Excellent Cadavers
  • Published: 9 August 1996
  • ISBN: 9780099594918
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 480
  • RRP: $29.99

Excellent Cadavers

The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic

Formats & editions
EBook
11 Jan 2011
Paperback
9 Aug 1996
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A true crime classic: the brutal account of the battle to destroy the modern-day mafia

Excellent Cadavers (a term used in Sicily to distinguish the assassination of prominent government officials from the hundreds of common criminals killed in the course of routine mafia business) tells of the remarkable investigation spearheaded by Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the two Sicilian prosecutors who in the 1980s took the war against the Mafia further than anyone had ever dared.

In 1992, aware that the two magistrates were without the complete support of the Italian government, the Mafia assassinated them. In death they were hailed as national heroes; the massive public outcry demanded their investigations be completed. The outcome: the toppling of crucial alliances that had forged political rule in Italy since WWII and the criminal indictment of Italy's most prominent leaders.
  • Published: 9 August 1996
  • ISBN: 9780099594918
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 480
  • RRP: $29.99
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About the author

Alexander Stille

Alexander Stille's first book, Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families Under Facism, was chosen by the Time Literary Supplement as one of the best books of 1992, and received the Los Angeles Times Book Award for history. From 1990 until 1993, Stille reported on Italy for US News and World Report, The Boston Globe and the Toronto Globe and Mail, while contributing long articles to The New Yorker and The Atlantic. He lives in New York.

Praise for Excellent Cadavers

A fascinating and horrifying book

Denis Mack Smith, New York Times

As good as non-fiction books get: it is crammed with detail and analysis, but reads like a novel

Marc Babej, Guardian

The very best on the modern mafia - brilliantly and thoughtfully telling a complex and messy tale... The characterisation and the twists of the plot have the deft touch of a novelist

Robert Fox, Sunday Telegraph

Totally absorbing and distinctly chilling

Barry Unsworth, Evening Standard, Books of the Year

Diligently researched and fluently written

Diego Gambetta, Independent
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