Peter, What Are You Reading? № 12

Thank you to all of my readers for your support. It means so much to me. I wanted to publish another Peter, What Are You Reading, since I have recently moved on to a new topic. Books profiled in the post include: Boss of Bosses (Clar Longrigg), History of the Russian Revolution (Trotsky), Year One of the Russian Revolution (Victor Serge), Russia’s Last Capitalists (Alan M. Ball), Lenin’ April Theses, From Lenin to Stalin (Victor Serge), Animal Farm (Orwell), Mennonites in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (Leonard Friesen), Mapping the New Left Antisemitism, (Alan Johnson)

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Boss of Bosses: A Journey into the heart of the Sicilian Mafia - Clare Longrigg

Yet another Mafia book, this one took me to the original homeland of the Cosa Nostra mafia, the Italian island of Sicily. This Island, located on the other side of the Messina Strait from Calabria, better known as the toe of mainland Italy, is known as the birthplace of the modern Mafia, the most notorious of the three major l Italian organized crime organizations of the 20h century, the other two being the ‘Nrangheta based in Calabria and the Camorra based in Naples At the western end of Sicily lies the city of Palermo, which was controlled by a mafia family for the better part of the 20th century. At the centre of this book is the mafia family from the town of Corleone, which lies 60km by to the eastt of Palermo. If the town name sounds familiar it is because Mario Puzo tootk thee name of the town of Corleone to be the name of the mafia family in his book The Godfather, which was made into one of the most famous gangster movies of all time by Francis Ford Coppola, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. The real mafia family from Corleone was led by two men, the violence prone and dictatorial Salvatore (Toto) Rìna and Bernardo (The Accountant) Provenzano. Spending the majority of the late 20th century on the run hiding out throughout the Sicilian countryside, the pair were still able o orchestrate two of the most notorious assassinations in Italy, the irst being the bombing death of Judge Giovanni Falcone, as he was diving into Palermo on the A29 motorway,on May 23, 1992, as well as his replacement on the Sicilian Bench in Palermo, Paolo Borsellino, whose vehicle exploded, killing him, while he was in Palermo visiting his mother on July 19, 1992. These two judges cwere known and loved by many Sicilians for their relentless pursuit of mafia corruption involving kickbacks and political deals with leading figures of both the Christian Democrat Party and the Communist Party, along with their many other criminal enterprises. Their deaths served as a lightning rod within the broader public, who began to demandd concrete actionfrom law enforcement and state institutions. While Rìna was apprehended in January of 1993, Bernardo Provenzano would not be captured until April 11, 2006,. He was captured living in a shepherd's shack in the countryside south of Corleone, having been on the lam for 63 years. On the partnership of Rìna and Provenzano, Longrigg writes:

"while Riina was fighting his war in Palermo, Provenzano was attending to business. ‘The Mafia’s money had to be kept moving, it had to be invested, and Provenzano was in charge of that side of things’, says Angiolo Pellegrini. ‘While Riina was being the great warrior, Provenzano was managing his companies through front men. Riina was making Cosa Nostra’s military decisions, while Provenzano was running the economy.’

Indeed, one of the key threads that drives the book's overall narrative is the diff erence in leadership styles of both Bosses. Longrigg highlights Provenzano's cerebral approach to mafia leadership and suggests that his many successes can be studied by business leaders in the 21st century for clues on how to approach management decisions. Provenzano's thoughtful leadership is sharply contrasted with Rìna's dictatorial leadership style, which pursued a Shoot First, Ask Questions Later appoach,, ordering the killings of friendsnds and foe alike, for the slightest offense. The killing of Falcone and Borsellino was his idea proposed to the ruling commission of the Sicilian mafia; once Rìna had been captured, Provenzano ordered a reversal of the Shoot First strategy, encouraging restraint in all situations.

This book not only appeals to anyone interested in the history of the mafia and organized crime, but also folks interested in true stories about political corruption and assassinations. Out of all the mafia books I've read over the past few years, it's definitely in my top 3. Mafia nooks.