The ‘Ndrangheta is the world’s most powerful Mafia and it’s behind a litany of violence, organised crime and corruption around the world. Bound together by blood ties, silent but deadly, and steeped in religious ritual, they are a Mafia unlike any other, and vastly more dangerous. In Mafiopoli, the first comprehensive book to be published in English about the ‘Ndrangheta, Sanne De Boer takes us deep inside this extraordinary criminal organisation.
In 2006, Sanne, a journalist, moved from Amsterdam to a quiet coastal town in Calabria. She has only intended to live there for a few months but was won over by the beautiful surroundings and warm community and decided to stay. And then, one night, a car was set alight on her street in the dead of the night and soon after, two men were shot dead. Slowly, she begins to see glimpses of darker forces that control the small, idyllic Italian town.
MAFIOPOLI is an engrossing and dramatic insight into an incredibly destructive and ascendant criminal organisation. As Sanne starts to piece together the mysterious events and violence marring her new home, she dives deep into the story of the ‘Ndrangheta: how they got power, how they’re expanding it around the world and how all our lives are, in frightening and shocking ways, affected by their reign. This is a powerful new book on a deliberately opaque but deadly Mafia.