The Good Mothers : The True Story of the Women Who Took on the World's Most Powerful Mafia
Author(s): Alex Perry
Nominated for a 2019 Edgar® Award for Best Fact Crime
Named a CrimeReads best Nonfiction Crime Book of 2018
The electrifying, untold story of the women born into the most deadly and obscenely wealthy of the Italian mafias – and how they risked everything to bring it down.
The Calabrian Mafia—known as the ’Ndrangheta—is one of the richest and most ruthless crime syndicates in the world, with branches stretching from America to Australia. It controls seventy percent of the cocaine and heroin supply in Europe, manages billion-dollar extortion rackets, brokers illegal arms deals—supplying weapons to criminals and terrorists—and plunders the treasuries of both Italy and the European Union.
The ’Ndrangheta’s power derives from a macho mix of violence and silence—omertà. Yet it endures because of family ties: you are born into the syndicate, or you marry in. Loyalty is absolute. Bloodshed is revered. You go to prison or your grave and kill your own father, brother, sister, or mother in cold blood before you betray The Family. Accompanying the ’Ndrangheta’s reverence for tradition and history is a violent misogyny among its men. Women are viewed as chattel, bargaining chips for building and maintaining clan alliances and beatings—and worse—are routine.
In 2009, after one abused ’Ndrangheta wife was murdered for turning state’s evidence, prosecutor Alessandra Cerreti considered a tantalizing possibility: that the ’Ndrangheta’s sexism might be its greatest flaw—and her most effective weapon. Approaching two more mafia wives, Alessandra persuaded them to testify in return for a new future for themselves and their children.
A feminist saga of true crime and justice, The Good Mothers is the riveting story of a high-stakes battle pitting a brilliant, driven woman fighting to save a nation against ruthless mafiosi fighting for their existence. Caught in the middle are three women fighting for their children and their lives. Not all will survive.
Review(s):
“An essential addition to the growing library on organized crime [that] puts the women… at the center of a story… Perry keeps the emphasis on the risks taken by a brave few Calabrian women [who]… shattered the myth of mafia invulnerability… Pesce [is] a character worthy of Elena Ferrante.”
“Highly compelling… An impossible-to-put-down page-turner revealing the Mafia makeup and three courageous women who bore witness to save others.”
“Journalist Perry has crafted an enormously significant and compelling look at the modern world of the Italian mafia in this brilliant work… A staggeringly impressive work of investigative reporting… A life changing read.”
“Even today precious little is known about the ‘Ndrangheta. Perry’s account is wrenching and thorough.”
“Perry has ably pieced together a number of remarkable stories. His focus … [in his] fast-moving book … is on the women who, sickened by years of abuse and bullying, decided that they would take no more.”
“The painful and dangerous process of these women’s rebellion against the family makes a gripping and heart-breaking narrative.”
“There has truly never been a better time to read about the brave women who brought down one of the most powerful organized crime outfits.”
“Alex Perry takes us in to the patriarchal, ultra-violent world of the ‘Ndràngheta, Calabria’s powerful, drug-dealing mafia, and the stories of the women who have defied its iron grip.”
TWITTER PRAISE UPON RELEASE OF NEW YORKER EXCERPT: “Both harrowing and heartening ... and told with Alex Perry’s usual verve.”
“Brilliant read.”
ISBN: 9780062655615