The Mafia and the Allies

The Mafia and the Allies PDF Author: Ezio Costanzo
Publisher: Enigma Books
ISBN: 1936274949
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Within weeks of the Pearl Harbor attack and the declaration of war on the United States by Germany and Italy, US war plans included the defense of the East Coast and the invasion of Sicily. Here, Ezio Costanzo examines the many elements of this secret scenario, which included long-suppressed information about cooperation between the Mafia and the US Army. The results came in the aftermath of the invasion, during the new military government that gave many Mafia leaders important administrative positions. Seen from an Italian standpoint, the success of US forces is examined in detail and many questions are finally answered.

The Mafia and the Allies

The Mafia and the Allies PDF Author: Ezio Costanzo
Publisher: Enigma Books
ISBN: 1936274949
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Within weeks of the Pearl Harbor attack and the declaration of war on the United States by Germany and Italy, US war plans included the defense of the East Coast and the invasion of Sicily. Here, Ezio Costanzo examines the many elements of this secret scenario, which included long-suppressed information about cooperation between the Mafia and the US Army. The results came in the aftermath of the invasion, during the new military government that gave many Mafia leaders important administrative positions. Seen from an Italian standpoint, the success of US forces is examined in detail and many questions are finally answered.

Separatism, the Allies and the Mafia

Separatism, the Allies and the Mafia PDF Author: Monte S. Finkelstein
Publisher: Lehigh University Press
ISBN: 9780934223515
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
This study examines the separatist movement's origins, its leaders and followers, the actions in which separatists engaged to establish a free Sicily, the factors that caused the movement's demise, and its legacy. This book also examines the relationship of the separatist movement to the United States, Great Britain, and the Sicilian mafia.

Mafia Allies

Mafia Allies PDF Author: Timothy Newark
Publisher: MBI Publishing Company
ISBN: 9780760324578
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
How the rise and ultimate defeat of Fascism in Italy affected the Mafia—a provocative and little-known chapter in the history of WWII, and of organized crime.

History of the Mafia

History of the Mafia PDF Author: Salvatore Lupo
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231505396
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
When we think of the Italian Mafia, we think of Marlon Brando, Tony Soprano, and the Corleones iconic actors and characters who give shady dealings a mythical pop presence. Yet these sensational depictions take us only so far. The true story of the Mafia reveals both an organization and mindset dedicated to the preservation of tradition. It is no accident that the rise of the Mafia coincided with the unification of Italy and the influx of immigrants into America. The Mafia means more than a horse head under the sheets it functions as an alternative to the state, providing its own social and political justice. Combining a nuanced history with a unique counternarrative concerning stereotypes of the immigrant, Salvatore Lupo, a leading historian of modern Italy and a major authority on its criminal history, has written the definitive account of the Sicilian Mafia from 1860 to the present. Consulting rare archival sources, he traces the web of associations, both illicit and legitimate, that have defined Cosa Nostra during its various incarnations. He focuses on several crucial periods of transition: the Italian unification of 1860 to 1861, the murder of noted politician Notarbartolo, fascist repression of the Mafia, the Allied invasion of 1943, social conflicts after each world war, and the major murders and trials of the 1980s. Lupo identifies the internal cultural codes that define the Mafia and places these codes within the context of social groups and communities. He also challenges the belief that the Mafia has grown more ruthless in recent decades. Rather than representing a shift from "honorable" crime to immoral drug trafficking and violence, Lupo argues the terroristic activities of the modern Mafia signify a new desire for visibility and a distinct break from the state. Where these pursuits will take the family adds a fascinating coda to Lupo's work.

Luciano's Luck

Luciano's Luck PDF Author: Jack Higgins
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1453200568
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
From the New York Times–bestselling author of The Eagle Has Landed and Dark Justice comes the World War II legend of American gangster Charles “Lucky” Luciano. It’s 1943 and war is raging. The key to America and the Allies’ first assault on Nazi-occupied Europe is the island of Sicily. But it is unknown whether the Sicilian people are willing to rise up and fight alongside the Allies. To secure their help, the US military turns to imprisoned mobster Lucky Luciano—the one man with the connections to the all-powerful Sicilian mafia that could change the course of the war in Italy. The price for his help? Nothing short of a full pardon. Sent in secret to Sicily, Luciano must use every bit of guile and ruthlessness he has to convince his underworld brethren to make a stand against the fascists who have overrun their land. If successful, his mission will pave the way for a full-scale invasion of Italy and aid the Allies in breaking Hitler’s grip on Italy. But if he fails, the price in blood will be higher than anyone can imagine—and Luciano’s will be the first spilled. For decades, author Jack Higgins has kept millions of readers around the world glued to the page with his breakneck pacing and shocking plot twists. Here, he takes the true story of the near-alliance between the US government and the mob during World War II to an explosive climax.

The Mafia at War

The Mafia at War PDF Author: Tim Newark
Publisher: Greenhill Books
ISBN: 1784388904
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
An engrossing history that reads like a thriller. The Godfather meets Band of Brothers.' — Andrew Roberts 'Newark tells an extraordinary tale with pace and conviction, and impressively unravels what really happened from the pervasive myths.' — History Today 'A fascinating and compelling work on three of the most evil movements of the 20th century. It ought to be required reading for anyone looking for insights into the period.' — Richard Hammer The Mafia is the most powerful criminal organization 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. It shows how Lucky Luciano won his freedom thanks to mobster help in World War II; 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. The Mafia at War is a provocative account of how a criminal organization exploited the grim realities of World War II to revive its fortunes and dominate global crime.

