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Cosa Nostra: Historia de la Mafia siciliana
El libro de Dickie, muy documentado y de apasionante lectura, es un repaso a la historia de la mafia siciliana desde su remota fundación en el siglo XVIII hasta nuestros días. El autor, con una narración que se sigue de forma trepidante, ofrece un estudio pormenorizado de cómo aparece, cuáles fueron las razones y cómo se fue articulando esta gran organización criminal. Desde los tiempos de la exportación de cítricos desde Sicilia a la península italiana -con los consiguientes impuestos de paso-, hasta las sospechas de los íntimos lazos de importantes políticos como Andreotti y otros dirigentes de la DC o la misma Iglesia católica con estos grupos criminales, pasando por la importancia de la mafia en la unificación italiana o en la segunda guerra mundial, el libro se centra en Sicilia, cuna y origen de la “verdadera mafia”. El libro repasa también, como no podía ser de otra manera, las conexiones entre estos delincuentes organizados y los Estados Unidos (negocios, corrupción, ley seca, drogas y prostitución, etc).
Dikie describe cómo la mafia se ha convertido en una especie de “estado en la sombra” que controla el territorio, la “fiscalidad”, administra su particular justicia, decide quien ha de vivir o morir incluyo llegando a controlar de las minas de mercurio. En ese sentido la mafia siciliana concede un alto valor al poder político y de ahí su interés en infiltrarse en las instituciones democráticas que el libro refleja con numerosos ejemplos.
Siendo un libro de historia contemporánea, este trabajo llega hasta nuestros días cuando aborda la relación política-mafia. En cuanto a los vínculos con el mundo político, el autor repasa casos como el asesinato del juez Falcone, la matanza de Portella della Ginestra o el “maxiproceso” contra la mafia en Palermo. También, y para situar al lector, se presentan retratos de personajes como Lucky Luciano, Giovanni Brusca, Tommaso Buscetta o Bernardo Provenzano entre otros. Hombres de los que, a veces, ni existían fotografías, ni se conocía su aspecto físico.
En resumen se podría decir que se trata de un libro muy documentado, entretenido como una novela policíaca o una novela histórica, que arroja infinidad de datos que dejan en el lector la sensación, una vez leído, de que pasan muchas cosas por debajo de los que conocemos como realidad.
Dikie describe cómo la mafia se ha convertido en una especie de “estado en la sombra” que controla el territorio, la “fiscalidad”, administra su particular justicia, decide quien ha de vivir o morir incluyo llegando a controlar de las minas de mercurio. En ese sentido la mafia siciliana concede un alto valor al poder político y de ahí su interés en infiltrarse en las instituciones democráticas que el libro refleja con numerosos ejemplos.
Siendo un libro de historia contemporánea, este trabajo llega hasta nuestros días cuando aborda la relación política-mafia. En cuanto a los vínculos con el mundo político, el autor repasa casos como el asesinato del juez Falcone, la matanza de Portella della Ginestra o el “maxiproceso” contra la mafia en Palermo. También, y para situar al lector, se presentan retratos de personajes como Lucky Luciano, Giovanni Brusca, Tommaso Buscetta o Bernardo Provenzano entre otros. Hombres de los que, a veces, ni existían fotografías, ni se conocía su aspecto físico.
En resumen se podría decir que se trata de un libro muy documentado, entretenido como una novela policíaca o una novela histórica, que arroja infinidad de datos que dejan en el lector la sensación, una vez leído, de que pasan muchas cosas por debajo de los que conocemos como realidad.
196 pages, Paperback
First published August 2, 2004
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April 24, 2021
-Sobre delitos, organizaciones, costumbres e idiosincrasias.-
Género. Historia.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Historia de la mafia (publicación original: Blood Brotherhoods, 2011, y Mafia Republic, 2013), con el subtítulo Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta y Camorra de 1860 al presente, es un acercamiento de poco más de un siglo del devenir de la mafia siciliana, la mafia calabresa y la mafia napolitana, sus formas de actuación y su influencia en el desarrollo de la propia Italia en diferentes niveles.
¿Quiere saber mas de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Historia.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Historia de la mafia (publicación original: Blood Brotherhoods, 2011, y Mafia Republic, 2013), con el subtítulo Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta y Camorra de 1860 al presente, es un acercamiento de poco más de un siglo del devenir de la mafia siciliana, la mafia calabresa y la mafia napolitana, sus formas de actuación y su influencia en el desarrollo de la propia Italia en diferentes niveles.
¿Quiere saber mas de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
August 14, 2019
Comprei este livro em Palermo e comecei a lê-lo quando visitava a Sicília. Sabia poucas coisas sobre a Máfia Siciliana e queria saber mais. Só posso dizer que este livro correspondeu a 100% às altas expectativas que eu tinha.
January 16, 2019
The word "mafia" is known to everyone, yet not many people have a very clear idea of what it is. Mention the mafia, and most people probably think of the American Mafia (though this is in fact an offshoot of a decidedly Sicilian tree), or a scene from The Godfather. The truth, as John Dickie shows in this excellent account, is both more interesting, and more complicated and harrowing, than fiction.
Nobody knows quite when or how the mafia came into being; even the origin of the name is now hopelessly lost and obscure. Mafiosi themselves tend to use the name "Cosa Nostra" – "our thing". The organisation owes much, perhaps, to Sicily's unique history. This small island, situated in the middle of the Mediterranean, barely a stone's throw from the Italian mainland and yet very different to the remainder of the peninsula, has been conquered by Greeks, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, and the French. Some of these colonial powers were more forbearing than others, but ordinary Sicilians rarely benefited from their rule. Distrust of the state, and the conviction that an honourable man sorts out his own problems and avenges insults and injuries on his own initiative, was and is widespread. Strange as it may sound, honour – albeit of the kind that few outsiders would recognise – is written into the mafia's DNA.
