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Don Vito Le Relazioni Segrete Tra Stato E Mafia Nel Racconto DI UN Testi
Un viaggio nei gironi infernali della storia italiana più recente cui fa da perno Vito Ciancimino, “don Vito da Corleone”, uno dei protagonisti assoluti della vita pubblica siciliana e nazionale del secondo dopoguerra, sindaco di Palermo e amico personale di Provenzano, per decenni snodo cruciale di tutte le trame a cavallo tra mafia, istituzioni, affari e servizi segreti. A squarciare il velo sui misteri di “don Vito” è un testimone d’eccezione: suo figlio Massimo, che per anni ha lavorato al suo fianco in ogni tipo di situazione. Il suo racconto – che il libro riporta per la prima volta in presa diretta, senza mediazioni, arricchito dalla riproduzione di documenti originali e fotografie – riscrive pagine fondamentali: le stragi del ’92, Calvi e lo Ior, la “Trattativa” Stato-mafia, la cattura di Riina, la nascita di Milano 2 e Forza Italia e il ruolo di Dell’Utri, la perenne presenza dei servizi segreti in ogni passaggio della nostra storia. Quarant’anni di relazioni segrete, occulte e inconfessabili, tra politica e criminalità mafiosa, tra Stato e Cosa nostra ci accompagnano insomma in un’epopea politico-criminale che, per troppo tempo, le ipocrisie e le compromissioni hanno mantenuto nascosta.
313 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 5, 2025
DNF. Storyline occurs in Italy and was hard to grasp, be interested in. There were too many “Dons” and families to follow. Author did a good job of listing crime characters at the beginning of the book which helped some. Italian words in places made it difficult to understand what was happening in places.
September 22, 2011
I like true crime books that tell me something about the circumstances and motivations for why people get into the situations that they do. I even like confessional true crime as long as it's not too self-serving or overtly engaged in historical rewriting. But I think I've just discovered that the subject, the crimes, the individuals have to be somebody that I have some sort of knowledge of, or connection with. Be it that they are from the same country, city or state as me, or maybe if it's something that is of universal interest. Alas my interest in the Mafia in Italy is very very limited and that really affected by experience with DON VITO.
Written by author Francesco La Licata along with the youngest son of Mafia boss Vito, Massimo Ciancimino, DON VITO is the story of a Mafia boss known as the 'Mayor of the Corleones'. Massimo was the son closest to the former politician, the anointed boy for want of a better description, this book is about the people and the events that he was a very close observer of. The book attempts to shed some light on the details of Don Vito's life, his interactions, his contacts and his influence. There's some glimpses into family life with a man who, on the face of it, seemed emotionally withdrawn, stern, a bully to his family. Massimo seems to have had a life which was very much controlled and directed by a cold and stand-offish man with a mother who was mostly off to the side, perhaps thoroughly inhibited by the man she married.
It's not just Massimo's voice however, there are chapters from other viewpoints, including explanatory overviews from La Licata. I'm really not sure if it was these multiple voices, whether it was partly the interwoven names and names and names that kept being thrown into the narrative, or whether it was just that I was struggling for interest, but I just never quite seemed to be able to get who was who and what they were talking about straight in my head. Terminal confusion reigned from the start of the book to the finish and at the end of it, whilst I felt I'd been told a few things about the goings on in the Ciancimino household and their associates, I was really not too sure that I knew much more about the whys of the Mafia's influence and how somebody like Ciancimino, rather than any other of the Mafia hierarchy, in particular, got to where he did. That could very well have been the reader's fault, but I just found I couldn't get a handle on who or what and there didn't seem to be much attempt at why.
Perhaps this book is one more for observers of Mafia happenings, one more for people that really have an interest in the subject matter. Alas for me, DON VITO never quite engaged, never really told me anything in depth, never really peaked any interest in knowing more about the Mafia at all.
Written by author Francesco La Licata along with the youngest son of Mafia boss Vito, Massimo Ciancimino, DON VITO is the story of a Mafia boss known as the 'Mayor of the Corleones'. Massimo was the son closest to the former politician, the anointed boy for want of a better description, this book is about the people and the events that he was a very close observer of. The book attempts to shed some light on the details of Don Vito's life, his interactions, his contacts and his influence. There's some glimpses into family life with a man who, on the face of it, seemed emotionally withdrawn, stern, a bully to his family. Massimo seems to have had a life which was very much controlled and directed by a cold and stand-offish man with a mother who was mostly off to the side, perhaps thoroughly inhibited by the man she married.
