Twilight of the Godfathers

The gripping story of how Sicily won its bloody war with the mafia, but succumbed to corruption, fury, and paranoia.

For 150 years, the mafia—aka Cosa Nostra—controlled the island of Sicily ruthlessly. As its politicians raked off vast wealth from public funds and its racketeers leeched money from business, its roving traffickers fed America’s heroin habit. The authorities were cowed or corrupted. The mafia murdered with impunity.

But today, the world’s most storied criminal brotherhood is trapped in a death spiral.

In Twilight of the Godfathers, acclaimed historian John Dickie tells the thrilling inside story of how the Sicilian mafia was humbled. How the mightiest bosses have been hunted down. How hundreds of mafiosi have turned witnesses for the state. How the mafia’s territorial structure has been ravaged. How the transatlantic bridge to Cosa Nostra’s American sister organization has collapsed.

Yet Twilight of the Godfathers is also a tale with a dark side. Sicily is haunted by its savage past. As the mafia has retreated, the void has been filled by infighting and shameless corruption. And an island in thrall to conspiracy delusions has convinced itself that Cosa Nostra has morphed into a far deadlier menace lurking at the very heart of the state.

Beating the mafia was never supposed to be this way.