History of the Mafia
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $27.99
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- $27.99
Publisher Description
When we think of the Italian Mafia, we think of Marlon Brando, Tony Soprano, and the Corleonesiconic actors and characters who give shady dealings a mythical pop presence. Yet these sensational depictions take us only so far. The true story of the Mafia reveals both an organization and mindset dedicated to the preservation of tradition. It is no accident that the rise of the Mafia coincided with the unification of Italy and the influx of immigrants into America. The Mafia means more than a horse head under the sheetsit functions as an alternative to the state, providing its own social and political justice.
Combining a nuanced history with a unique counternarrative concerning stereotypes of the immigrant, Salvatore Lupo, a leading historian of modern Italy and a major authority on its criminal history, has written the definitive account of the Sicilian Mafia from 1860 to the present. Consulting rare archival sources, he traces the web of associations, both illicit and legitimate, that have defined Cosa Nostra during its various incarnations. He focuses on several crucial periods of transition: the Italian unification of 1860 to 1861, the murder of noted politician Notarbartolo, fascist repression of the Mafia, the Allied invasion of 1943, social conflicts after each world war, and the major murders and trials of the 1980s.
Lupo identifies the internal cultural codes that define the Mafia and places these codes within the context of social groups and communities. He also challenges the belief that the Mafia has grown more ruthless in recent decades. Rather than representing a shift from "honorable" crime to immoral drug trafficking and violence, Lupo argues the terroristic activities of the modern Mafia signify a new desire for visibility and a distinct break from the state. Where these pursuits will take the family adds a fascinating coda to Lupo's work.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A dark thread of crime and corruption weaves insidiously through the fabric of Sicilian society in this intricate historical study. Historian Lupo focuses on the Italian branch of the Mafia, following it from its roots in Italy's 19th-century wars of unification to the anti-Mafia maxi-trial of the 1980s and 1990s, and tracing its infiltration of citrus-growing, construction and other sectors of the economy. He rejects the idea of the organization as a holdover from a traditional Sicilian peasant culture with a socially benign ethos of solidarity and honor as a self-serving Mafia mythology. Instead, he argues, mafiosi run a thoroughly modern, prosaic, protection racket, fomenting crime and then posing as intermediaries who can suppress it, seeking protection and wielding influence in the highest economic and political circles, eager to abrogate omert and cooperate with the police when it suits their interests. Lupo's rather dense academic treatment of the subject presupposes a good knowledge of Sicilian history as it proceeds through highly detailed but too loosely organized accounts of specific mafioso life histories, police initiatives and major trials, in which one often loses sight of the forest amid the trees. There are stimulating insights, but the book is almost as byzantine as the Mafia intrigues it appraises.
