Mafia Republic

In Mafia Republic, John Dickie shows how the Italian mafias have grown in power and become more and more interconnected...with terrifying consequences.

John Dickie's Mafia Brotherhoods was described by the Financial Times as 'powered by the sort of muscular prose that one associates with great detective fiction'; in Mafia Republic, he again marries outstanding scholarship with compelling storytelling.

In 1946, Italy became a democratic Republic, thereby entering the family of modern western nations. But deep within Italy there lurked a forgotten curse: three major criminal brotherhoods, whose methods had been honed over a century of experience. As Italy grew, so did the mafias. Sicily's Cosa Nostra, the camorra from Naples, and the mysterious 'ndrangheta from Calabria stood ready to enter the wealthiest and bloodiest period of their long history.

While Italy made itself rich by making scooters, cars and handbags, the mafias carved out their own route to wealth through tobacco smuggling, construction, kidnapping and narcotics. And as criminal business grew exponentially, the mafias grew not just more powerful, but became more interconnected.

By the 1980s, Southern Italy was on the edge of becoming a narco-state. The scene was set for a titanic confrontation between heroic representatives of the law, and mafiosi who could no longer tolerate any obstacle to their ambitions. This was a war for Italy's future as a civilized country. At its peak in 1992-93, the 'ndrangheta was beheading people in the street, and the Sicilian mafia murdered its greatest enemies, investigating magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, before embarking on a major terrorist bombing campaign on the Italian mainland.

Today, the long shadow of mafia history still hangs over a nation wracked by debt, political paralysis, and widespread corruption. While police put their lives on the line every day, one of Silvio Berlusconi's ministers said that Italy had to 'learn to live with the mafia'; suspicions of mafia involvement still surround some of the country's most powerful media moguls and politicians.

The latest investigations show that its reach is astonishing: it controls much of Europe's wholesale cocaine trade, and representatives from as far away as Germany, Canada and Australia come to Calabria to seek authorisation for their affairs.

Just when it thought it had finally contained the mafia threat, Italy is now discovering that it harbours the most global criminal network of them all.

About the Author

John Dickie is Professor of Italian Studies at University College London and an internationally recognised expert on many aspects of Italian history. In 2005 he was awarded the title Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella della Solidarieta Italiana. He is the author of five books, including Delizia! which won the special commendation Andre Simon Food and Drink Book Awards, and in France was voted food book of the year in RTL/Lire magazine's prestigious poll. Cosa Nostra, his history of the Sicilian mafia, has been translated into twenty-one languages, has sold over 750,000 copies, and won the Crime Writers' Association Award for Non-Fiction.