The mafia seems always to have existed on two levels. On one level, it is hidden and mysterious, a sub-stratum that only its members know of or understand. Crime – fraud, drug-trafficking, money-laundering, protection rackets – is its raison d'être. On another level, however, it rises up into the mainstream and infiltrates politics, law enforcement, the judiciary, the Church. As the author says, Cosa Nostra "is a shadow state, a political body that sometimes opposes, sometimes subverts, and sometimes dwells within the body of the legal government." (Of course, and as it's only fair to point out, there have also been politicians, policemen, judges and priests who have courageously taken a stand against the mafia, and have paid dearly for it.)
There have been many attempts to deal with the mafia, none of which have been entirely successful. Mussolini launched a war against Cosa Nostra, perhaps motivated by an incident that occurred when he visited Palermo and the mayor (a Mafioso) gestured at his bodyguards and said, "You are with me, you are under my protection. What do you need all these cops for?" The implication was clear: here, the mafia were in control. The duce did not take kindly to such a statement, and under his regime the mafia seemed to be in retreat – only to advance again in the post-war era. In the 1980s, in the aftermath of the brutal Mafia Wars, a determined effort to overcome the mafia was launched by magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, and led in time to the Maxi Trial, in which 342 mafiosi were convicted. The mafia response was swift and brutal: Falcone, Borsellino and many others were killed, which in turn led to a wave of public revulsion.
Which leads us neatly to the present situation, insofar as it can be understood. The Pax mafiosa, ironic as the name may sound, is in place, and the days of car bombs and public shootings seem to be over, at least for now. Brutality continues ("I filled a cemetery all by myself," new capo Matteo Messina Denaro has reportedly claimed), but it does so in private and out of sight. The modern mafia have grasped one of the more elemental, and odd, rules of postmodern society: that which does not exist in the media can be said, in a certain sense, not to exist at all.
What of the future? This versatile organisation, deeply embedded in the structure of Sicilian society, probably isn't going anywhere fast. It may change and adapt, but it will almost certainly continue – for the time being. "The mafia of Sicily pursues money and power by cultivating the art of killing people and getting away with it," Dickie states. That, at least – sadly – is unlikely to change any time soon.
Nobody knows quite when or how the mafia came into being; even the origin of the name is now hopelessly lost and obscure. Mafiosi themselves tend to use the name "Cosa Nostra" – "our thing". The organisation owes much, perhaps, to Sicily's unique history. This small island, situated in the middle of the Mediterranean, barely a stone's throw from the Italian mainland and yet very different to the remainder of the peninsula, has been conquered by Greeks, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, and the French. Some of these colonial powers were more forbearing than others, but ordinary Sicilians rarely benefited from their rule. Distrust of the state, and the conviction that an honourable man sorts out his own problems and avenges insults and injuries on his own initiative, was and is widespread. Strange as it may sound, honour – albeit of the kind that few outsiders would recognise – is written into the mafia's DNA.
The mafia seems always to have existed on two levels. On one level, it is hidden and mysterious, a sub-stratum that only its members know of or understand. Crime – fraud, drug-trafficking, money-laundering, protection rackets – is its raison d'être. On another level, however, it rises up into the mainstream and infiltrates politics, law enforcement, the judiciary, the Church. As the author says, Cosa Nostra "is a shadow state, a political body that sometimes opposes, sometimes subverts, and sometimes dwells within the body of the legal government." (Of course, and as it's only fair to point out, there have also been politicians, policemen, judges and priests who have courageously taken a stand against the mafia, and have paid dearly for it.)
There have been many attempts to deal with the mafia, none of which have been entirely successful. Mussolini launched a war against Cosa Nostra, perhaps motivated by an incident that occurred when he visited Palermo and the mayor (a Mafioso) gestured at his bodyguards and said, "You are with me, you are under my protection. What do you need all these cops for?" The implication was clear: here, the mafia were in control. The duce did not take kindly to such a statement, and under his regime the mafia seemed to be in retreat – only to advance again in the post-war era. In the 1980s, in the aftermath of the brutal Mafia Wars, a determined effort to overcome the mafia was launched by magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, and led in time to the Maxi Trial, in which 342 mafiosi were convicted. The mafia response was swift and brutal: Falcone, Borsellino and many others were killed, which in turn led to a wave of public revulsion.
Which leads us neatly to the present situation, insofar as it can be understood. The Pax mafiosa, ironic as the name may sound, is in place, and the days of car bombs and public shootings seem to be over, at least for now. Brutality continues ("I filled a cemetery all by myself," new capo Matteo Messina Denaro has reportedly claimed), but it does so in private and out of sight. The modern mafia have grasped one of the more elemental, and odd, rules of postmodern society: that which does not exist in the media can be said, in a certain sense, not to exist at all.
What of the future? This versatile organisation, deeply embedded in the structure of Sicilian society, probably isn't going anywhere fast. It may change and adapt, but it will almost certainly continue – for the time being. "The mafia of Sicily pursues money and power by cultivating the art of killing people and getting away with it," Dickie states. That, at least – sadly – is unlikely to change any time soon.
September 24, 2007
surprisingly thorough and readable history of the mafia in sicily. shame they had to blow up all those fiat 500s.
April 30, 2008
This hefty book is a history of the Sicilian Mafia from its beginning to modern days.
The first part is interesting and contained lots of details I had not read anywhere else. However, the book's unforgivable flaw comes out pretty early. The author seems to attribute the rise of the Mafia to the incompetence of the political system and the Italian police. Although I tend never to underestimate incompetence as a cause for all evils (especially for Italians), this outlook is fundamentally naive or, worse, out of connivance.
Whoever lived in Italy or studied the Italian political world after WW2 cannot ignore that the political sphere was a willing accomplice of the Mafia. The Italian government used the Mafia to silence the Communist threat and then provided peculiar favors in terms of reduced sentences, Hiltonian prison conditions, etc.
