The Mafia is the most powerful criminal organisation the world has ever known. This book tells the epic story of how the Mafia was nearly destroyed by Mussolini, prospered in the US, struck a secret wartime deal with the US government, and then backed a bloody rebellion that nearly turned Sicily into an independent Mafia realm. Using first-hand intelligence documents, some published for the first-time, and secret government investigations, "The Mafia at War" reconstructs the relationships of the Mafia and Allied intelligence organisations, including US Naval Intelligence, OSS, CIC, and MI6. It shows how Lucky Luciano won his freedom thanks to mobster help in World War Two; how Jewish gangsters clashed with Nazis on the streets of New York; how Mafiosi nearly issued contracts to kill top Nazis - including Hitler; how British 'bobbies' patrolled the deadly streets of Palermo; and how Mafia-backed bandits conducted a guerrilla war for Sicilian independence.
Startling secret wartime documents reveal that General Eisenhower was happy to arm the Mafia during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943 and how the British were equally willing to work with top Mafiosi in their conquest of the island. "The Mafia at War" is a dramatic and provocative account of how a criminal organisation exploited the grim realities of World War II to revive its fortunes and dominate global crime.
- ISBN10 1853676721
- ISBN13 9781853676727
- Publish Date 15 March 2007
- Publish Status Transferred
- Out of Print 15 June 2009
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Greenhill Books
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 320
- Language English