Mafia Summit

Mafia Summit PDF Author: Gil Reavill
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250021103
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
Mafia Summit is the true story of how a small-town lawman in upstate New York busted a Cosa Nostra conference in 1957, exposing the Mafia to America In a small village in upstate New York, mob bosses from all over the country—Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Joe Bonanno, Joe Profaci, Cuba boss Santo Trafficante, and future Gambino boss Paul Castellano—were nabbed by Sergeant Edgar D. Croswell as they gathered to sort out a bloody war of succession. For years, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had adamantly denied the existence of the Mafia, but young Robert Kennedy immediately recognized the shattering importance of the Appalachian summit. As attorney general when his brother JFK became president, Bobby embarked on a campaign to break the spine of the mob, engaging in a furious turf battle with the powerful Hoover. Detailing mob killings, the early days of the heroin trade, and the crusade to loosen the hold of organized crime, fans of Gus Russo and Luc Sante will find themselves captured by this momentous story. Reavill scintillatingly recounts the beginning of the end for the Mafia in America and how it began with a good man in the right place at the right time.

American Mafia

American Mafia PDF Author: Thomas Reppetto
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1250125596
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
"Reppetto's book earns its place among the best . . . he brings fresh context to a familiar story worth retelling." —The New York Times Book Review Organized crime—the Italian American kind—has long been a source of popular entertainment and legend. Now Thomas Reppetto provides a balanced history of the Mafia's rise—from the 1880s to the post-WWII era—that is as exciting and readable as it is authoritative. Structuring his narrative around a series of case histories featuring such infamous characters as Lucky Luciano and Al Capone, Reppetto draws on a lifetime of field experience and access to unseen documents to show us a locally grown Mafia. It wasn't until the 1920s, thanks to Prohibition, that the Mafia assumed what we now consider its defining characteristics, especially its octopuslike tendency to infiltrate industry and government. At mid-century the Kefauver Commission declared the Mafia synonymous with Union Siciliana; in the 1960s the FBI finally admitted the Mafia's existence under the name La Cosa Nostra. American Mafia is a fascinating look at America's most compelling criminal subculture from an author who is intimately acquainted with both sides of the street.

Operation Underworld

Operation Underworld PDF Author: Matthew Black
Publisher: Citadel Press
ISBN: 0806542179
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
For the first time ever the full story of how Charles “Lucky” Luciano—the U.S. Mafia boss who put the “organized” into organized crime—was recruited by U.S. Naval Intelligence in 1944 to aid the Allied war effort in the U.S. invasion of Sicily that was a turning point in WWII. In 1942, fears were growing that New York Harbor was vulnerable to sabotage. If the waterfront was infested with German and Italian agents, the U.S. Navy needed a secret plan just as insidious to secure it. Naval intelligence officer, Commander Charles Radcliffe Haffenden had the solution: recruit as his own spies, members of La Cosa Nostra. Pier to pier, no one terrified the longshoremen, stevedores, shopkeepers, and boat captains along the harbor better than the Mafia gangs of New York, who controlled the docks in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Haffenden was prepared to make a deal with the devil—the man who put “organized” into organized crime. Even from his cell in Dannemora State Prison, former Public Enemy #1, Charles “Lucky” Luciano still had tremendous power. Luciano was willing to wield it for Uncle Sam in exchange for a fullpardon. Haffenden, though, wanted something in return—Luciano’s contacts in Italy to track the Nazis’ movements. The victorious U.S. invasion of Sicily in July 1943 might have turned out differently without Luciano’s help. Operation Underworld is a tale of espionage and crime like no other, the unbelievable, first-ever account of the Allied war effort’s clandestine—and improbably—coalition between the Mafia and the U.S. Government to help the Allies win World War II.

Fascism and the Mafia

Fascism and the Mafia PDF Author: Christopher Duggan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300043723
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
The Sicilian mafia is a subject of endless fascination, but few serious books have been written about it. In this provocative work, Christopher Duggan argues that the idea of the mafia is a fiction, born of political calculation and genuine misunderstanding of the behaviour of Sicilians. The first part of the book looks at the development of the idea of the mafia from the 1860s, when the term first appeared, to the Second World War. Although all serious observers realised that there was no organised criminal society in Sicily, Duggan explains why the idea was perpetuated. When the island became part of unified Italy in 1860, hostility to the new state was claimed by officials to be criminally inspired, and they spoke for the first time of 'the Mafia'. The distinctive values of the Sicilians, such as their belief in private justice and unwillingness to cooperate with the police, reinforced the idea of a secret criminal society. From then on, many of Sicily's political and social problems were attributed to this mythical organisation. In the second part of the book, to illustrate the general observations made in the first, Duggan provides a detailed study of the repressive campaign conducted by the fascist government against the mafia in the 1920s. Making use of private papers, police files, and trial proceedings, he concludes that the mafia was primarily an idea exploited for political ends, and that its use only strengthened many Sicilians' deep mistrust of the state. This lively book is a penetrating account of the origins of the mafia myth and the first study of the impact of fascism on Sicily. It will be of great interest to historians of modern Italy, to anthropologists, and to criminologists, as well as to those who are actively engaged in the fight against organised crime. Christopher Duggan was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and Lecturer in Italian History and Director of the Centre for the Advanced Study of Italian Society at Reading University. He is co-author, with Denis Mack Smith and Moses Finley, of 'A History of Sicily' (1986).