The author also ends the book with one gigantic error that has really no excuses. John Dickie explains that Giulio Andreotti, 7-time Prime Minister, was cleared of all charges and proved innocent in his decade-long trial about his collaboration with the Mafia. That is a lie. Andreotti's ties to the Mafia were proved and recognized until 1980, but expired under statutory laws. Andreotti is not an innocent man. A good journalist cannot make such mistakes.This curious interpretation of Italian history left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.
The first part is interesting and contained lots of details I had not read anywhere else. However, the book's unforgivable flaw comes out pretty early. The author seems to attribute the rise of the Mafia to the incompetence of the political system and the Italian police. Although I tend never to underestimate incompetence as a cause for all evils (especially for Italians), this outlook is fundamentally naive or, worse, out of connivance.
Whoever lived in Italy or studied the Italian political world after WW2 cannot ignore that the political sphere was a willing accomplice of the Mafia. The Italian government used the Mafia to silence the Communist threat and then provided peculiar favors in terms of reduced sentences, Hiltonian prison conditions, etc.
The author also ends the book with one gigantic error that has really no excuses. John Dickie explains that Giulio Andreotti, 7-time Prime Minister, was cleared of all charges and proved innocent in his decade-long trial about his collaboration with the Mafia. That is a lie. Andreotti's ties to the Mafia were proved and recognized until 1980, but expired under statutory laws. Andreotti is not an innocent man. A good journalist cannot make such mistakes.This curious interpretation of Italian history left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.
May 18, 2021
Good evening readers,
I first read this book in my early twenties after watching the Godfather trilogy. I had became obsessed, for a time, with the Sicilian/American Mafia and digested as much I could about the culture and lifestyle. My naiveté led me to believe that this both book would be written in a similar vein to that of a Mario Puzo piece. Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed.
Many years later, I read the book again. This time armed with a better understanding of Historical Crime/Fiction. The entanglement of plotlines and 'crossover' character's are at times nauseatingly difficult to follow. John Dickie does succeed in drawing you closer to the Cosa Nostra way of life. However, the lack of emphasis placed on the 'build up' to significant events rendered them meaningless, to me as a reader. I do appreciate, that historical integrity was high on Dickie's list of priorities for his project. Unfortunately, the cost was supplemented at the expense of enticing drama.
I would urge anyone who is interested in learning more about Sicilian Mafia, to read this book. Those who have a passing interest in what is more commonly referred to as the New York mafia, and was turned on to the subject by a Martin Scorsese film, (as was I) then understand that Cosa Nostra is nothing like what you see in the movies. The whole 'Five Families' thing is covered in less than a chapter. Albeit, with bitesize nuggets of golden information on the part played by the Mediterranean Capos.
Good Reading,
I first read this book in my early twenties after watching the Godfather trilogy. I had became obsessed, for a time, with the Sicilian/American Mafia and digested as much I could about the culture and lifestyle. My naiveté led me to believe that this both book would be written in a similar vein to that of a Mario Puzo piece. Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed.
Many years later, I read the book again. This time armed with a better understanding of Historical Crime/Fiction. The entanglement of plotlines and 'crossover' character's are at times nauseatingly difficult to follow. John Dickie does succeed in drawing you closer to the Cosa Nostra way of life. However, the lack of emphasis placed on the 'build up' to significant events rendered them meaningless, to me as a reader. I do appreciate, that historical integrity was high on Dickie's list of priorities for his project. Unfortunately, the cost was supplemented at the expense of enticing drama.
I would urge anyone who is interested in learning more about Sicilian Mafia, to read this book. Those who have a passing interest in what is more commonly referred to as the New York mafia, and was turned on to the subject by a Martin Scorsese film, (as was I) then understand that Cosa Nostra is nothing like what you see in the movies. The whole 'Five Families' thing is covered in less than a chapter. Albeit, with bitesize nuggets of golden information on the part played by the Mediterranean Capos.
Good Reading,
August 15, 2019
“La mafia nacque non dalla povertà e dall’isolamento, ma dal potere e dalla ricchezza.”
“Le origini della mafia sono strettamente legate alle origini di uno Stato inaffidabile: lo Stato italiano.”
“Il sistema politico italiano non soltanto non combatté la mafia delle origini, ma contribuì attivamente al suo sviluppo.”
“Come i magistrati inquirenti sottolineano continuamente, Cosa Nostra non sarà mai sconfitta se non si comprende che si tratta di uno Stato ombra, di un organismo politico che qualche volta si oppone al governo legale, altre volte lo sovverte, e altre ancora abita al suo interno.”
“Non fu mai lo Stato italiano in quanto tale a dare l’assalto a Cosa Nostra. La svolta non ci fu mai. A combattere la battaglia contro la mafia rimase un’eroica minoranza di magistrati e poliziotti, appoggiati da una minoranza di politici, amministratori e cittadini comuni.”
“Le origini della mafia sono strettamente legate alle origini di uno Stato inaffidabile: lo Stato italiano.”
“Il sistema politico italiano non soltanto non combatté la mafia delle origini, ma contribuì attivamente al suo sviluppo.”
“Come i magistrati inquirenti sottolineano continuamente, Cosa Nostra non sarà mai sconfitta se non si comprende che si tratta di uno Stato ombra, di un organismo politico che qualche volta si oppone al governo legale, altre volte lo sovverte, e altre ancora abita al suo interno.”
“Non fu mai lo Stato italiano in quanto tale a dare l’assalto a Cosa Nostra. La svolta non ci fu mai. A combattere la battaglia contro la mafia rimase un’eroica minoranza di magistrati e poliziotti, appoggiati da una minoranza di politici, amministratori e cittadini comuni.”
November 11, 2007
A comprehensive and telling account of the mafia, this book takes effort in targeting the exact inception of this vague and shadowy group. It's also a slap to the face to all my Italian peers who attribute mafiosi behavior to the mainland, when clearly it originated amongst their islander counterpart. Any historian who appreciates meticulous writing will surely find wealth in this accurate but often grotesque text.
