Mafia: Inside the Dark Heart: The Rise and Fall of the Sicilian Mafia

Remarkable though it may now seem, the biggest criminal organization the world has ever seen actually started as an alternative form of local government in the Sicilian countryside, and was once arguably a force for "good." But this first incarnation of the Mafia was crushed by Mussolini, and its post-war successor took the more familiar form immortalized in films such as The Godfather. This exhaustively researched account examines these eras before going on to address the "third" Mafia and the connections between politicians and the underworld. Along the way, A. G. D. Maran poses many provocative questions, including Why was Lucky Luciano, the father of modern organized crime, freed from a life sentence in America and deported to Italy, allowing him to organize the international drug trade? Why did the Mafia murder Roberto Calvi, known as God’s Banker? Why did it take 40 years to find the Last Godfather, Bernardo Provenzano, captured in 2006? He uncovers a number of genuine revelations along the way.