CHASING CORVINI

by Tom Hurst

Emerging from war-torn Sicily, a band of Sicilian gangsters take the first steps towards international organised crime. Sixty years later, they acquired sufficient wealth to threaten any government. How was such enormous wealth collected, stored, invested? What purpose will it serve?In the aftermath of 9/11, three New York enforcement officers are transferred to Italy. Jack Ratner and Luis Arcadia, both of the FBI, and Tom Heffernan are met by Harry Leaman, US Treasury Agent, who will lead them in investigations into the appearance of counterfeit US treasury bills in Italy. They are not alone in their mission. They join Colonel Vissatio, head of SISMI, Italy's Naval Intelligence Secret Service, in an assault on banker Corvini's privately owned Banca Privata and a suspected conduit for distributing Mafia wealth through the world. But Corvini is forewarned and a wave of revenge killings spreads across Italy.The trail that the Americans follow leads them to the Vatican where they encounter Archbishop Marcus, head of the IOF, a Vatican bank, and Opus Dei, a voluntary group of wealthy Catholics determined to sponsor good works for the Church. Meanwhile, Jack Ratner is bewitched by Carla Altofini, Italy's first female Minister of Justice, but the environment that they inhabit is not conducive to romance.Reaction to Mafia violence produces escalating protest through Italy as the investigators confront ever more criminality.Tom Hurst was for many years a monitor of government programmes for the unemployed during which time the author encountered many EEC audit reports. It was this experience that grew into an almost obsession. Now retired and living in Spain this seems the optimum moment to disperse some of that knowledge gained during those years.Published by The Electronic Book Company

556 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 5, 2012