The author of the bestselling COSA NOSTRA explores the previously underexposed mafias of Southern Italy.
MAFIA BROTHERHOODS (previously published in hardback as BLOOD BROTHERHOODS) is the enthralling new history of Italian organised crime by the author of the international bestseller COSA NOSTRA. Mafia. Camorra. 'Ndrangheta.
The Sicilian mafia, or Cosa Nostra, is far from being Italy's only dangerous criminal fraternity. The south of the country hosts two other major mafias: the camorra, from Naples and its hinterland; and the 'ndrangheta, the mafia from the poor and isolated region of Calabria that has now risen to become the most powerful mob of all.
Each of these brotherhoods has its own methods, its own dark rituals, its own style of ferocity and corruption. Their early history is little known; indeed some of it has been entirely shrouded in myth and silence until now.
BLOOD BROTHERHOODS is a book of breathtaking ambition, charting the birth and rise of all three of Italy's mafias. It blends ground-breaking archival research, passionate narrative, and shrewd historical analysis to bring Italy's unique 'criminal ecosystem', and the three terrifying criminal brotherhoods that evolved within it, to life on the page.
Reviews for COSA NOSTRA: - .
I couldn't put it down. His archival sleuthing is yoked to his powerful , often coruscating story-telling to create a sinister, horrific reality. - John Guy, The Sunday Times
Dogged...a brave work. This is the first history of the Sicilian Mafia to be written by a non-Italian. It gives John Dickie a neccesary detachment, frosty and undeceived. - Mail on Sunday
Monumental and gripping - Andrew Marr, BBC Start the Week
Combines scholarship with a rip-roaring read - Sunday Herald
'Exciting and well-written, it plays out like a 19th-century Sopranos'. - Shortlist
His narrative bowls along, powered by the sort of muscular prose one associates with great detective fiction. An exhilarating history. - Financial Times
Combines his trademark of scholarly documentation with a rattling good read. - Matthew Fort
John Dickie is Professor of Italian Studies at University College London. He is an internationally recognised specialist on many aspects of Italian history and his books have been translated into well over twenty languages. His history of the Sicilian mafia, Cosa Nostra, has sold a million copies. John has reached a multi-national television audience with a number of documentaries he has co-written and presented, including the six-part history of Italian food-a smash hit in Italy-which was based on Delizia! It is now on Amazon Prime as: Eating History - The Story of Italy on a Plate.
John has been a judge of the Pesto World Championships in Genoa. In 2017 and 2018 he was the host of the Pasta World Championships in Parma, sponsored by Barilla. In 2021 he hosted the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy in Milan.
In 2005 the President of the Italian Republic appointed him a Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella della SolidarietA Italiana.