Overview

In 1960s Sicily, the Mafia were everywhere - and never seen. In the small town of Cinisi their power was unspoken, and absolute: 'it's in the air that you breathe' as the locals used to say. One man however, dared to speak out. Like many Sicilians, Peppino Impastato was born in to a family with strong Mafia affiliations. When he decided to oppose the Mafia, his father, a close friend of the local 'capo', threw him out of the house. In this compelling book, based on exclusive interviews with the protaganists, Tom Behan takes us inside the town Peppino dubbed 'Mafiopoli', and tells a story the rest of the world has never heard before: a tale of courage and resistance in the very heartland of Mafia power. _x000D_ Peppino launched a radio show which savagely pilloried the Mafia and their allies. It set the town ablaze. A subversive grassroots movement developed, eager to take on the forces of corruption and privilege. Peppino stood for election to the Cinisi Council. What happened to him is the gripping story of this book._x000D_ _x000D_ 'Cosa Nostra has been keeping its head down; all the more reason to keep it in the public eye. For many tourists who visit Sicily each year, the Mafia is simply folklore, part of local colour to accompany the Greek ruins, plates of pasta and bottles of nero d'avola. In his book Defiance, Tom Behan looks beyond the folklore to describe the ugly, violent and insidious nature of the Sicilian Mafia and the courage needed to challenge it. Few have that courage. Peppino Impastato, a young leftwing activist who lived in Cinisi near Palermo, was one who did and Behan tells the story of his efforts in the 1970s, and of his fate at the hands of Cosa Nostra in 1978' -- David Lane, author of 'Berlusconi's Shadow: Crime, Justice and the Pursuit of Power'

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9781282583375

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