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Cosa Nostra - A History of the Sicilian Mafia

by John Dickie

Hodder & Stoughton, HK$144

Nino Rota's The Godfather theme is a perfect accompaniment for this updated edition of John Dickie's engrossing and relentless Cosa Nostra - A History of the Sicilian Mafia. A new chapter has been added to this  comprehensive history of a sophisticated killing machine dating  from the 1860s called Cosa Nostra, to take in the arrest of Bernardo  Provenzano, the boss of  bosses, near his home town of Corleone, Sicily, on April 11 last year. Dickie's history is essential to understanding what lies ahead.  Asia's own home brands of organised crime - the yakuza in Japan, the triads of China -  don't come close to the notoriety of the mafia for influence and mastery of the 'violence industry'. Dickie's clear and  readable history  is also an inquiry into the mind of an organisation that sanctioned the strangulation in 1996 of the 13-year-old son of a man who co-operated with investigators. A code of honour and a compulsive reticence make it hard for investigators  such as the late Giovanni Falcone (murdered by the mafia), who learned to listen to the silence to discern the truth.



Cosa Nostra - A History of the Sicilian Mafia