Mario Puzo. Omerta

It seems to be completely obsolete writing a critic about a writer like Mario Puzo. World famous because of the movie with his masterpiece Godfather, Puzo is known for the blueprint of Mafia stories in general. Mostly all other works from him are honored less because of the widespread glory of the Godfather. The cooperation with director Francis Ford Coppola seemed to be one of the most efficient and in terms of money and prices countable ever.

The 1920 in New York born Puzo, who grew up in Little Italy, Manhattan, within poor circumstances and discriminating environment, knew a lot of the milieu of Sicilian descendants and American socialized. Despite of this knowledge Mario Puzo cannot be reduced on the topics of Mafia because he has written about other topics like black market activities in post war Germany, where he was eye witness as an American soldier, the Italian Borgia Family or the opportunities Americas if the chance of a forth Kennedy would have been given.

Nevertheless Omertà is the last piece Puzo had written before his death in 1999. At least he returned to the dominating subject of his life, the social physiognomy of Mafia protagonists, the social order of the clans, the relations between the clans, the philosophy of moral and ethics and the leading principles of the most successful. Maybe the story of Omertà seems to be a little bit clinching to the producing clichés of thrilling action, between the never ending subjects of drug dealing, prostitution and illegal weapon trade up to the atomic bomb, but the designed drama of action and the characters are worth to turn pages in high speed.

And no doubt, especially the characters described in Omertà are worth to be studied in detail. The Sicilian orphan Astorre who is adopted by one of the last classical New York Mafia bosses, the banking man Pryor, who is hiding perfectly his Sicilian identity, the real children of the last Don Raymonde Aprile, who are more American than Sicilian and the energetic and frivolous counterpart Rose, who is a native American but performing like a Mafioso. Even if sometimes exhilarating and the bad guy disposure of FBI and NYPD characters a little bit in concerns of corruption and brutality overdriven, the setup is as great as ever in Puzos books.

From the start to the end the book is worth reading. “Omertà, a Sicilian code of honor which forbids informing about crimes thought to be the affairs of the persons involved” also forbids telling more details. What remains is a convinced and strong recommendation!