Mafia Life: Love, Death, and Money at the Heart of Organized Crime

by Federico Varese

Overview

We see mafias as vast, powerful organizations, harvesting billions of dollars across the globe and wrapping their tentacles around everything from governance to finance. But is this the truth?

Traveling from mafia initiation ceremonies in far-flung Russian cities to elite gambling clubs in downtown Macau, Federico Varese sets off in search of answers. Using wiretapped conversations, interviews, and previously unpublished police records, he builds up a picture of the real men and women caught up in mafia life, showing their loves and fears, ambitions and disappointments, as well as their crimes.

Mafia Life takes us into the real world of organized crime, where henchmen worry about bad managers and have high blood pressure, assassinations are bungled as often as they come off, and increasing pressure from law enforcement means that a life of crime is no longer lived in the lap of luxury.

As our world changes, so must mafias. Globalization, migration, and technology are disrupting their traditions and threatening their revenue streams, and the Mafiosi must evolve or die. Mafia Life is an intense and totally compelling look at these organizations and the daily life of their members, as they get to grips with the modern world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190868932
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/04/2018
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Federico Varese is Professor of Criminology at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Mafias on the Move: How Organized Crime Conquers New Territories.

Table of Contents

Introduction
A Note to the Reader
1. Birth
2. Work
3. Management
4. Money
5. Love
6. Self-image
7. Politics
8. Death
9. Post-mortem
Glossary
Appendix: Table of Mafia Rules
Appendix: Table of Mafia Structures
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Varese has been taking the subject of organized crime with the seriousness it deserves for a quarter of a century. His latest excellent contribution, Mafia Life, examines the structures of the world's most prominent mafia organizations by looking at how mafiosi lead their lives from cradle to grave."— Misha Glenny, The Times Literary Supplement

"This academic overview of the functioning of different organized crime groups will be welcomed by readers interested in the history of crime as well as true crime buffs." -Library Journal

Varese is a fascinating combination of academic and relentless on-the-ground observer who has done a better job than any writer alive at penetrating and even befriending mafiosi around the world. Mafia Life pulls together decades of Varese's experiences into a series of disarming portraits and vignettes that delve into the private worries and banal every day of gangsters. [...] Enlightening - Alex Perry, author of The Good Mothers, CrimeReads

From the Publisher