The Last Godfathers - Hardcover

'more detail and more gruesome colour than in any previous account. Follain musters this material with great skill into a compelling narrative. At the heart of the book there are two epic battles...an epic of modern police work and Follain brings it vividly to life.' -- Independent 'There's something disturbingly gripping about the relentless blood-spilling, feuds and betrayals; men taking life as breezily as if they were lifting a piece off a chessboard.' -- Tobias Jones TMail on Sunday 'A scintillating mixture of history, true crime and whodunnit, told both with restrained moral anger and the fascinating insights of the leading expert in his field. This well-researched, hard-hitting book is a fitting epitaph for the courageous Judge Falcone...Compulsively readable' -- Andrew Roberts 'A terrific read...John Follain portrays the escalating savagery of Cosa Nostra's most notorious bosses with compelling rigour and verve.' -- John Dickie, author of Cosa Nostra 'Although the story has often been told, Follain brings real suspense to its retelling. His prose is gripping.' -- The Sunday Times 20080727

THE LAST GODFATHERS charts the rise of the notorious Corleone clan. From it's humble origins in the town of Corleone, the clan manipulated Cosa Nostra's code of honour, deceiving and bludgeoning its way to the summit of the secret brotherhood, purging its rivals and launching a terrorist campaign which decimated anti-mafia judges, police and politicians. Journalist John Follain focuses on the three godfathers who headed the clan from the 1950s onwards. Luciano 'The Professor' Leggio, Salvatore 'The Beast' Riina and Bernardo 'The Tractor' Provenzano, who forged a vicious clan bent on the subversion of democracy. Cutting through the romantic aura of Hollywood films, THE LAST GODFATHERS portrays the true face of the crime family which inspired Mario Puzo's The Godfather. Based on thousands of pages of judicial documents, wiretap transcripts, the testimony of mafiosi defectors and interviews with investigators, this is the last word on the world's most famous criminal organisation.