Octopus: The Long Reach of the International Sicilian Mafia Hardcover – January 1, 1990

Great book. Very good story about how the mafia put it all together. Unbelievable how much money they made pushing dope back then.

Very detailed

I enjoyed reading octopus and it did meet all of my expectations. Thanks for your interest and you have an awesome company, keep up the good work.

Astounding information on Mafia and connection to US. Facts most people never had on both.Captivating history lesson.

Great book!

A dazzlingly well researched book which will appeal to seasoned readers on organised crime and wider readers alike. Sterling's work is wide in scope but still has an excellent level of detail. The book charts the near-monopolisation of worldwide heroin trade by the Sicialian Mafia in the 1970s and beyond. One of the key analytical points of the book is the assertion of the ascendancy of the Sicilian mafia over their American counterparts, another is the concept of crime as business.While sometimes hard to follow due to the often labyrinthine goings on it describes, the text is always engaging enough; journalistic without being sensationalist, scholarly without being dry.The sums of money are staggering, the ruthlesness of many of the protagonists frightening. Phrases like 'dog eat dog' or 'law of the jungle' do not come close, and many will struggle to understand what the attraction of a life at the heart of organised crime really is. Power, possibly, money, certainly, but even though Sterling gives a sense that many of the key players are somehow 'untouchable', they do seem to have a tendency to end up either dead or in prison.Sterling imparts a sense of appalled fascination very well indeed.

This is an amazing book that was recommended to me by my college professor. I have been intersted in mafia for a long time now and have read quite a bit about the La Cosa Nostra. This book is very well written and well researched. It is detailed and very intersting.Claire Sterling writes about the Sicilian and the American Mafia their ties to one another and the involvement they had with the international drug trade.There are many characters in this book I have not heard of before and was glad to gain a much better understanding of the mafias involvement with drugs.

Start with WOW. Mario Puzo's great work, The Godfather, only touches the surface of how the world and American society has been irreparably damaged by not only the manufacture and distribution of drugs but also how the process was ignored and enabled by the governments involved and, sadly, the Church. If you think the "5 Families" in NYC were driven to unthinkable acts of corruption and violence for the sake of greed and "family" while being successful (and endeared by Hollywood) despite their own internal family violence and turmoil, "Octopus," takes this all to another level. The Sicilians were masters of supply chain logistics and as blind as mad dogs when fighting among each other. I just found the "Octopus" multi-disc DVD. I'll be busy for a week watching and comparing notes with the book.

A dazzlingly well researched book which will appeal to seasoned readers on organised crime and wider readers alike. Sterling's work is wide in scope but still has an excellent level of detail. The book charts the near-monopolisation of worldwide heroin trade by the Sicialian Mafia in the 1970s and beyond. One of the key analytical points of the book is the assertion of the ascendancy of the Sicilian mafia over their American counterparts, another is the concept of crime as business.While sometimes hard to follow due to the often labyrinthine goings on it describes, the text is always engaging enough; journalistic without being sensationalist, scholarly without being dry.The sums of money are staggering, the ruthlesness of many of the protagonists frightening. Phrases like 'dog eat dog' or 'law of the jungle' do not come close, and many will struggle to understand what the attraction of a life at the heart of organised crime really is. Power, possibly, money, certainly, but even though Sterling gives a sense that many of the key players are somehow 'untouchable', they do seem to have a tendency to end up either dead or in prison.Sterling imparts a sense of appalled fascination very well indeed.

I came very late to this, having read many books on the subject that have been published more recently.So I knew most of the background, but I found it a really well documented account of the transatlantic phenomenon that was Cosa Nostra through the 70's and 80's. A little journalistic in its format, but very well put together, and in my opinion an absolute must-read for any student of the genre.

Fantastic book

Exceptional writer