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Mark Burns

Cosa Nostra - A History Of The Sicilian Mafia

by John Dickie

Coronet $108

John Dickie's Cosa Nostra conveys the growth and mindset of the 'men of honour', from the origins running protection rackets in Palermo's lemon groves in 19th-century Sicily, through the mafia's establishment in the US, to life since 1990s 'maxi-trials'.

He follows Italy's  reluctant acceptance that, rather than being a legend Sicilians trotted out for self-confidence and pride, the mafia exists as a highly organised and politicised criminal corporation operating separately from - yet parasitically on -  government and society.

Hollywood has made a staple  of the  violence, corruption and prostitution of the mafia. Those on the receiving end of the Cosa Nostra as it expanded from Sicily to the US early last century tell a less romantic story.

Dickie, a lecturer in Italian Studies at  University College London, seems to know that most will come to his book looking for a story that matches The Godfather, Goodfellas and The Sopranos. He takes us through the most notable mafioso, vividly conveying  the elaborate culture of their organisation.

He follows the likes of Giusepe 'Piddu' Morello, a one-fingered Sicilian who rose rapidly to become boss of the American mafia. Already an initiated mafioso at home,  Morello formed his American 'family' among arriving Sicilians in New York's Little Italy.

The Big Apple was the nexus of organised crime in the US. Irish, Jewish and mainland Italian gangs had thrived for decades before the arrival of the Cosa Nostra. But the Sicilians flourished, helped, unwittingly, by  measures such as Prohibition.

Dickie also focuses on the courageous people who risked their lives to fight the Cosa Nostra. Italian judge Giovanni Falcone's anti-mafia campaign in Sicily the 1980s and 90s brought the Cosa Nostra to the brink of destruction. Falcone's prosecutions saw dozens of mafiosi  convicted. Hundreds more broke their oath of omerta to reveal secrets, triggering a frenzy of murders and bombings from which the Cosa Nostra is still recovering.

The veneration of the Cosa Nostra outlaws is fuelled by their ability to use mind and muscle to make politicians cower. But Dickie supplies a sobering reality check for those who glorify this malevolent, criminal organisation.



Cosa Nostra