Defiance: the story of one man who stood up to the Sicilian mafia

In 1960s Sicily, the Mafia were everywhere - and never seen.

They rarely needed to use violence, because no-one broke the code of silence.

In the town of Cinisi, known as 'Mafiopoli', their power was unspoken, and absolute: 'it's in the air that you breathe' as the locals used to say. _x000D__x000D_One man however, dared to speak out. Like most Sicilians, Peppino Impastato was born in to a family with strong Mafia affiliations.

When his uncle was brutally murdered in 1963, he decided to dedicate his life to opposing the Mafia.

In this gripping book, based on exclusive interviews with the protaganists, Tom Behan takes us inside the murky world of 'Mafiopoli', and tells a story the rest of the world has never heard before: a tale of defiance, courage and resistance in the very heartland of Mafia power._x000D__x000D_Peppino's father was a close associate of the local 'capo', Gaetano Badalemente, and he threw his son out of the house in fury when he announced his intentions.

Undaunted, Peppino launched a radio show which savagely pilloried both the mafia and their allies in the Catholic Church. 'Crazy Waves', (Onda Pazza) set Sicily ablaze. No-one had ever talked about the Mafia in public before, let alone attacked them.

A subversive grassroots movement developed, determined to take on the forces of corruption and privilege.

Peppino stood for election to the Cinisi Council, but was violently murdered during his campaign.

The spark he lit however has not died. On the anniversary of his death, Italy held its first ever national anti-Mafia rally, and today a new generation of activists inspired by Peppino campaigns for truth and justice._x000D__x000D_ 'Blood of Sicily' shows us life in Mafia-run Sicily as it is never portrayed in the Hollywood films.

The story of the Sicilian resistance is above all a human drama of loyalty, courage and betrayal.

It is a story that everyone should read._x000D_ _x000D__x000D_ _x000D_