Anyone who knows their way around the academic research on the Sicilian mafia that has been done over the last fifteen years or so will recognize the great debt I owe in these pages to the leading Italian experts in the field. I hope they will understand that, if I have chosen not to mention them in the text, it is only to avoid burdening a non-Italian readership with more names than is strictly necessary to tell the story. What first stirred in me the ambition to write Cosa Nostra was a desire to reproduce the intellectual excitement I had myself felt on reading the work of Alessandra Dino, Giovanna Fiume, Diego Gambetta, Rosario Mangiameli, Francesco Renda, Paolo Pezzino, Umberto Santino, and particularly Salvatore Lupo whose Storia della mafia is in many ways the single most important inspiration for what I have written here. I also derived great benefits from being able to discuss this project in person on several occasions with Salvatore Lupo and Giovanna Fiume. My fond hope is that they think the results of my labours worth while.
Meeting antimafia magistrates Antonio Ingroia, Guido Lo Forte, Gaetano Paci and Roberto Scarpinato left an impression on me and on Cosa Nostra that is far, far greater than is apparent from what is made explicit in the text. Francesco Petruzzella and Margherita Pellerano in the Palermo Palazzo di Giustizia were unfailingly considerate when I called on them for help.
Nino Blando deserves my special gratitude: he provided me with excellent company, crucial insights and indispensable guidance on a field trip in January 2003. I must also thank Nino’s parents for a wonderful day in Gangi, Ina and Tullio for the welcome they gave me in Brancaccio, and Pippo Cipriani for sparing far more of his time than I had any right to expect in Corleone—where Rosanna Rizzo was also kind enough to share the fruits of her research and experience with me. It would simply not have been possible to write this book without the hospitality of a number of other friends in Italy: Marina and Lorenzo in Milan, Hugo, Stefania and Savina in Rome, Igor and Alessandro in Palermo. My thanks are also due to Nick Dines and Antonio Orlando for their last-minute help with some illustrations, and to Alessandro Fucarini from the Labruzzo agency whose superb photographs deserve a much wider exposure.
Many of my friends read parts of the book at different stages and in so doing helped me undertake the difficult journey away from the conventions of academic writing towards a more readable style. The following will never have to prove their patience in any other way: Prue, Lucy, Clara, Rob, Rebecca, Doug, Emma, Nick, Sham, Claire, Dad, Sarah M., Dave, Jackie, Tommo, Jay, Claire H., Sam, Andrew H., Caz, Cat, Uncle John, Andy, Sarah, Charles, Irina, Rosie, Rosa, Naomi. I owe both Radoyka Miljevic and Robert Gordon a special debt of thanks for reading a complete final draft at very short notice. Sarah Penny cast an astute eye over the proofs. I was also lucky enough to be able to draw on the expertise of Mark Donovan, Christopher Duggan, Lucy Riall, Melvyn Stokes and Michael Woodiwiss. Gaia Servadio, Pino Adriano and David Critchley also provided useful information.
Ombretta Ingrascì did some fantastic work tracking down the illustrations. Her advice and criticism during the writing process have also been very precious. Readers should keep an eye open for her fascinating work on women and the mafia.
Since I first sat down to work on this book I have had almost constant discussions with John Foot. Whatever its faults, Cosa Nostra is far better than it could ever have been without his input and support.
The Italian Department at UCL and the Editorial Committee of Modern Italy deserve my gratitude for allowing me some time to write. The friendly and professional staff in Humanities 2 of the BL deserve a massive pay rise.
My editors at Hodder—Roland Philipps, Helen Garnons-Williams and Rupert Lancaster—have all been a joy to work with. Helen deserves particular thanks for some perceptive interventions at a crucial stage in the book’s development. Everyone in the team at Hodder has been a model of cheerful professionalism. Catherine Clarke, my alchemical agent at Felicity Bryan, has helped make the whole process fun.
All the translations are my own unless otherwise stated.
This one’s for Oscar and Beth.
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Every reasonable effort has been made to acknowledge the ownership of the copyrighted material included in this volume. Any errors that may have occurred are inadvertent, and will be corrected in subsequent editions provided notification is sent to the author.
I would like thank the following for granting permission to quote from various published works: Rubbettino Editore for Commissione parlamentare d’inchiesta sul fenomeno della mafia e sulle altre associazioni criminali similari, Mafia, politica, pentiti; Enrico Deaglio for the interview with Andrea Camilleri in Diario; R.C.S. Libri S.p.A. for Giovanni Falcone and Marcelle Padovani, Cose di Cosa Nostra, and for Saverio Lodato, Venti anni di mafia; Tullio Pironti Editore S.r.l. for Lucio Galluzzo, Franco Nicastro, Vincenzo Vasile, Obiettivo Falcone; Edizioni La Zisa S.r.l. for Alessandra Dino, Mutazioni. Etnografia del mondo di Cosa Nostra, and for Dino Paternostro, L’antimafia sconosciuta. Corleone 1893–1993; Editori Riuniti for Corrado Stajano, Mafia. L’atto d’accusa dei giudici di Palermo.