* Comparative titles: John Dickie's Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia (150k across formats), Mafia Republic (10k across formats), Snowing in Bali by Kathryn Bonella (12k across formats). Gomorrah: Italy's Other Mafia (80k copies) by Roberto Saviano. The GOOD MOTHERS will serve as an updated Secrets of the Life and Death: Women and the Mafia by Renate Siebert, published in 1996. * Global reach of the 'Ndrangheta mafia: exceeded e53bn or £44bn of turnover in 2014 - more than McDonald's and Deutsche Bank combined. Drug trafficking brought in an estimated e24.2bn, and illegal garbage disposal, earned it e19.6bn. The southern Italian mafia earned the equivalent of 3.
5% of Italy's gross domestic product (GDP) last year. The 'Ndrangheta has 400 key "operatives" in 30 countries, but its activities involve as many as 60,000 people worldwide. Earnings via extortion and usury was of e2.9bn pa, with embezzlement at e2.4bn pa and gambling e1.3bn pa. * As well as exposing many publicly unknown practices of the Italian mafia, the choice of women as central characters is a fresh take on the world of crime. This book will appeal to the avid audiences of The Sopranos, Narcos, The Good Wife, Breaking Bad, and Weeds, all of which depict women's role in supporting or taking down men who indulge in illegal activities.
* The book has been optioned by Tessa Ross Associates and will be showing in theatres as Mafia Mothers. Tessa Ross hopes to make a movie of the story of Lea and Denise Garofalo and a multi-series TV production, in the style of The Wire, using the material relating to Giuseppina Pesce and Maria Conchetta Cacciola. * Alex Perry has worked at TIME, Newsweek, and other publications in the UK and US. He has an array of contacts that will enable The GOOD MOTHERS to receive considerable coverage. In this book he tells this gripping story that has never been told in the English language. Competition: The Godfather;Billion Dollar Whale;Legacy;Peaky Blinders;Handstands in the Dark;Killing Pablo;Kleptopia;McMafia;History of the Italian Mafia;Costa Nostra. Mario Puzo;Tom Wright;Michael Gillard;Carl Chinn;Jane Godley;John Preston;Mark Bowden;Tom Burgis;Neil Woods;Jane Mayer;Misha Glenny;John Dickie.