Customer Reviews

Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I couldn't put this book down. Mr. Dickie is careful to steer away from sensationalism, but the book is fascinating as well as factual. The author dispels certain myths associated with the Mafia, and gives a clearer view of an organization that has long tried to remain unseen. There is a lot of interesting Italian history included, which I really enjoyed since I have been living in Italy for several years now. From its first known beginnings, to the present, this book explains the history, the methods and the mentality of the Mafia. It is chilling, but it's a must read for those interested in the subject--and for those who think they aren't.

The praise given by critics and reviewers when this book was first published in 2004 are easily understood and justified when reading it in paperback format. While many earlier books have largely relied on a review of recent Sicilian history and events post WWII (Norman Lewis, Claire Sterling) or focussing on a very specific area (such as Alex Stille's "Excellent Cadavers" on the story of investigating magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino), this is the first real recent effort I know of in English to write a full history of the Sicilian Mafia under its correct name of Cosa Nostra.

This is faciltated by the recent outpouring of Italian writings based on the vast amount of new information and evidence now available and which Dickie fully acknowledges in his book. In addition Dickie has also researched a number of historical sources and reports which have been largely ignored by previous English language writers.

What really places this book above the rest is:

Dickie has proven much better at covering the 19th century foundation of Cosa Nostra (and its earlier roots in Sicilian society) and then tracking this organisation's development of being a very tightly controlled killing machine exterminating any competition through the 20th century to date - the fact that nearly half of the book is devoted to the period before the end of WWII reflects this approach.

He has avoided the trap of spending too much time on the US Mafia with its more public image and history, instead only referring to it as it actually impacts and helps our understanding of the Sicilian society's history.

Finally he has done a much fuller job than many prior books in tracking the Cosa Nostra linkage through Sicilian politics with Italian political history since Italian unification in late 19th century and especially since WWII, with the rise of Christian Democrats party who dominated Italian politics, especially under Andreotti. He makes a very strong case that without such political links and Rome's constant vacillation, Cosa Nostra would never have become as endemic and protected from the forces of law and order.

One ends the book feeling that the whole tragedy while not at an end is certainly moving into a model seen in many other countries, where criminal or terrorist elements have realised their best chances of survival are lower profile protection and corruption activities plus control of drugs, kidnapping and prostitution rather than seeking to always be in the public eye. This development as the book explains was almost wholly down to an almost public civil war started and executed by Leggio and Rinna with numerous public killings between 1970 and 1982. The murdering of a number of high profile police and anti-Mafia lawyers and politicians, ultimately created the environment where Falcone and Borsellino were able to achieve the maxi-trials in 1986 which used pentiti (defectors) such as Tomasso Buscetta. This led to many (but not all) leading Cosa Nostra old style heads being jailed for long terms under better enforced new Italian laws and those persons failing to date to obtain their freedom by political corruption in Rome, even after the murders by Cosa Nostra of Falcone and Borsellino.

The book is likely to be the classic text of the area for some time given all these strengths and with the organisation becoming more circumspect.

John Dickie's book on the history of the Sicilian Mafia is a landmark in investigative and historical journalism. The uncovering of the inner workings of an organization that, for obvious reasons, kept few or no written records is in itself a Herculean effort. There is nothing like it in the annals of journalism. It is far and away the most comprehensive portrait of organized crime ever written, but in addition to Mr. Dickie's brilliant and exhaustive research, his insights and writing style elevate the work to highest levels of journalism. The book opens with an extraordinary dissection of the assassination of the crusading Sicilian Magistrate, Giovanni Falcone, whose murder galvanized the Italian people, and the Pope himself, to finally stand up against the Mafia's two centuries of outrages. Then Mr. Dickie explains how Massenet's extraordinary opera, Cavalleria Rusticana -- used in both Raging Bull and The Godfather III -- helped created the myth of Sicilian Mafiosi as "Men of Honor", an aberrant term if ever there was one. A flawless, unflinching masterpiece of investigation and composition. Bravo, Mr. Dickie. James Dalessandro, author of "1906"

My first mafia book. They way i see it, it provides the readers with a solid picture on what the Mafia is about.It is educational based on collective facts. Back to the basics i would call it. Sikelia as the mother land deserves much attention in the literature and this book is definitely going for that. The locus of attention is in situations from an old era but evidently their effect is manifest in various ways today. Good stuff

CN is well-written and starts out being very interesting: the early chapters discuss the origins and traditions of the Mafia. As the book progresses, however, it starts to drag. I think I skimmed the last 40 pages or so because I had gotten bored.

