Description: Today, mafias operate across the globe, with hundreds of thousands of members and billions of dollars in revenue. From Hong Kong to New York, these vast organizations spread their tentacles into politics, finance and everyday life. Criminologist Federico Varese draws on a lifetime's research to give us access to some of the world's most secretive societies. Mixing reportage with case studies and historical insights, this is the story of mafia as it really is: filled with boredom and drama, death and disaster, ambition and betrayal.
Review Quotes: "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
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