Mafia Life Love, Death, and Money at the Heart of Organized Crime [Paperback]

We see mafias as vast, powerful organizations, harvesting billions of dollars across the globe and wrapping their tentacles around everything from governance to finance. But is this the truth?

Traveling from mafia initiation ceremonies in far-flung Russian cities to elite gambling clubs in downtown Macau, Federico Varese sets off in search of answers. Using wiretapped conversations, interviews, and previously unpublished police records, he builds up a picture of the real men and women caught up in mafia life, showing their loves and fears, ambitions and disappointments, as well as their crimes.

Mafia Lifetakes us into the real world of organized crime, where henchmen worry about bad managers and have high blood pressure, assassinations are bungled as often as they come off, and increasing pressure from law enforcement means that a life of crime is no longer lived in the lap of luxury.

As our world changes, so must mafias. Globalization, migration, and technology are disrupting their traditions and threatening their revenue streams, and the Mafiosi must evolve or die.Mafia Lifeis an intense and totally compelling look at these organizations and the daily life of their members, as they get to grips with the modern world.

Introduction
A Note to the Reader
1. Birth
2. Work
3. Management
4. Money
5. Love
6. Self-image
7. Politics
8. Death
9. Post-mortem
Glossary
Appendix: Table of Mafia Rules
Appendix: Table of Mafia Structures
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
References
Index

Varese has been taking the subject of organized crime with the seriousness it deserves for a quarter of a century. His latest excellent contribution,Mafia Life, examines the structures of the world's most prominent mafia organizations by looking at how mafiosi lead their lives from cradle to grave. -- Misha Glenny,The Times Literary Supplement

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