I occasionally pick up a book on OC every month to read and have read through most of the more reputable books penned on American Cosa Nostra. I am more interested in the Italian state of things, i.e. 'Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra, Cammora, and The Sacred Crown. I have a Nook and have noticed a butt ton of recently published books coming out of Italy on the subject that look dope as hell… The problem? I semi-speak Italian super half assed, and can read it even worse.

Does anyone share the same interest as I? If so, has anyone ever came across any of these books translated in English, or read any in Italian that they would specifically recommend? I should probably check to see if my Nook has some sort of translation function, I suppose.

There are too many interesting Italian books on organized crime but unfortunately I don't know about any of them being translated in English. I heard John Dickie's books in English about Italian mafia are interesting, but they aren't really about the current times as far as I know, more about Riina's times or before that.

"Mafioso" by Gaia Servadio is interesting, but it was published in the 70s.

"Gomorrah" by Roberto Saviano is an interesting book about the camorra of the 2000s in my opinion, it has been translated.

Maybe "White shotgun" by Attilio Bolzoni will do, also available in English? I haven't read it myself, but often read articles by this journalist about the mafia in newspaper archives.

Yeah. I've read GOMORRAH. I also watched the movie of the same name, loosely based on the book. Pretty good, and a realistic portrail(As far as my reference points anyways) of what it is like for some of the lower level street guys in those organizations.

I am going to find a translation app or something and buy a few of these books and I'll post on what ones are good.

The movie A PROPHET is dope. Kind of an American version of CHOPPER or BLOOD IN, BLOD OUT. If you haven't seen it, see it. It is about an Arab kid who goes to prison in France and get pulled under the wing of a Corsican gangster. Good stuff.

Gomorrah is a great book, can't believe the Iovine of the Camorra turned rat. Saviano has some pretty big cogliones to do what he did, fearing for his life every day. http://af11.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/camorra-mafia-superboss-turns-squealer/

Chopper is a MUST SEE. Have you ever seen the behind the scenes footage with Eric Bana and Mark Read, when he's telling him how exactly slicing his ears off went down? I will post it if you haven't seen it. Crazy stuff. (Also Ronnie Johns show doing skits on chopper is hilarious ever see that?)

Blood in Blood Out is another MUST SEE movie about the vatos of L.A. La M in the jails. Living in So Cali some of the vatos I went to high school with got locked up for working with cartels, drug trafficking. Most of them are blood relatives, families going back a few generations, they all got locked up" gramps, pops, uncles, sons and nephews minimum 15 years in the can.

Have you ever seen the "The Sicilian Girl" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213926/combined
It's based on a true story of a girl who testified against the mafia.

There's also a jail flick called Bronson with Tom Hardy playing the lead. It's a great movie, some parts are a lil far fetched but very entertaining to say the least. Hardy is great as always.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172570/

Dwalin, have you seen or read Malerba written by jailed Stidda boss Giuseppe Grassonelli, dealing with the wars between Stidda and Cosa Nostra in Porto Empedocle? It just won the literary award and there was controversy over it because Grassonelli has never repented or apologized for his murders. One of the judges on the committee even resigned over it, because he felt it was unfair for this book to be considered for an award.

I saw it's available in bookshops here in Milan. I gave it a look, haven't yet bought it, because it seems he doesn't call the people involved by their real names, probably to avoid being considered a "rat" (you can search through the book on books.google.it and for example the surnames Messina or Albanese are never mentioned even once in the whole book). Maybe I'll read it later, but it will be hard to understand who's who. He could have at least named the already dead ones with their real names.

Yes, I have seen BRONSON, I've read and watched anything I can on "Chopper" Read. I am a movie, book, and film buff, so we could yammer about this topic for days on end. I've written a few screenplays myself… Fun shit. Used to have a fantastic writing partner but he can't keep himself out of prison. I've seen Ronnie John's performances. I love stories of the Australian Underworld. Those guys are cool as fuck and don't give a DAMN. I love the fact that all of the Australian hoods rock gold teeth. I have a couple of Choppers books too.

I have watched THE SICILIAN GIRL. Decent flic. 50 DEAD MEN WALKING was a great movie based around the IRA and their hitters. Pretty brutal. Also, if you haven't seen it, PAID IN FULL was a great account of some Harlem Dope Boys in the 80's. It has Cam'Ron, Makhi Phifer, and Wood Harris. I just watched SERPICO the other night for some kicks. GREAT fuckin' movie. I am going to get started on the GOMMORAH series. Heard nothing but good on that.

I am going to have to check out that MALERBA book. Not much Stidda information available in book form going on in the United States. Same as info on The Crown. IS MALERBA available in English?

Yes, that's exactly why names were changed. He will never repent and doesn't want to be seen as a rat. Interesting too, is that when he entered prison some 20 years ago, he was an illiterate and has since earned his doctorate.

Anyway, if you ever pick it up, I can tell you who's who, even with the changed names, my husband has the book.

Lupo It's only in italian.

Thanks, Carmela. I am going to try to get some sort of translator app for my Nook. I am gonna' brush up on the old mother tongue I think and maybe scoring a few of these books will put me back on track. I wish my great grand-parents hadn't insisted on immediate assimilation when they came over, I'd probably be fluent. My G.P.'s still speak Italian/Calabro-Sicilian, albeit occasionally, and I'm not always around them, but my parents don't and really never did. It's hard to retain that, and hard was hard to differentiate the difference from the Sicilian when they slipped into that. I am trying to re-learn what I lost and become truly fluent. I think that will be cool.

Good luck. Granted, the best way to learn the language is being around people speaking it constantly. Even I can only really speak dialect, but I can read and understand Italian. No matter what, you can do anything if you really want it, but if you try and surround yourself with people that speak it, or if it were possible for you to spend a good amount of time in Italy, you'd pick it up quicker. I understand that's not usually possible, though. Forget about things like Rosetta Stone, etc. You can start by reading Italian journals online like La Repubblica or Giornale di Sicilia. It helps, believe it or not.

Thank you for the movie recommendations.

The movie with Tom Hardy was not about the mafia/mob or Italian-organized crime; but about British organized crime.