May 25, 2023
You have to respect the amount of work and research that must have gone into putting together this pretty exhaustive history of a movement that by its very nature is about as secretive as it gets, and though it is more readable than a dry(ish) retelling of key events could be, it still started to feel a little bit like a chore as I went on. So many different names committing so many similar crimes, the thing does start to get a little blurry after a while.
September 13, 2023
good source for more about
Giuseppe "Pippo" Calò (30 September 1931) is an Italian mobster and member of the Sicilian Mafia in Porta Nuova. He was referred to as the cassiere di Cosa Nostra ("cashier of Cosa Nostra") because he was heavily involved in the financial side of organized crime, primarily money laundering.
He was arrested in 1985 and charged with ordering the murder of Roberto Calvi – nicknamed il banchiere di Dio ("the banker of God") – of the Banco Ambrosiano in 1982, but was acquitted in 2007 due to "insufficient evidence" in a surprise verdict.
After Calò was sentenced to 23 years' imprisonment as part of the 1986/87 Maxi Trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1989 for organising the 1984 Train 904 bombing. He was given several further life sentences between 1995 and 2002.
........
Boss of the Porta Nuova Mafia family
Born and raised in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, he was inducted into the Porta Nuova Mafia family at the age of 23 after carrying out a murder to avenge his father. By 1969, he was the boss of Porta Nuova, and amongst his men was the future informant (pentito) Tommaso Buscetta. Calò was on the Sicilian Mafia Commission, a group of the most powerful Mafia bosses in Sicily who regularly met, supposedly to iron out differences and solve disputes.
In the beginning of the 1970s, Calò moved to Rome. Under the guise of an antiques dealer and under the false identity of Mario Agliarolo he invested in real estate and laundered large proceeds of crime for many Mafia families.
He was able to establish close links with common criminals of the Banda della Magliana, neo-fascist groups and members of the Italian intelligence agencies. According to reports, in the mid-1970s Calò strengthened relations with historical bosses of the Neapolitan Camorra, such as Lorenzo Nuvoletta and Vincenzo Lubrano.
During the early 1980s, he supported Salvatore Riina and the Corleonesi during the Second Mafia War that decimated the rival Mafia families. During the war, Giuseppe Calò personally took part in the murder of his former best friend Tommaso Buscetta's sons in September 1981, as well as the killings of Palermo bosses Rosario Riccobono and Salvatore Scaglione on November 30, 1982.
........
Bombing of 904 express train
Calò arranged the bombing of the 904 express train between Florence and Bologna on 23 December 1984 that killed 16 people and injured 267 others.
It was meant to divert attention from the revelations given by various Mafia informants, including Buscetta. Calò and his men had joined up with neo-fascist terrorists and the Camorra boss Giuseppe Misso to carry out the attack.
........
Murder of Roberto Calvi
In July 1991 the Mafia pentito (a mafioso turned informer) Francesco Marino Mannoia claimed that Roberto Calvi – nicknamed "God's banker" because he was in charge of Banco Ambrosiano, in which the Vatican Bank was the main share-holder – had been killed in 1982 because he had lost Mafia funds when the Banco Ambrosiano collapsed.
According to Mannoia the killer was Francesco Di Carlo, a mafioso living in London at the time, and the order to kill Calvi had come from Calò and Licio Gelli, the head of the secret Italian masonic lodge Propaganda Due.
When Di Carlo became an informer in June 1996, he denied that he was the killer, but admitted that he had been approached by Calò to do the job. However, Di Carlo could not be reached in time, and when he later called Calò, the latter said that everything had been taken care of already.
In 1997, Italian prosecutors in Rome implicated Calò in Calvi's murder, along with Flavio Carboni, a Sardinian businessman with wide ranging interests, as well as Ernesto Diotallevi (one of the leaders of the Banda della Magliana, a Roman Mafia-like organization) and Di Carlo.
In July 2003, the prosecution concluded that the Mafia acted not only in its own interests, but also to ensure that Calvi could not blackmail "politico-institutional figures and [representatives] of freemasonry, the P2 lodge, and the Institute for the Works of Religion with whom he had invested substantial sums of money, some of it from Cosa Nostra and Italian public corporations".
The trial finally began in October 2005.[10]
In March 2007, prosecutor Luca Tescaroli requested life sentences for the already convicted Pippo Calò, Flavio Carboni, Ernesto Diotallevi and Calvi's bodyguard Silvano Vittor. All of them deny involvement.
Tescaroli began his conclusions by saying Calvi was killed "to punish him for taking large quantities of money from criminal organisations and especially the Mafia organisation known as the 'Cosa Nostra'".
.........
Dissociation from the Mafia
In September 2001, in the course of the trial of the Via D'Amelio bombing that killed judge Paolo Borsellino and his escort, Pippo Calò declared he dissociated from Cosa Nostra.
In an extraordinary statement he admitted Cosa Nostra existed and that he had been part of its Commission – breaking the law of silence or omertà.
However, he did not become a pentito, and refused to testify against his fellow mafiosi. Calò said he was prepared to face his own responsibility but would not name others. "I am a mafioso but I don't want to be accused of bloodbaths", he said.
Giuseppe "Pippo" Calò (30 September 1931) is an Italian mobster and member of the Sicilian Mafia in Porta Nuova. He was referred to as the cassiere di Cosa Nostra ("cashier of Cosa Nostra") because he was heavily involved in the financial side of organized crime, primarily money laundering.
He was arrested in 1985 and charged with ordering the murder of Roberto Calvi – nicknamed il banchiere di Dio ("the banker of God") – of the Banco Ambrosiano in 1982, but was acquitted in 2007 due to "insufficient evidence" in a surprise verdict.
After Calò was sentenced to 23 years' imprisonment as part of the 1986/87 Maxi Trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1989 for organising the 1984 Train 904 bombing. He was given several further life sentences between 1995 and 2002.
........
Boss of the Porta Nuova Mafia family
Born and raised in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, he was inducted into the Porta Nuova Mafia family at the age of 23 after carrying out a murder to avenge his father. By 1969, he was the boss of Porta Nuova, and amongst his men was the future informant (pentito) Tommaso Buscetta. Calò was on the Sicilian Mafia Commission, a group of the most powerful Mafia bosses in Sicily who regularly met, supposedly to iron out differences and solve disputes.