It's not just Massimo's voice however, there are chapters from other viewpoints, including explanatory overviews from La Licata. I'm really not sure if it was these multiple voices, whether it was partly the interwoven names and names and names that kept being thrown into the narrative, or whether it was just that I was struggling for interest, but I just never quite seemed to be able to get who was who and what they were talking about straight in my head. Terminal confusion reigned from the start of the book to the finish and at the end of it, whilst I felt I'd been told a few things about the goings on in the Ciancimino household and their associates, I was really not too sure that I knew much more about the whys of the Mafia's influence and how somebody like Ciancimino, rather than any other of the Mafia hierarchy, in particular, got to where he did. That could very well have been the reader's fault, but I just found I couldn't get a handle on who or what and there didn't seem to be much attempt at why.
Perhaps this book is one more for observers of Mafia happenings, one more for people that really have an interest in the subject matter. Alas for me, DON VITO never quite engaged, never really told me anything in depth, never really peaked any interest in knowing more about the Mafia at all.
August 17, 2013
There's an interesting, lucid book awaiting to be written about Vito Ciancimino. This isn't it.
Ciancimino - in charge of public building projects during the infamous "Sack of Palermo" in the 1950s and 1960s - was a vital conduit between Sicilian politics, Palermo high society and the Mafia. Like the Holy Trinity of Liggio, Riina and Provenzano, Ciancimino was from the small town of Corleone. Like these three, he was as bent as a nine bob bit.
His story in many ways is the story of Sicily and Palermo from the Second World War through to the end of the last century. Unfortunately this book is disjointed and stilted, suffering from a translation that at times looks like it's been copied and pasted via Google Translate, with laboured phrases and pigeon-English like qualities.
There is not enough in the book on the period of Ciancimino's life that is of most interest and too much on the legal wrangles at the end of his time, by when his influence and patronage with the Mafia elite had all but evaporated.
There are no photographs either, which is a shame.
Ciancimino - in charge of public building projects during the infamous "Sack of Palermo" in the 1950s and 1960s - was a vital conduit between Sicilian politics, Palermo high society and the Mafia. Like the Holy Trinity of Liggio, Riina and Provenzano, Ciancimino was from the small town of Corleone. Like these three, he was as bent as a nine bob bit.
His story in many ways is the story of Sicily and Palermo from the Second World War through to the end of the last century. Unfortunately this book is disjointed and stilted, suffering from a translation that at times looks like it's been copied and pasted via Google Translate, with laboured phrases and pigeon-English like qualities.
There is not enough in the book on the period of Ciancimino's life that is of most interest and too much on the legal wrangles at the end of his time, by when his influence and patronage with the Mafia elite had all but evaporated.
There are no photographs either, which is a shame.
March 10, 2022
Some great passages but also a lot of filling that I couldn't follow or got bored with. Perhaps if I'd known more background information about the Sicilian mafia, I'd be more inclined to give it a better score. In the end, I skim read it for juicy mafia stories but it was pretty painful to get through all of it. I didn't want to give up in case I missed something good but it was mostly dry.
I did learn a lot though about Mafia so if you're really into that history, you'll probably get more out of it than me.
I did learn a lot though about Mafia so if you're really into that history, you'll probably get more out of it than me.
August 30, 2020
Purchase Don Vito and the Mafia here for just $8!
Hear from the whistle-blowing son of a Sicilian Mafia don, about his fathers life spent in the grip of death, dirty politics and shady Mafia deals.
Nerida - The Book Grocer
Hear from the whistle-blowing son of a Sicilian Mafia don, about his fathers life spent in the grip of death, dirty politics and shady Mafia deals.
Nerida - The Book Grocer
August 20, 2020
A fantastic insight in to the mafia in Italy.
April 1, 2013
Letto in questo giorni, con la cronaca giudiziaria che riporta nuovi sviluppi sulla "trattativa" tra stato e mafia, sugli omicidi di Falcone e Borsellino, sulla nuova versione della tristemente nota "strategia della tensione", al fine di incanalare il fiume di voti della DC verso una nascente "forza", ecco che questo libro fornisce uno straordinario supporto. Un'autorevole voce di chi dentro gli intrighi di Stato ha veramente vissuto tutta la vita.
August 15, 2012
Fa riflettere sulla storia dell'Italia!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews