In the early hours of an August 2007 morning a gunfight broke out in an Italian restaurant in Duisburg, Germany; in less than five minutes over seventy shots were fired into the bodies of six men. Both the victims and the assassins were members of the ‘Ndrangheta crime organization. Calabria’s Mafia had brazenly shown its savage influence outside Italy for the first time.
In The Honored Society award-winning investigative reporter Petra Reski reveals the Mafia menace lurking throughout the world— from espresso bars in Palermo to European halls of parliament to the corporate headquarters of enormous agricultural firms. In haunting and 
exquisite prose she explores the Byzantine structure of the ‘Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra and other mafia clans throughout Italy — the code they live by, the destruction they wreak, how they operate within the country and how they operate internationally. She shows how these syndicates dominate everything from nuclear waste disposal to hotel chains to the marijuana trade in Australia and cocaine trafficked throughout the world. Reski shows how figures such as Silvio Berlusconi were made by the Mafia, and how those who dared to defy its codes were broken. A searing portrait of the criminals who have come to control not only Italy but vast swathes of the globe, The Honored Society is a journalistic tour de force.
Kirkus Reviews calls the book “engrossing;” and Publishers Weekly finds their criminal story “intriguing.” Based on rigorous research, secret police reports, and investigations in both Italy and Germany, THE HONORED SOCIETY explores the Byzantine structure of the Mafia clan throughout Italy—the code they live by, the destruction they’ve wrought, and how they operate domestically and internationally. Reski grants unprecedented access to priests who justify meeting with hidden Mafiosi; wives and daughters of Mafia bosses defending their fathers; and turncoats who still talk about the Mafia like a lost lover.
About the Author
An award-winning investigative journalist, Petra Reski is one of the world’s leading experts on the Mafia. Born in Unna, Germany, she has lived in Italy since 1989.