In the beginning of the 1970s, Calò moved to Rome. Under the guise of an antiques dealer and under the false identity of Mario Agliarolo he invested in real estate and laundered large proceeds of crime for many Mafia families.
He was able to establish close links with common criminals of the Banda della Magliana, neo-fascist groups and members of the Italian intelligence agencies. According to reports, in the mid-1970s Calò strengthened relations with historical bosses of the Neapolitan Camorra, such as Lorenzo Nuvoletta and Vincenzo Lubrano.
During the early 1980s, he supported Salvatore Riina and the Corleonesi during the Second Mafia War that decimated the rival Mafia families. During the war, Giuseppe Calò personally took part in the murder of his former best friend Tommaso Buscetta's sons in September 1981, as well as the killings of Palermo bosses Rosario Riccobono and Salvatore Scaglione on November 30, 1982.
........
Bombing of 904 express train
Calò arranged the bombing of the 904 express train between Florence and Bologna on 23 December 1984 that killed 16 people and injured 267 others.
It was meant to divert attention from the revelations given by various Mafia informants, including Buscetta. Calò and his men had joined up with neo-fascist terrorists and the Camorra boss Giuseppe Misso to carry out the attack.
........
Murder of Roberto Calvi
In July 1991 the Mafia pentito (a mafioso turned informer) Francesco Marino Mannoia claimed that Roberto Calvi – nicknamed "God's banker" because he was in charge of Banco Ambrosiano, in which the Vatican Bank was the main share-holder – had been killed in 1982 because he had lost Mafia funds when the Banco Ambrosiano collapsed.
According to Mannoia the killer was Francesco Di Carlo, a mafioso living in London at the time, and the order to kill Calvi had come from Calò and Licio Gelli, the head of the secret Italian masonic lodge Propaganda Due.
When Di Carlo became an informer in June 1996, he denied that he was the killer, but admitted that he had been approached by Calò to do the job. However, Di Carlo could not be reached in time, and when he later called Calò, the latter said that everything had been taken care of already.
In 1997, Italian prosecutors in Rome implicated Calò in Calvi's murder, along with Flavio Carboni, a Sardinian businessman with wide ranging interests, as well as Ernesto Diotallevi (one of the leaders of the Banda della Magliana, a Roman Mafia-like organization) and Di Carlo.
In July 2003, the prosecution concluded that the Mafia acted not only in its own interests, but also to ensure that Calvi could not blackmail "politico-institutional figures and [representatives] of freemasonry, the P2 lodge, and the Institute for the Works of Religion with whom he had invested substantial sums of money, some of it from Cosa Nostra and Italian public corporations".
The trial finally began in October 2005.[10]
In March 2007, prosecutor Luca Tescaroli requested life sentences for the already convicted Pippo Calò, Flavio Carboni, Ernesto Diotallevi and Calvi's bodyguard Silvano Vittor. All of them deny involvement.
Tescaroli began his conclusions by saying Calvi was killed "to punish him for taking large quantities of money from criminal organisations and especially the Mafia organisation known as the 'Cosa Nostra'".
.........
Dissociation from the Mafia
In September 2001, in the course of the trial of the Via D'Amelio bombing that killed judge Paolo Borsellino and his escort, Pippo Calò declared he dissociated from Cosa Nostra.
In an extraordinary statement he admitted Cosa Nostra existed and that he had been part of its Commission – breaking the law of silence or omertà.
However, he did not become a pentito, and refused to testify against his fellow mafiosi. Calò said he was prepared to face his own responsibility but would not name others. "I am a mafioso but I don't want to be accused of bloodbaths", he said.
March 19, 2020
“El secreto que la mafia siciliana logró guardar durante tanto tiempo, el secreto de su propia existencia, ha dejado de serlo, y ha dejado de serlo para siempre.”
Aquellas personas no italianas piensan en la mafia como aquella organización criminal elegante, glamurosa y llamativa a su estilo, retratada en El Padrino de Mario Puzo. ¿La realidad? Es una organización cuyo poder y presencia es el terror de los habitantes, cuya historia está basada en sangre y extorsión, que te ata a ella, cuya regla es la muerte y su lenguaje las amenazas.
John Dickie hace un buen trabajo al mantenerte pegado en cada una de las páginas del libro, contándote lo que se sabe de la mafia desde sus orígenes (aquel siglo XIX tumultuoso en donde era más fácil culpar a la actitud siciliana que admitir que existía una organización de tal envergadura) hasta principios de este siglo XXI, mencionando acontecimientos importantes en la organización, su forma de actuar (siguiendo ese difuso y a la vez riguroso código de honor), vínculos políticos que tuvieron, personajes famosos que pertenecieron a sus filas, así como asesinatos destacables que han realizado.
Y, ¿qué decir? Como fan de la historia y con sumo interés en el tema de la mafia, he disfrutado bastante de la lectura. He confirmado cosas que ya sabía de pasadas investigaciones, como que he descubierto nuevas cosas.
Aquellas personas no italianas piensan en la mafia como aquella organización criminal elegante, glamurosa y llamativa a su estilo, retratada en El Padrino de Mario Puzo. ¿La realidad? Es una organización cuyo poder y presencia es el terror de los habitantes, cuya historia está basada en sangre y extorsión, que te ata a ella, cuya regla es la muerte y su lenguaje las amenazas.
John Dickie hace un buen trabajo al mantenerte pegado en cada una de las páginas del libro, contándote lo que se sabe de la mafia desde sus orígenes (aquel siglo XIX tumultuoso en donde era más fácil culpar a la actitud siciliana que admitir que existía una organización de tal envergadura) hasta principios de este siglo XXI, mencionando acontecimientos importantes en la organización, su forma de actuar (siguiendo ese difuso y a la vez riguroso código de honor), vínculos políticos que tuvieron, personajes famosos que pertenecieron a sus filas, así como asesinatos destacables que han realizado.
