'Cosa Nostra' reveals Sicilian Mafia

Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia," the exhaustive survey of the Mafia's history in Italy, written by British-based author John Dickie, can be described with one word: fascinating. A non-fiction survey of the history of one of crime's most misunderstood groups, it is an engrossing narrative outlining the rise, fall and rebirth of the Sicilian Mafia. "Cosa Nostra" is also one of the few complete histories of the Italian Mafia that is available in English. \nFrom the shaded citrus groves of Palermo, Sicily, to the marble halls of Italian government, Dickie manages to make clear how the Sicilian Mafia spread its roots and managed to influence the daily lives of Italians; he also elucidates this history without bogging down the reader with dates, times, and sentences. Instead, he engrosses the reader with bold storytelling, precise details, and a flair for the dramatic. But let the reader be warned -- this book only gives a cursory treatment to the oft-glamorized American Mafia, focusing instead on its roots in the Italian province of Sicily.\nThough not as well known in the States as famous gangsters like "Scarface" Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, the Sicilian Mafioso are just as deadly, cunning, and profitable. The Cosa Nostra began about 140 years ago in the citrus groves surrounding Palermo, the largest city on the island of Sicily. There, a "protection" racket grew, extorting the citrus grove owners and cutting the profits of owning land. \nThe loosely organized gangs that extorted the landowners grew into a highly structured organization consisting of compartmentalized "families" who answered to bosses. How the Mafia progressed from the environs of Palermo to controlling interests in all of Italy can be explained by a myriad of factors.\nThe Italian state's indifference toward crime in Sicily was one of the largest keys to the Cosa Nostra's early successes. In the past, the mainland Italian view of Sicily held the Sicilians as unsophisticated peasants for whom petty crime was a way of life and who were incapable of organizing crime to a high extent. The Cosa Nostra's intimidating record of maiming or killing those who spoke out against them also hindered efforts to stop their advances. Witnesses did not live to testify against the Mafiosi, or they were intimidated into recanting their testimony. \n"Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia" does a brilliant job of explaining the inner workings of the Mafia from its origins to the present day. Dickie also honors the men and women who died trying to fight against the crime and corruption that plagued Sicily-- and those people number in the hundreds.\nHistoric, yes. Boring, hardly. Though it is a non-fiction book, Dickie's flair for dramatic narrative, combined with lurid subject matter, makes "Cosa Nostra" a book that is hard to put down-- and this one is not just for Mafia buffs either. His comprehensive survey shows how pervasive the Mafia was -- and remains -- in Italian affairs.\n"Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia" by John Dickie will be released in hardcover on October 29, 2004, by Palgrave Macmillan. It has a list price of $26.95 and can be preordered on www.amazon.com.