Synopses & Reviews
In 1992 Italy was convulsed by two brazen Mafia assassinations of high-ranking officials. The latest "excellent cadavers" were Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the Sicilian magistrates who had been the Cosa Nostra's most implacable enemies. Yet in the aftermath of the murders, hundreds of "men of honor" were arrested and the government that ad protected them for nearly half a century was at last driven from office. This is the story that Stille tells with such insight and immediacy in
Excellent Cadavers. Combining a profound understanding of his doomed heroes with and unprecedented look into the Mafia's stringent codes and murderous rivalries, he gives us a book that has the power of a great work of history and the suspense of a true thriller.
"Riveting...a well-paced and highly informative account stocked with well-drawn characters."--Philadelphia Inquirer
"Masterful...[Stille] delivers a stiletto-sharp portrait of the bloodthirsty Sicilian mafia."--Business Week
Review
"Organized crime of the sort J. Edgar Hoover used to say did not exist still exercises a powerful hold on at least three countries: Italy, Russia, and the United States. It brought the Italian Republic to its knees, as Alexander Stille relates in this magnificent study in investigative journalism, and what happened in Italy is just a foretaste of what is coming in Russia. Born out of the poverty and despair of Southern Italy and Sicily, the Mafia has its claws in most of Europe and North America and sinks them in deeper each day. This book should be must reading for citizens concerned about the very life of the republic.
" Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)