The History of Italian Mafia - Annotated Bibliography Example

College: The History of Italian Mafia Pickering-lazzi, Robin “Mafia and outlaw stories from Italian life and literature” Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007. This is a collection of literature by most significant figures in the Italian literature field, some of the renowned writers that have been included in the book are Livia De Stefani, Grazia Dekedda, Anna Maria Ortese, Silvana La Spina and Giovanni, Verga. The book also presents some of the famous witnesses who have had first hand experience with the Italian Mafia in helping to give the groups inception, growth and activities.

The book gives an overview of the Italian perspectives on the Mafia and crime covering the 1880’s and 1990’s. It covers aspects of the legends of Italian Mafia’s that identifies them as a group, the relationship between the Mafia and the State, children, women, the Catholic Church, allied forces during the Second World War among others. The author outlines key period since the inception of the criminal group taking an intriguing approach to the subject. He also points why it has been a challenge for the authorities to wipe out this form of organized crime, one of the reasons pointed out in the book are the high level of secrecy that exists within the Mafia members.

It also illustrates on how the Italian Mafia thrive and develop in the presence of a weak and non democratic government. The book is good in learning and understanding of the Mafia in the Italian society and culture. By covering almost all the aspects of the Mafia and having a collection f different views from various writes gives the book a strong thesis to rely on. Zapata-Kraj, M. “Mafia - the History with Mario Puzo's Godfather in Background: The Development of Italian Mafia in America in Context of Both Literature and Movie”.

GRIN Verlag, 2010. The author defines mafia as “a name given to a number of organized groups of Sicilian brigands in the ninetieth and twentieth century” (p.3). The author give a brief introduction about the history of the Italian Mafia stating that they originated during the feudal times when the rich men in the society hired brigands to provide security toothier estates in exchange of protection from the government/loyal authority. Attempts to curtail the Mafia were suffered from the assassination of the country judges and political corruption.

In the first section he also talks about the development of the Mafia, the commission foe resolving disputes within Mafia families and the Vegas and the Mafia.In the second part ,the author focuses on cultural effects of mob fiction where he points out a kind close relationship of the Mafia characteristics to that of the American citizenship, family, ethnicity, reason, identity, murder and business. Some of the common characteristics that re shred with organized crimes according to the author are ideology or lack of it, continuity, illegal enterprise, corruption, structure or organized hierarchy, violence and use of threat, restricted membership and bonding and penetration of legitimate businesses.

For example, the book illustrates how Sicilian among other Italians began immigrating on the United States from the early 1800.Duringthe first half of the 20th century, Mafia families started spreading in the US and he first Mafia incident in the US occurred in New Orleans. Even though the book focuses on the history of the Italian Mafia, it has given extensive attention on the relationship between Italian Mafia and the American Mafia and the coalition between the two. The book is recommendable to any reader with interest in understanding the entry of Italian Mafia in the US and the role thy play in shaping Mafia activities both the Us and back at home in Italy.

Works Cited Pickering-lazzi, Robin “Mafia and outlaw stories from Italian life and literature” Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007. Zapata-Kraj, M. “Mafia - the History with Mario Puzo's Godfather in Background: The Development of Italian Mafia in America in Context of Both Literature and Movie”. Munich: GRIN Verlag, 2010.