I can't really blame the author; it must be very hard (or impossible) to get enough information on a secret society to write a coherent history. CN is mostly a patchwork of accounts of individual criminals and specific crimes. It's decent work but not really what one thinks of when one is bying a "history" of something.

Compellingly drawn from original sources, this history reads almost like an insider's confession. Dickie tears away the cobwebs in Western mythology regarding the Sicilian mafia's history to present a credible, well-researched and well-presented picture of this secret but formidable player in Italian and subsequently American economics.

Films like "The Godfather" and others are the primary source of information for many American readers. While being a devoted history in its own right, this book occasionally draws parallels between the Coppola film to separate truth from fiction and probability from implausibility. Perhaps the only problem I had with the book was the heroic conclusion that after so many decades of almost untouched power, a recent series of judicial and political setbacks for the Sicilian mafia in 21st-century Italy might have effectively and permanently disabled the mob there.

I hold a healthy fascination on the maffia and its politics. This book gives an in-depth description of how the Sicilian maffia was entangled into Sicilian and Italian daily life. One can feel the frustration of the lone heroes who made an attempt to defy the Cosa Nostra and its contemptful modus operandi.

John Dickie did a good job presenting all the various anecdotes into one large account of the maffia's history: from the gruesome details of the maffia's "business model" to the strenuous crusade against this organisation by a few individuals.

However the book shows the same shortcoming that seems to hunt more historical accounts: the lack of comprehensive maps, relationship diagrams and timelines. A lot of names and events are described and will later on in the book be referred back to. It would be a great feature to be able to refer back to a summary, an outline, as a memory refreshment during the course of the book. Helping the reader to maintain a clear overview and understanding of the total account is the difference between a 3 and a 4 star rating.

Regardless of the rating, this book is a must-read for any maffia buff in this world.

This is a well written page turner that appears to stick to the facts. The references to newspaper articals and court papers support this interesting historial account.

Cosa Nostra book are great, growing up on Bronx with Naples Husband and all Italian Family we are learn a lots of Italian history.This book I recommended to all who had never read about true mafia.
Sicilian NOT Naples.

The author has written a compelling, well researched and substantial account of the history of the Sicilian Mafia. The bibliography is very impressive as Mr. Dickie has read widely and deeply to produce this book with careful attention to details of persons and events.

He argues that the Sicilian Mafia did not originate centuries ago as an Honored Society but contends that its genesis was a criminal organization during the troubled period of 1860 to 1876. Sicily during this period became part of the nation of Italy after decades of rule from Naples as part of the Bourbon Kingdom. During these chaotic years the organization that we know today as the Mafia took shape, organized and began to proper. However its genesis was a complex affair and the author is able to unravel the puzzle and produce a very readable and fascinating account from its beginnings to the present day.

One of the most fascinating figures to emerge from the book was the very competent and efficient Ermanno Sangiorgi who was Chief of Police of Palermo at the turn of the 20th century. He conducted criminal investigations made raids and arrests and was able to lay the ground for prosecution of Mafia figures. He produced a very comprehensive report on the Sicilian Mafia with details of criminal family structures, individual profiles, Mafia initiation rituals, codes of behavior as well as it business methods and operations. Despite his best efforts the Mafia survived his attempt to shut it down, however with more support from the government and certain officials he would certainly have seriously weakened it but probably not shut it down. Sadly all the good work Sangiorgi did was filed away and forgotten about and a valuable chance to seriously weaken the Mafia was lost.

The author is able to peel away the layers of myth and mist that surround the history of the Sicilian Mafia and reveal an organization that is very adaptable and sophisticated. There is much information about it workings in the affairs of government and private industry as well as its international relationships