The Mafia is one of the most feared and powerful criminal organizations the world has ever known. It was also, briefly during World War II, Americas ally--a fact that had a profound effect on the fortunes of the Fascists, and on those of the Mafia, whom Mussolini had effectively crushed.
This book brings to light a little-known chapter in the history of World War II, and of organized crime. It tells how Cesare Mori, deputized by Mussolini to "cauterize the sore of crime in Italy," waged all-out war on the Mafia in the name of fascism; and how the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 (Operation Husky) gave the Mafia an opening to regain its strength--and its hold on political power--in the vacuum created by the Fascists defeat.
A provocative account of how the rise and ultimate defeat of fascism in Italy affected the worlds largest and most notorious criminal organization, Mafia Allies also illuminates a dark truth about the unexpected long-term consequences of wartime alliances of convenience.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
New York Post, May 20, 2007
“These stories have been out there for a long time, but here, English historian Tim Newark broadens their context to encompass their social and political origins, along with the criminal and military ramifications of these intensive efforts…the victory in Mafia Allies is the depth the author brings to the subject.”
America in WWII, June 2007
"Through novels like The Godfather and movies and television, Americans have acquired an oddly parochial view of the mob, the view that it is in some way an American hybrid institution associated more with Jersey City, New Jersey, than Palermo, Sicily. Newark is a Briton and his European resources together with his narrative skills help correct that outlook and point out the mob's power and connections in Europe in the war years and highlight how the rise of Italian fascism drove some infamous Mafiosi from Europe to America in the years before World War II...Was this alliance with the Mafia useful to the Allies? From archival sources in London, New York, and Washington, D.C., Tim Newark is able to substantiate that 'it was what it was' and that there is always some truth to the adage ' The enemy of my enemy may be my friend.'"
World War II, July/August 2007
“Newark sifts and weighs new and old evidence from archival sources, mobster memoirs, the U.S. Senate’s Kefauver and Herlands organized-crime investigations, and a pile of previous work while shaping a detailed, engaging behind-the-scenes narrative in the topic’s best overview.”Foreign Affairs, October 2007
“Newark does, however, provide a fascinating account of the interface between crime and politics in Italy and the United States and the minor impact this had on the war’s conduct … The book is full of characters straight out of central casting, such as “lucky” Luciano, who saw opportunities for an interesting mix of patriotism and business. The Jewish mobsters, such as Meyer Lansky, had their own reasons for getting at the Nazis. 'Bugsy' Siegel found himself at a party in Italy also attended by Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring and was only barely restrained from killing them by the hostess. That, as Newark notes, was the closest the Mafia got to really changing the course of the war.”
Book Description
A provocative account of how the rise and ultimate defeat of Fascism in Italy affected the world’s largest and most notorious criminal organization, this book brings to light a little-known chapter in the history of World War II, and of organized crime. It tells how Mussolini waged all-out war on the Mafia in the name of fascism; and how the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 gave the Mafia an opening to regain its strength—and its hold on political power—in the vacuum created by the Fascists’ defeat.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Informative, readable, generally believable,
By Thomas Hunt "thunt@onewal.com" (New Milford, CT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mafia Allies: The True Story of America's Secret Alliance with the Mob in World War II (Hardcover)
Author Tim Newark establishes himself as an authority on military-Mafia cooperation during the Second World War and on the historical context of that unholy alliance. His book is well organized, readable and very informative. Readers will encounter details of the underworld's early fight against Nazis and Fascists, of the mobsters who attempted to rehabilitate their images by aiding (or appearing to aid) the war effort, and of the Allies' willingness to embrace Old World Mafiosi as they attempted to penetrate Hitler's Fortress Europe.
The excitement Newark generates during his well documented discussion of Mafia-Navy cooperation to secure U.S. Atlantic waters and ports fizzles out a bit as the story moves across the Atlantic to deal with U.S. and British efforts to enlist Mafia aid in the Sicily landings. The author's myth-busting conclusions are entirely justified by the facts but anticlimactic. A couple of caveats: - Casual readers might be put off by the frequent use of extended quotations. (However, many are very interesting and worth the momentary distraction from the narrative.) - Hardcore mob historians will certainly be put off by the frequent use of excerpts from the suspect "The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano." (While the supposed Luciano quotes add to the color of the story, they subtract just a bit from its credibility.) (Along the same lines: The Luciano Project: The Secret Wartime Collaboration of the Mafia and the U.S. Navy by Rodney Campbell, McGraw-Hill, 1977.)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Mafia Goes to War!,
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This review is from: Mafia Allies: The True Story of America's Secret Alliance with the Mob in World War II (Hardcover)
With Mafia Allies, Tim Newark presents an absorbing account of the often shaky collaboration between Allied intelligence organizations and the American and Sicilian underworlds during World War II. It's an admirable work providing new details and shattering some popular myths along the way. Beginning with Mussolini's repression of the Sicilian Mafia and carrying on through the efforts of New York mobsters against Nazi and Fascist sympathizers, to Luciano's involvement in securing the waterfront, and on to the conquest of Sicily and the headaches inflicted afterward to the AMG through black marketeering and corruption and the Mafia's postwar involvement with Giuliano and the Sicilian Separatist movement. It's a great book, though I at first found the quotes from the dubious "Last Testament of Lucky Luciano" somewhat distracting.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Engrossing.,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mafia Allies: The True Story of America's Secret Alliance with the Mob in World War II (Hardcover)
The Mafia is the most powerful criminal network in the world - but it was nearly destroyed by Mussolini, prospered in the U.S., and has even had condoned relationships with the U.S. government. Eyewitness accounts, intelligence documents, and newly available source material lend to an in-depth coverage of Mafia history and politics which reveals events not surveyed elsewhere. Both specialty collections covering terrorism and organized crime and general-interest public lending libraries will find MAFIA ALLIES engrossing.
Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch
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