In this gripping saga of sex, violence, revenge, humor, and true love, Sal Esposito, seduced by instant gratification, joins the mob and finagles his way to the top. He thrives on his power until he encounters a woman who turns his world upside down.

In this gripping saga of sex, violence, revenge, humor, and true love, Sal Esposito, seduced by instant gratification, joins the mob and finagles his way to the top. He thrives on his power until he encounters a woman who turns his world upside down.

What's in a name? Everything... if you have my name. At her exclusive Manhattan high school, half the guys lust after seventeen-year-old Gia. The other half are afraid to even walk near her. After all, everyone knows who she is. They know that her father doesn't have a boss. He is the boss—the capo di tutti, boss of all bosses. But they don't know the real Gia. She's dreaming of a different life—one where she can be more than her infamous name. And lately, she's thinking way too much about Michael, the green-eyed cop who's wrong for her for so many reasons. And yet being with him feels so right. Now the real Gia is keeping secrets of her own alongside her family's. And she's breaking all the rules to get what she wants.

This volume focuses on women whose lives are entangled in the workings of the Mafia, drawing on courtroom testimonies, interviews, contemporary journalism and recent research. Individual narratives illuminate women's experiences, both as victims or active opponents.

The insightful essays in this book shine a new light on the roles of women within criminal networks, roles that in reality are often less traditional than researchers used to think. The book seeks to answer questions from a wide range of academic disciplines and traces the portrait of women tied to organized crime in Italy and around the world. The book offers up accounts of mafia women, and also tales of severe abuse and violence against women.

In this eye-opening expose of the women at the deadly heart of the Mafia, reporter Claire Longrigg uncovers a fascinating subculture of American females - and their strategies for survival. Longrigg persuaded these women to break the code of silence with astonishing results. Based on in-depth interviews with the mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, and girlfriends of notorious mobsters, we are offered an unprecedented glimpse into a fiercely private and frightening world.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author of Missing Beauty comes a fascinating inside look at the mafia. Growing up among racketeers on the Lower East Side of New York City, Arlyne Brickman associated with mobsters. Drawn to the glamorous and flashy lifestyle, she was soon dating "wiseguys" and running errands for them; but after years as a mob girlfriend, Arlyne began to get in on the action herself—eventually becoming a police informant and major witness in the government's case against the Colombo crime family.