Y, ¿qué decir? Como fan de la historia y con sumo interés en el tema de la mafia, he disfrutado bastante de la lectura. He confirmado cosas que ya sabía de pasadas investigaciones, como que he descubierto nuevas cosas.
May 18, 2015
My big question is this: what made Giovanni Falcone and Paulo Borsellino (both born and bred in Palermo) become heroic fighters for justice when others born in the same time and place turned to violent crime? Who lit that spark? Where did they get such courage from? The courage to continue on a path even though they knew it would lead to a violent death.
This is a fabulous book: a detailed account of the development of a criminal organisation from early 19th century to 2006 (the capture of Bernardo 'The Tractor' Provenzano). Dickie is at pains to explain that Cosa Nostra is not some vague Sicilian tendency towards vendetta. It is a carefully organised structure with clear membership processes.
So what are mafiosi? They are 'entrepreneurs in violence.' Dickie quotes Franchetti: "[in the violence industry] the mafia boss...acts as capitalist, impresario and manager...he regulates the way labour and duties are divided out...Discipline is indispensable in this as in any other industry if abundant and constant profits are to be obtained. It is the mafia boss's job to judge from circumstances whether the acts of violence should be suspended for a while, or multiplied and made fiercer. He has to adapt to market conditions to chose which operations to carry out, which people to exploit, which form of violence to use."
That sounds like a description of Tony Soprano; it was published in 1877. Yes, 1877! What sort of blind amnesia does Italy suffer from? And Dickie is absolutely clear: this secret society based on violence has not melted away.
This is a fabulous book: a detailed account of the development of a criminal organisation from early 19th century to 2006 (the capture of Bernardo 'The Tractor' Provenzano). Dickie is at pains to explain that Cosa Nostra is not some vague Sicilian tendency towards vendetta. It is a carefully organised structure with clear membership processes.
So what are mafiosi? They are 'entrepreneurs in violence.' Dickie quotes Franchetti: "[in the violence industry] the mafia boss...acts as capitalist, impresario and manager...he regulates the way labour and duties are divided out...Discipline is indispensable in this as in any other industry if abundant and constant profits are to be obtained. It is the mafia boss's job to judge from circumstances whether the acts of violence should be suspended for a while, or multiplied and made fiercer. He has to adapt to market conditions to chose which operations to carry out, which people to exploit, which form of violence to use."
That sounds like a description of Tony Soprano; it was published in 1877. Yes, 1877! What sort of blind amnesia does Italy suffer from? And Dickie is absolutely clear: this secret society based on violence has not melted away.
October 15, 2024
A comprehensive history of the mafia, I enjoyed understanding its origins in Sicily. As an educational/research paper read, I'd rate it 5*.
But. As a recreational read, it was fact-packed and lacked a thread tying it together. 3* for me.
But. As a recreational read, it was fact-packed and lacked a thread tying it together. 3* for me.
June 4, 2020
3,5 - great, detailed content but, man, what a drag to read.
May 29, 2021
I Padrini nel tempo
Un ampio spettro temporale per indagare le origini della mafia, le logiche e le azioni che ne hanno decretato la longevità, partendo dalla seconda metà del 1800, quando la mafia (o maffia) veniva considerata solo una peculiarità del carattere siciliano, un machismo patriarcale di vecchio stile, un modo di essere degli uomini che difendevano il proprio onore, il sistema di valori dell'identità di gruppo, e arrivando sino ai giorni nostri, passando per tutta la terribile e sanguinosa fase di comprensione del fenomeno (minimizzato da alcuni, ancora convinti che la mafiia non esiste) che ne ha svelato il vero volto, cioè quello di associazione criminale organizzata che nel corso del tempo ha assunto il ruolo di Stato ombra.
Se oggi sappiamo come agisce la mafia, che resta comunque un animale mutevole e capace di cambiare pelle mantenendo gli stessi propositi, è grazie a pochi uomini coraggiosi che hanno agito nel campo della legalità - irrimediabilmente uccisi - e alcuni pentiti eccellenti il cui contributo ha permesso di fare enormi passi in avanti in tal senso.
La prima parte stimola curiosità poiché 'storicamente' lontana, le connessione delle prime faide sono illuminanti nonostante l'approccio aneddotico sorretto da supposizioni e ipotesi e di un (a volte) ingombrante corollario di dettagli folcloristici.
Personalmente ho trovato più stimolante il periodo che va dalla fine della seconda guerra mondiale in avanti, che con le sue fobie fasciste dei 'rossi' prima, e con quelle americane poi, ha finito per consegnare un Italia da ricostruire nelle mani di chi quelle mani ha preferito non pulirsele, creando volontariamente o meno i presupposti per un'intesa politico-mafiosa che ha retto fino a che non è collassata grazie proprio al contributo di pochi uomini coraggiosi, quelli irrimediabilmente uccisi, e alla sterminata e incontrollata sete di potere mafiosa.
"Alcuni politici democristiani erano destinati a diventare i mediatori elettivi tra la criminalità organizzata siciliana e il potere romano, e a conservare questo ruolo per oltre quarant'anni."
1994: le forze politiche cambiano, la mafia dopo aver affossato quelle vecchie ne cerca di nuove per avere garanzie di sopravvivenza e... trova terreno fertile.
...
Un testo che ha la leggibilità di un romanzo e accessibile a tutti quelli interessati all'argomento.
Un ampio spettro temporale per indagare le origini della mafia, le logiche e le azioni che ne hanno decretato la longevità, partendo dalla seconda metà del 1800, quando la mafia (o maffia) veniva considerata solo una peculiarità del carattere siciliano, un machismo patriarcale di vecchio stile, un modo di essere degli uomini che difendevano il proprio onore, il sistema di valori dell'identità di gruppo, e arrivando sino ai giorni nostri, passando per tutta la terribile e sanguinosa fase di comprensione del fenomeno (minimizzato da alcuni, ancora convinti che la mafiia non esiste) che ne ha svelato il vero volto, cioè quello di associazione criminale organizzata che nel corso del tempo ha assunto il ruolo di Stato ombra.
