With tentacles reaching from Palermo to Hong Kong, from Caracas to London to Brooklyn, the Octopus, the Sicilian Mafia's international crime corporation, has a stranglehold on a $100 billion heroin market and now has branched out into cocaine. Through the free flow of its laundered billions, the Sicilian Mafia reigns supreme over the entire world of organized crime. Beginning with the resurgence of Italy's secret society in the chaotic aftermath of World War II, this book traces the Mafia's operations, bloody internecine wars and insignificant retreats from law enforcement assaults as it wrestled dominance from local criminal families.
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From the Back Cover
The Hold of the Octopus
Sicily is the centre of world Mafia power. With tentacles reaching from Palermo to Hong Kong, through Caracas to London and Brooklyn, the Octopus (the Sicilian Mafia's international crime corporation) has a stranglehold on a $100 billion heroin market. Not content with this, it has now branched out into cocaine. With the help of laundered billions and political corruption, the Sicilian Mafia reigns supreme over the entire world of organised crime.
In a uniquely authoritative narrative, Italian-based investigative journalist Claire Sterling penetrates into the heart of this ruthless crime syndicate. Bold and disturbing, 'The Mafia' exposes the real extent of Mafia influence around the globe and questions Western governments’ apparent inability to combat it. Sterling's horrific accounts of their gruesome methods of extermination will dispel once and for all their romantic 'Godfather' image as men of honour.
"Detailed and up to date… Sterling is a controversial and determined writer… her latest effort is the fruit of five years' research and it is rich in material for anyone who wishes to understand the mechanisms of the Mafia"
FINANCIAL TIMES
"A wealth of new and stunning information. Mrs Sterling is an investigative journalist of audacious energy"
IRISH TIMES
"Authoritative, superbly researched and chilling"
LIVERPOOL DAILY POST
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
.. The sadly now late Sterling's book is still the definitive work on the history of Cosa Nostra, particularly those links between Sicilly and the USA. While it is now a little out of date, for a historic record of the postwar period up to 1990, no more deeply researched nor responsibly written title exists. Placed alongside Ginsborg's "A History of Modern Italy", and Stille's "Excellent Cadavers", this title offers a fascinating glimpse into the murky waters of the Mafia.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Astore Stargazer
VINE™ VOICE
Claire Sterling's years in Italy have been put to excellent use in what is quite possibly the finest work ever written about La Cosa Nostra.
Her research is absolutely unrivalled by any one and her opinions about the state of affairs are as astute as the woman herself. Not only does she understand the Sicilian Mafia like the back of her hand she has done wonders to put this into her own words and I don't think you could ever wish to find a more honest and unbiased and completely unprejudicial opinion any where in the world.
She also opens up the real story about Tomasso Buchetta, Buchetta was revered by the Sicilian Mafia when he turned states evidence, evidence that was extremely damaging to the Mafia in Sicily and America. Following his statement Buchetta was painted as a hero, a man of honour of an era long since gone, and although I don't doubt that, Claire Sterling offers the inside story into Buchetta's time in Brazil, time that is often forgotten about for the sole purpose of public opinion upon commencing the Maxi trials of Sicily. A mind blowing piece of work that I think tells you the real story of the Sicilian Mafia, and although a little out of date now it is still worth every penny, a true and gripping account of the Mafia that reads bueatifully, couldn't put it down. A must!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
This is the type of book you'd read if you were taking a mafia history exam. It is very comprehensive, but holds little in the way of interest, unless you're a history buff. Clare Longrigg's effort is much more engaging. But the wonderful thing about Sterling's outing is the amounf of research that has so obviously go into this effort.
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