At its peak in 1992-93, the 'ndrangheta was beheading people in the street, and the Sicilian mafia murdered its greatest enemies, investigating magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, before embarking on a major terrorist bombing campaign on the Italian mainland. This was a war for Italy's future as a civilized country.

The scene was set for a titanic confrontation between heroic representatives of the law, and mafiosi who could no longer tolerate any obstacle to their ambitions. And as criminal business grew exponentially, the mafias grew not just more powerful, but became more interconnected.īy the 1980s, Southern Italy was on the edge of becoming a narco-state. The mafias carved out their own route to wealth through tobacco smuggling, construction, kidnapping and narcotics. Italy made itself rich by making scooters, cars and handbags. Sicily's Cosa Nostra, the camorra from Naples, and the mysterious 'ndrangheta from Calabria stood ready to enter the wealthiest and bloodiest period of their long history. But deep within Italy there lurked a forgotten curse: three major criminal brotherhoods, whose methods had been honed over a century of experience. In 1946, Italy became a democratic Republic, thereby entering the family of modern western nations.

In MAFIA REPUBLIC, John Dickie, Professor of Italian Studies at University College, London and author of the international bestsellers COSA NOSTRA and MAFIA BROTHERHOODS, shows how the Italian mafias have grown in power and become more and more interconnected, with terrifying consequences.

Cosa Nostra by John Dickie