Se oggi sappiamo come agisce la mafia, che resta comunque un animale mutevole e capace di cambiare pelle mantenendo gli stessi propositi, è grazie a pochi uomini coraggiosi che hanno agito nel campo della legalità - irrimediabilmente uccisi - e alcuni pentiti eccellenti il cui contributo ha permesso di fare enormi passi in avanti in tal senso.
La prima parte stimola curiosità poiché 'storicamente' lontana, le connessione delle prime faide sono illuminanti nonostante l'approccio aneddotico sorretto da supposizioni e ipotesi e di un (a volte) ingombrante corollario di dettagli folcloristici.
Personalmente ho trovato più stimolante il periodo che va dalla fine della seconda guerra mondiale in avanti, che con le sue fobie fasciste dei 'rossi' prima, e con quelle americane poi, ha finito per consegnare un Italia da ricostruire nelle mani di chi quelle mani ha preferito non pulirsele, creando volontariamente o meno i presupposti per un'intesa politico-mafiosa che ha retto fino a che non è collassata grazie proprio al contributo di pochi uomini coraggiosi, quelli irrimediabilmente uccisi, e alla sterminata e incontrollata sete di potere mafiosa.
"Alcuni politici democristiani erano destinati a diventare i mediatori elettivi tra la criminalità organizzata siciliana e il potere romano, e a conservare questo ruolo per oltre quarant'anni."
1994: le forze politiche cambiano, la mafia dopo aver affossato quelle vecchie ne cerca di nuove per avere garanzie di sopravvivenza e... trova terreno fertile.
...
Un testo che ha la leggibilità di un romanzo e accessibile a tutti quelli interessati all'argomento.
July 8, 2021
Un saggio ben scritto per chi vuole capire la genesi e l'evoluzione della mafia attraverso gli anni. Ovviamente alcuni episodi sarebbero da approfondire, ma il libro ha il pregio comunque di fornire un panorama completo dei fatti piu' rilevanti. Consigliato.
March 12, 2025
There is a lot of information in this book, but I really can't stress enough how clearly it's all presented. I read this while going through a lot of really stressful nonsense, when my concentration and my free time wasn't at its best, and yet this book was still so easy to follow and very engaging in its style and tone. I think my one major suggestion for improving this overall would have been a glossary of common words and a list of the main players, just for easy reference -- no matter how clearly written a book is, when there's this much going on it's always useful to have a guide.
As you can probably imagine, there's a lot of fascinating information in this book. It's a decent and comprehensive introduction to the subject -- I don't know much about the mafia past the usual cultural ideas and a general overview of what was going on mainly in America, which is obviously not the whole (and probably not even the very accurate) story. So I'd regard myself as something of a newcomer to the subject, and I came away with a decent working knowledge of the history and culture of the mafia in Sicily. Of course, being so new to the subject, I can't fully vouch for its accuracy yet, but I will say it was well-sourced and full of analysis as well as presentation of the facts, personalities, and incidents.
As you can probably imagine, there's a lot of fascinating information in this book. It's a decent and comprehensive introduction to the subject -- I don't know much about the mafia past the usual cultural ideas and a general overview of what was going on mainly in America, which is obviously not the whole (and probably not even the very accurate) story. So I'd regard myself as something of a newcomer to the subject, and I came away with a decent working knowledge of the history and culture of the mafia in Sicily. Of course, being so new to the subject, I can't fully vouch for its accuracy yet, but I will say it was well-sourced and full of analysis as well as presentation of the facts, personalities, and incidents.
November 24, 2014
Mammamia!!!! Da habe ich mich so auf dieses Buch gefreut, denn seit dem Tod Falcones habe ich mich mit dem Thema nicht mehr ausführlich beschäftigt und ich wollte nach dem Film "Il divo" wieder mal Up to date im Who is Who der Mörder, Wirtschschaftsverbrecher und honorigen Leute sein.
Nach 150 Seiten musste ich das Buch vorerst mal weglegen. Wie kann man derart langweilig über ein so spannendes Thema schreiben und dann auch noch die Wiederholungen, die Unübersichtlichkeit.....grauslich!!! - Ich bin in der historischen Mafia steckengeblieben und noch gar nicht zur Gegenwart bzw. zu jenen Kapiteln der 80er und 90er Jahre, in denen ich mich gut auskenne, vorgedrungen. Vielleicht wird es ja noch besser.
Irgendwie scheint dieses Buch sich selbtst zu verlieren beim Anspruch wirklich historisch korrekt alle komplexen Zusammenhänge immer und immer wieder zu kauen. Dass so ein Thema nicht einfach ist, sei unbestritten, aber dass eine gute Aufarbeitung möglich ist, sieht man an David A. Yallop, der die sicher genauso komplizierten wirtschaftlichen Zusammenhänge zwischen Finanz, Kirche und Mafia in den 80er Jahren sowohl genau und komplex als auch spannend erzählt hat.
Deshalb verstehe ich die euphorischen Rezensionen von Tagesspiegel, Süddeutscher Zeitung und Welt am Sonntag überhaupt nicht. Aber vielleicht wirds noch besser (habe ich schon zum zweiten Mal geschrieben ist das eine Beschwörung?).
Auf jeden Fall gilt das Zitat auf der ersten Seite nicht: Dickie mag ja sicher ein guter Historiker sein, aber auf keinen Fall ein gewandter Erzähler!!
Nach 150 Seiten musste ich das Buch vorerst mal weglegen. Wie kann man derart langweilig über ein so spannendes Thema schreiben und dann auch noch die Wiederholungen, die Unübersichtlichkeit.....grauslich!!! - Ich bin in der historischen Mafia steckengeblieben und noch gar nicht zur Gegenwart bzw. zu jenen Kapiteln der 80er und 90er Jahre, in denen ich mich gut auskenne, vorgedrungen. Vielleicht wird es ja noch besser.
