Good Mothers

Nominated for a 2019 Edgar Awardfor Best Fact CrimeNamed a CrimeReads best NonfictionCrime Book of 2018The electrifying, untold story of the women born into the most deadly and obscenely wealthy of the Italian mafias and how they risked everything to bring it down.The Calabrian Mafiaknown as the Ndranghetais one of the richest and most ruthless crime syndicates in the world, with branches stretching from America to Australia. It controls seventy percent of the cocaine and heroin supply in Europe, manages billion-dollar extortion rackets, brokers illegal arms dealssupplying weapons to criminals and terroristsand plunders the treasuries of both Italy and the European Union.The Ndranghetas power derives from a macho mix of violence and silenceomert. Yet it endures because of family ties: you are born into the syndicate, or you marry in. Loyalty is absolute. Bloodshed is revered. You go to prison or your grave and kill your own father, brother, sister, or mother in cold blood before you betray The Family. Accompanying the Ndranghetas reverence for tradition and history is a violent misogyny among its men. Women are viewed as chattel, bargaining chips for building and maintaining clan alliances and beatingsand worseare routine.In 2009, after one abused Ndrangheta wife was murdered for turning states evidence, prosecutor Alessandra Cerreti considered a tantalizing possibility: that the Ndranghetas sexism might be its greatest flawand her most effective weapon. Approaching two more mafia wives, Alessandra persuaded them to testify in return for a new future for themselves and their children.A feminist saga of true crime and justice, The Good Mothers is the riveting story of a high-stakes battle pitting a brilliant, driven woman fighting to save a nation against ruthless mafiosi fighting for their existence. Caught in the middle are three women fighting for their children and their lives. Not all will survive.