cover image The Sicilian Conspiracy

The Sicilian Conspiracy

Michael Sammaritano, . . Adesso, $25 (177pp) ISBN 978-0-977-90237-8

Sammaritano's crime debut, an alternate history of the Mafia, is likely to disappoint thriller fans. In the 1950s, Sicilian boss Don Saverio Cremona secretly plans to reform the U.S. mob by supplanting it with a young cadre of gifted men who are seeking to infiltrate all of America's corridors of power. One of those men, Ray Greco, eventually finds himself at odds with Cremona, with whom he enters a lengthy blood feud that leaves many bodies in its wake. For a plot-driven novel, the author's choice to begin with the outcome of that feud robs the story of suspense. Those who know the actual history of the Cosa Nostra may be put off by such deviations from reality as having the famous Appalachia, N.Y., mob conference of November 14, 1957, planned well before the violence that in fact prompted the conclave. Uninspired prose ("Watching Victor and Brigitte on the dance floor, Ray and Silvana started their relationship not with small talk over a glass of greenish punch, but with honesty and respect for each other's convictions") doesn't help. (Dec.)