods has its own methods, its own dark rituals, its own style of ferocity and corruption. The country hosts two other major mafias: the Camorra from Naples and the ndrangheta, the Mafia from the poor and isolated region of Calabria that has now risen to become the most powerful mob group active today. Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia made infamous to Americans by television shows like The Sopranos and classic films like The Godfather is not the only dangerous criminal fraternity active in Italy. Dickie draws on research that has never been seen before to examine the myths surrounding the three largest and most violent mafia groups-divulging the secrets, intrigues, histories and documents of the real stories behind the Honored Societys most brutal crimes. About the Book Through a riveting narrative both disturbing and disturbingly relevant to the present, Blood Brotherhoods shines a new light on the development of organized crime in Italy.

Cosa Nostra by John Dickie