Talese traveled to Western Sicily to live in a Mafia mountain village in order to trace the origin of his characters. He book focuses on the Bonano family-three generations of it. Woven into the tale are the big dons of the twentieth century-Vito Genovese, Lucky Luciano, Joseph Profact, dozens more. For once the Mafioso are revealed not as merely names in headlines or on crime charts, or as wooden figures in books written by retired district attorneys and detectives. In this book the men are revealed in human terms. This is the first book in which the Mafia wives are described in depth, their daily routines depicted from kitchen to supermarket, from beauty parlors to bridge parties. The children are also poignantly portrayed in this book. Includes an index.

(Key Words: Mafia, Troutman Street Shooting, Don A. Torrillo, Sicily, Joseph Profaci, organized crime, Frank Labruzzo, Gaspar Di Gregorio, Joseph Bonanno).