The Last Godfathers

THE LAST GODFATHERS charts the spectacular rise and fall of the richest and most powerful crime family in history: the Sicilian mafia’s Corleonese clan. From humble post-war origins in the dismal town of Corleone, the clan manipulated Cosa Nostra’s code of honour to deceive and bludgeon its way to the summit of the secret brotherhood, launching an unprecedented purge of its rivals and a terrorist campaign which decimated anti-mafia judges, police and politicians. Investigative journalist John Follain focuses on the three godfathers who headed the clan from the 1950s onwards – their lives and crimes, their loves and hates, and the state’s sporadic efforts to hunt them. Luciano ‘The Professor’ Leggio, Salvatore ‘The Beast’ Riina and Bernardo ‘The Tractor’ Provenzano, who was on the run for a record 43 years, 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 to write The Godfather. Based on thousands of pages of judicial documents, wiretap transcripts, the testimony of mafiosi defectors and interviews with investigators, this is the definitive word on the world’s most notorious criminal organisation.