How rich and powerful is the US Mafia? Contrary to popular assumption, it is puny in comparison with the Sicilian original. Immense wealth and real political power remain in the hands of Sicilian godfathers and their clientele network. This book traces the origins of the Mafia back to the rural society of Sicily in 19th-century post-unification Italy. The Mafia is shown always to have been an exploitative and systematic manipulator of the State and emerges as a parallel capitalism and parallel State. The arrest of top Mafia boss Salvatore Riina combined with the sensational investigations into the Christian Democrats' 40 years of corrupt one-party rule could lead you to suppose that the Mafia is at last finished. But is it? This book considers the reorganization and rebirth of a new global Mafia.