Massimo Ciancimino was born in Palermo in 1963. He is the youngest son of Vito Ciancimino, and was barely eighteen when he was chosen by his father to be his aide and therefore initiated directly into the double life of the 'Mayor of the Corleones': a world that he was part of until his arrest on the 6th June 2006.

Francesco La Licata is a journalist who has written for the Stampa since 1980. He recently collaborated with the national anti-mafia prosecutor, Pietro Grasso, to write Pizzini, veleni e cicoria: La mafia prima e dopo Provenzano (Feltrinelli 2008).

N.S. Thompson is a poet, critic, and translator of Italian. Born in Manchester, he now lives and works in Oxford, UK, where he teaches literature at Christ Church.