Irgendwie scheint dieses Buch sich selbtst zu verlieren beim Anspruch wirklich historisch korrekt alle komplexen Zusammenhänge immer und immer wieder zu kauen. Dass so ein Thema nicht einfach ist, sei unbestritten, aber dass eine gute Aufarbeitung möglich ist, sieht man an David A. Yallop, der die sicher genauso komplizierten wirtschaftlichen Zusammenhänge zwischen Finanz, Kirche und Mafia in den 80er Jahren sowohl genau und komplex als auch spannend erzählt hat.
Deshalb verstehe ich die euphorischen Rezensionen von Tagesspiegel, Süddeutscher Zeitung und Welt am Sonntag überhaupt nicht. Aber vielleicht wirds noch besser (habe ich schon zum zweiten Mal geschrieben ist das eine Beschwörung?).
Auf jeden Fall gilt das Zitat auf der ersten Seite nicht: Dickie mag ja sicher ein guter Historiker sein, aber auf keinen Fall ein gewandter Erzähler!!
April 9, 2012
To say Cosa Nostra is well done is not enough. We are talking about tracing Mafia in the late 1800s in Sicily, its exportation to America in the early 1900s and its development since. You will not find the climax of Mario Puzo's The Godfather because Cosa Nostra is a chronological trace. John Dickie may have set out to educate through his book and not to thrill. However a story of mafiosi and mafioso will always be a tale of excitement.
The lowlight is that Dickie touches much of much which means the book needs more pages if it's to tell the story of mafia in detail. A reader feels that the writer is in a hurry to fill 150 years of mafiosi activity in a few chapters.
I do congratulate Dickie for his research and his excellence in remaining neutral. I'm educated on the History of mafia and will definitely be out looking for more of Dickie.
The lowlight is that Dickie touches much of much which means the book needs more pages if it's to tell the story of mafia in detail. A reader feels that the writer is in a hurry to fill 150 years of mafiosi activity in a few chapters.
I do congratulate Dickie for his research and his excellence in remaining neutral. I'm educated on the History of mafia and will definitely be out looking for more of Dickie.
December 7, 2017
Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia tells the story of the Sicilian Mafia from creation to somewhat end..??
While it was an informative novel, there was just too much information; so many names, dates, and stories that it was hard to keep up. I am thankful that I had my professor to help guide me in what he wanted me to learn because I would have been lost.
John Dickie did a good job by giving you all of the facts about the mafia, but I wouldn't suggest this if you are looking for something concrete because it seems like Dickie goes all over the place, jumping from year to year and story to story.
It was still good, but beware of all the information that will be thrown at you.
While it was an informative novel, there was just too much information; so many names, dates, and stories that it was hard to keep up. I am thankful that I had my professor to help guide me in what he wanted me to learn because I would have been lost.
John Dickie did a good job by giving you all of the facts about the mafia, but I wouldn't suggest this if you are looking for something concrete because it seems like Dickie goes all over the place, jumping from year to year and story to story.
It was still good, but beware of all the information that will be thrown at you.
April 7, 2020
What a shame.
An expertly researched account of an incredibly interesting and unique subject that I abandoned half way through due to the awfully stodgy writing. I couldn't wait to put it down every time I picked it up.
The whole thing reads like a coroners report. Why the author couldn't have outsourced the actual writing of the book is beyond me as the information actually present is both fascinating and very obscure.
I would not recommend this book to most people, barring masochists, of course.
An expertly researched account of an incredibly interesting and unique subject that I abandoned half way through due to the awfully stodgy writing. I couldn't wait to put it down every time I picked it up.
The whole thing reads like a coroners report. Why the author couldn't have outsourced the actual writing of the book is beyond me as the information actually present is both fascinating and very obscure.
I would not recommend this book to most people, barring masochists, of course.
June 7, 2019
I loved it. It was full of knowledge and easy to read. Even though I tried to separate chapters because I was doing a research at the same time. I would recommend it to anyone who like this kind of topic and wants to know more.
May 6, 2022
This is an exhaustive account of the Sicilian mafia from its beginnings in the mid 1800s in the lemon groves of Palermo to the present day still largely operating in the western half of the island. A tad dense at times, the book is engaging, and it is revealing in terms of the inter-workings of the mafia and its often complicated and violent interactions with the business, political and legal professions. Former Italian Prime Minister Andreotti, allegedly tied to the mafia, once said that “things that happen in Sicily are incomprehensible”. Maybe so, but Dickie makes the mafia less incomprehensible for his readers.
September 15, 2019
Before reading this book I thought that Mafia was a thing of the past - something from The Godfather movies where the mafiosi run around with guns and buy politicians. Some of that turns out to be true, but I am quite certain now that it is definitely not a thing of only the past.
If you know more history books like this - I want to read them all!
If you know more history books like this - I want to read them all!
June 24, 2022
A fascinating read about the mafia organization, very detailed and well researched. It flows well, but as one can expect from a history book there are parts where it drags or repeats itself. Not a slight on the author, more on the culture of impunity that allowed the mafia to flourish.
The go-to book if one wants to understand the mindset of the Sicilian mafia.
The go-to book if one wants to understand the mindset of the Sicilian mafia.
December 25, 2022
Mielenkiintoinen kuvaus Sisilian mafian historiasta. Lähdeaineisto on monipuolista ja sen käsittely vaikuttaa epistemologisesti pätevältä sekä uskottavalta. Huolimatta tiukasta analyysista ja turhasta mielikuvituksellisen tarinankerronnan välttelystä, teksti soljuu hyvin eteenpäin.
May 12, 2021
Almost TOO detailed at times, but I can deal with that given the magnitude of the scope of this book. Fascinating and informative read for those interested in the mafia and true crime in general.
October 1, 2022
Well documented book.
November 17, 2024
The lack of chronology made it hard to follow at times, but this was well-written
January 17, 2025
I still not really interested in the mafioso
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