“We tend to think of the mafia as a movie or a myth, or a legend… There are many reasons to be slightly astonished by this story but one of the main ones is this vicious, vicious lethal war going on now in 21st century Europe. I hope one of the main messages of the book is that, yes, we’ve all seen Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, and a certain sort of horrible glamour to the violence but actually the reality of it is brutish and appalling. It’s greed, narrow-minded, full of sexism, full of racism. These are really disgusting, revolting people who bully any which way they can. The real cost of organised crime … is shutting down people’s choices … The mafia destroys individual freedom.”

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/the-sunday-session-with-kerre-mcivor/audio/the-good-mothers-author-alex-perry-on-the-women-who-stood-up-to-mafia/