Peter, What Are You Reading № 10

An occasional series featuring the books I'm either reading or have just finished

I’m still on an organized crime kick, my interests split between how organized crime operates in Canada and the ins and outs of the Italian organized crime system. I have five books on the docket today, and there should be something of interest here for everyone.

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Bud Inc., tells the story of the illegal cannabis economy in Canada, sticking largely to the fertile soils of the British Columbian interior and the wide open markets of Vancouver. Wolfpack is about an upstart group of Canadian gangsters that rose to take on some of the country’s most established organized crime groups in a battle for the Canadian drug trade.

Moving out of Canada and to the United States, Mobsters, Unions and the Feds is an quasi-academic exploration of how Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia in America, infiltrated a number of large labour unions during the 20th century.

For the last two books, we head to Naples, Italy, headquarters of the Camorra, one of the most ruthless of the Italian organized crime systems. Known in Naples simply as The System, it would surprise many of us how many of the clothes we wear were made in Camorra-operated factories. Gormorrah takes us on a journey through that world, where violence is simply a way of life. Written by the same author, The Piranhas is a fictional re-telling of a troupe of 15 year old boys who have grown up idolizing The System and will stop at nothing to become Bosses of their own fiefdoms.