Massimo Ciancimino was born in Palermo in 1963. He is the youngest son of Vito Ciancimino, and was barely eighteen when he was chosen by his father to be his aide and general dogsbody and therefore initiated directly into the double life of the 'Mayor of the Corleones': a world that he was part of until his arrest on the 6th June 2006, accused of laundering his father's 'assets'. He was sentenced in the first instance to five years in prison, reduced to three and a half on appeal. Over the last year he has been collaborating with magistrates to help shed light both on his father's secrets and forty years of links between the mafia and politics in Sicily. Francesco La Licata is a journalist who has written for the Stampa since 1980. He recently joined hands with the national anti-mafia prosecutor, Pietro Grasso, to write Pizzini, veleni e cicoria: La mafia prima e dopo Provenzano (Feltrinelli 2008). N.S. Thompson is a poet, critic, and translator of Italian. Born in Manchester, he now lives and works in Oxford, UK, where he teaches literature at Christ Church.