Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic by
Alexander Stille
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
Probably the definitive book on the Sicilian Mafia in its heyday, including the Corleone uprising, Luciano Leggio, Toto Riina, Bernardo Provenzano (although not much on him), etc. And obviously tons on Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, and how they had to struggle to achieve their results, more so against other politicians than against the mafia itself (even though the mafia was definitely trying to dissuade them, and succeeded in killing them in the end).
Incredible how the mafia had taken hold in Sicily. The stories about the priest killer who would give last rites to men after killing them, or the politicians, judges, police officers involved, or just how ordinary citizens were all involved (middle aged ladies from Torretta were used as mules to bring heroin to the US), or how the imprisoned Mafia bosses all got leave to stay in the hospital for 'tests' that continued on and on; the hospital being owned by the brother of a corrupt politician, they had run of the mill there, had people visit them, and even had underlings moved there to act as servants.
Particularly unnerving was also reading about "fake turncoats", like Pellegriti. Already serving life in prison, he suddenly confessed to various conspiracies involving a (corrupt) politician, which turned out to be false. Turns out he was spreading disinformation, trying to muddy the waters of the other information obtained.
Cosa Nostra would also spread disinformation about important people they murdered, both before and after murdering them. This was because if an upstanding member of society is murdered, people are outraged, but if there are rumors and newspaper articles about that person being corrupt, having affairs, making deals with criminals, etc., then they will be much more accepting of his murder.
5 stars. Also I see a movie was made with the same name. I should probably check it out.
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The Taipei Chinese PEN—A Quarterly Journal of Contemporary Chinese Literature from Taiwan《中華民國筆會英文季刊─台灣文譯》 Autumn/2010 - No.153 by Taipei Chinese PEN
