Story out of Pirandello: Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb.

• Author: Normey, Rob

It's a story out of Pirandello. That's the only Sicilian thing about it. There are so many different truths that you can't piece the thing together.

Leonardo Sciascia

It is difficult to imagine that the story of Sicily could be told any better than it is in Peter Robb's brilliant reportage. Midnight in Sicily, subtitled On Art, Food, History, Travel and La Cosa Nostra and first published in 1995, is a courageous and formidable work of creative non-fiction. As the subtitle suggests, it transcends genres. Midnight in Sicily is probably best described as a history of the rise of organized crime in Sicily and the corrupting impact this has had on the body politic not only of Sicily but also of the mainland -- the rest of Italy -- with particular attention paid to the effects this has had in Italy's cultural development. Italy's political and legal order has been seriously compromised by an inability, nay an unwillingness, to respond to the threat of La Cosa Nostra and to the close nexus established between mafiosi and Italy's political class. Robb seeks to piece together disparate dues concerning the malevolent rise of the powerful figure of Giulio Andreotti, in the 1970s and 1980s, aided particularly by the friends in southern Italy. Andreotti, as leader of the Christian Democrats, or demochristians, became Prime Minister several times during this period.

In light of the decidedly mixed signals emanating from the nation's lawmakers, it is small wonder that police investigations and criminal prosecutions against Cosa Nostra have been easily stymied time and again. Robb does chart the major, potentially cataclysmic events that occurred in the late 1980s and early 90s. These offered promise that the tentacles of organized crime might be hacked clean so that ordinary citizens might breathe freely. As Robb dramatically recounts, the old mafia order appears to have broken down under pressure from several sources, including the relentless pursuit of justice followed by the courageous and brilliant magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. Following the successful prosecution of maxi-trials in which huge numbers of mafiosi were convicted, both men were murdered by mob hit men.

It is this murky and sinister world, in which forces of law and justice often appear puny and ineffectual, that Robb investigates. He provides a riveting account of the rise of powerful, vicious mafia leaders like Salvatore "Toto" Riina (the "boss of bosses" now serving...