This is the story of the Cosa Nostra: from its origins in Sicily in 1863 to Italian immigration to America prohibition & the formation of the first mafia families & to fascism & post-war Italy. The image of the mafioso as a man of honour"
- good to the weak above the laws of the state but subject to a precise code
- was rooted in the collective imagination until the 1980s when light was shed on the structure of the vast organisation its unsavoury objectives & the cold-blooded strategies behind its actions. Culled from thousands of archival images photographs & detailed captions tell the story of the criminals who have entered popular legend but also of the people who have been victims of the mafia: the judges police officers & private citizens who fought back."