Romanzo Criminale - Softcover

If you're a fan of gangster movies you're going to blow your wad over this one... the characters' lives are brilliantly revealed without prejudice, leaving you to decide where to draw the moral lines. Effing great! * Weekend Sport * What captivates here is the feeling of witnessing an epic tale, a piece of Italian history viewed from the streets * La Repubblica * Only when the story is over, when the book is closed, only then do you realize what a great story teller De Cataldo is: with the reader unaware, suspecting nothing, he paints little by little, page after page, the huge canvas representing a global failure. A failure concerning not only his characters but our whole society. -- Andrea Camilleri, author of the Montalbano series * la Stampa * A forceful crime narrative...the period details is impeccable, while the stark and gritty presentation of the many characters pays dividends in terms of verisimilitude. This belated English translation by Antony Shugaar is rich and idiomatic -- Barry Foreshaw * Financial Times *

It is 1977. A new force is terrorising Rome - a mob of reckless, ultraviolent youths known as La Banda della Magliana. As the gang ruthlessly take control of Rome's heroin trade, they begin an inexorable rise to power. Banda della Magliana intend to own the streets of Rome - unless their internal struggles tear them apart. Based on Rome's modern gangland history, Romanzo Criminale fearlessly confronts Italy's Age of Lead: war on the streets and terrorism, kidnappings and corruption at the highest levels of government.