This, the latest in the series of Joe Public Guides, gives a potted history of the Sicilian Mafia from its origins in mid-nineteenth century Palermo, through two world wars and numerous internecine battles up to the present day.
All the key players are there throughout the development of the Mafia's complex structure and traditions, as organised crime spreads its tendrils into local and national government, the Church and big business and gradually sails across to the New World to create perhaps its more well-known and glamorous offspring in North America.
As the brave men and women of the law try and fail time and again to eradicate its existence, the Mafia endures by being loyal to nothing but itself. Violence and intimidation and the money and power which they bring are the Mafia's only lasting goals.