Mafia: A Global History

This major new book explores how mafias dramatically affected governments, economies and cultures across the globe – it reveals a shadow history of the world. ‘Gripping, essential, global and just plain fascinating’ Simon Sebag Montefiore 'A book of such hugely ambitious scope’ Financial Times ‘Mafia is an excellent history of all things murderous and mobster’ TLS Few forces have shaped our world as powerfully – or as secretly – as mafias. Ryan Gingeras draws on more than a decade of research to illuminate a suppressed underworld history. Crossing centuries and continents, he introduces legendary figures – Al Capone, Pablo Escobar, Du Yuesheng – and explores the conditions, cultures and locales that gave birth to modern mafias: Sicily, Marseille, New York, Colombia, Tokyo. Beginning with bandits and brigands, and ending with today’s ‘mafia states’ – and the alarming blurring of lines between gangsters, corporations and political leaders – this sweeping narrative traces the evolution of organised crime in response to industrialisation, globalisation and technological change. By charting the story of mafias worldwide, Gingeras reveals not only where contemporary gangsters come from, but also how they claimed such a central role in our cultural imagination, and why they are the uncredited architects of the modern world.