Mafia Brotherhoods Organized Crime, Italian Style [Paperback]

Relying on previously undisclosed confessions of former mafia members now cooperating with the police, Letizia Paoli provides a clinically accurate portrait of mafia behavior, motivations, and structure in Italy. The mafia, Paoli demonstrates, are essentially multifunctional ritual brotherhoods focused above all on retaining and consolidating their local political power base. A truly interdisciplinary work of history, politics, economics, and sociology,Mafia Brotherhoodsreveals in dramatic detail the true face of one of the world's most mythologized criminal organizations.

One of the most original approaches to the history of the mafia and the 'Ndrangheta I know, and I have already learned a great deal from it. A first-rate piece of work. --Eric Hobsbawm, Professor Emeritus of History, Birkbeck College, University of London

Mafia Brotherhoodsis an outstanding addition to the stream of modern classics on the Italian mafia. Analytically rigorous and theoretically well informed, it makes excellent use of the treasure trove of materials supplied by recent mafia defectors to provide a rich description of both Sicilian and Calabrian mafias. Featuring a novel and systematic comparison with the American mafia, Paoli's work will be an indispensable resource for American readers. --Peter Reuter, Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland

A great read and a major step forward in the cause of understanding organized crime in all of its forms. Paoli's is a necessary book for anyone, whether academic or professional, serious about organized crime. --G. Robert Blakey, William and Dorothy O'Neill Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame

This book on the Italian mafia is a milestone in the comparative study of so-called 'organized crime'. An impressive demonstration of the relevance of culture in shaping mafia action, it is also a valuable contribution to the contemporary sociological debate. --Shmuel Eisenstadt, Rl#5