Mafia: The Necessary Reference to Organized Crime

by Frank G. Shanty, Thomas Hunt

Crime in its most basic form has existed since laws were first made. Organized crime, epitomized by the Mafia today, has actually existed since early times with piracy being one of the earliest forms. In the twenty-first century, it’s important to understand the influence of organized crime on our society and Mafia is a modern take on this old and very lucrative industry. Delving inside the politics of the early Sicilian “family,” Mafia moves across continents analyzing and scrutinizing its various forms that continue today. Without doubt, the most powerful and successful of all organized criminal groups, the Mafia’s secrecy, honor, codes of conduct, and sheer ruthlessness have brought it riches beyond the scope of most industries. In becoming so successful, its early perpetrators have taken on a cult following that has elevated some to celebrity status and created a massive money earner for Hollywood. Synonymous with expensive suits, flashy shoes, and jaunty fedoras, the Mafia is littered with names that read like a who’s who of pulp fiction—Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Frank Nitti, Dutch Schultz, and Mickey Cohen are just some of the better known. And along with the actual criminals, go the names of the celluloid criminals and the actors who played them—Don Vito Corleone and his sons Michael and Santino magnificently portrayed by Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, and James Caan are just a few. And along with the endless fascination with the big screen, comes The Sopranos, a huge television hit. Mafia is more than just a history of organized crime. It’s a vivid narrative into the way the Mafia was shaped by society and how, in turn, it has reshaped society. The internal politics, the police, the weapons, the murders, and the pride are all documented. Mafia is compulsive reading using a dramatic archive of pictures, maps, and text, to probes into the extraordinary lives and violent times of Cosa Nostra.

Genres: History

352 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2010

Reviews

[Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written book with breadth and depth. It is worth the read if you are interested in criminology and the impacts of it in popular culture and other areas of society.

[S'hi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating overview of various organized criminal groups around the world, beginning with Italian Mafia development in Sicily and the Camorra on the mainland, through Japanese and Chinese parallel developments, and extending up to Russian and South American of more recent times. Although it is an overview, some stories are presented with enough detail to make specific cases and situations easily followed up by keen readers wanting to understand how pervasive these practices are throughout the entire world.
A large format book with plenty of photographs, maps and charts which allow following the development of trends or the unfolding of particular group’s activities over time, makes this an easy reference. There are also pages devoted to movies and television programs which have brought aspects to the public eye in a variety of realistic or dramatized ways.

[Farzad · Rating 3 out of 5]

a sad history of human greed.