Giancarlo De Cataldo

Libano is a young, small-time hoodlum with big plans; to completely dominate the Roman underworld. He enlists the help of long-time friend Dandi, and a fellow small-time hoodlum, Freddo. They decide to raise funds for their operation by kidnapping an aristocrat. Rather than waste the proceeds, Libano convinces his accomplices to use it to set up a criminal organisation that they can all have shares in, rather than reporting to bosses.

The gang grows, initially by investing in the drug trade, and then moving into gambling. They enforce their dominance with ruthless and murderous efficiency, and eliminate or sideline all of their major rivals. As their power grows, they start to form covert links with government, the police, the secret service, fascists, terrorists, and other criminal brotherhoods.

From the kidnapping that started it all, the implacable Inspector Scialoja is on the trail of the gang. Desperate to prevent their rise, he sometimes stoops to dubious methods, and is endlessly frustrated by the leniency the gang gets from the judiciary through their political contacts. Scialoja is also bedevilled by his lust for a woman involved with Dandi.

This sprawling novel is rooted very firmly in fact, based on the story of the Banda della Magliana, which terrorised Rome during the "years of lead", from the 1970s to the early 1990s. All of the main characters of the gang are identifiably based on real criminals, and many of the crimes recounted are based on actual events. Cataldo's characters, especially Freddo, Scialoja, Dandi and his moll Patrizia, leap off the page and are presented in all their corruption, intensity and internal conflicts.… (mais)

I picked up Judges in the library, principally because it contains a story by Giancarlo de Cotaldo, the writer of one of my favourite European TV series – Romanzo Criminale. I have yet to encounter a novel of his in English, so this was the next best thing.

Judges is an anthology of three novellas by leading Italian crime writers; each story centres on an Italian Judge prosecuting a case. (The reader needs to bear in mind the investigative role of a Judge in Italy).

Andrea Camilleri, renowned author of the Montalbano series, kicks off with Judge Surra. This is a story set shortly after Italian unification, about a Judge from out of town who is parachuted into a Sicilian village, blissfully unaware of the criminal undercurrents that swirl around him. Surra seemingly blunders along, narrowly avoiding continuing disasters and amazing the locals with his sang froid and coolness in the face of the local mafiosi. Or is he a lot smarter than we might think? This is an excellent and humorous short story, but it is marred by a clumsy and unnecessary afterword.

The Bambina by Carlo Lucarelli was probably my favourite story of the three. It’s centred on a female Bolognan Judge who looks so young she is nicknamed “The Baby” by the cops. While she has police protection as a matter of routine, it seems totally unnecessary, as she is only investigating a minor white collar fraud. Events then take a turn that gives her case a lot more significance. Lucarelli is able to surprise the reader and pack plot twists into a very short space. (The ending will make more sense to people with a bit of knowledge about real-life crime in Italy, BTW). I’ll certainly be looking for more of Lucarelli’s work.

De Cotaldo’s story is called The Triple Dream of the Prosecutor. This is a tale about a Judge who is prosecuting a corrupt local mayor, a man who bullied him as a child, giving rise to the suspicion that the Judge is biased. In the story, he dreams about things going wrong on the day of the trial, in a looping fashion somewhat like Groundhog Day. The construction is complex and a little confusing, and I found this story rather unsatisfying. I guess I expected something more hard-boiled from the author of Romanzo Criminale. (Could somebody PLEASE publish Romanzo Criminale in English, BTW)?

Overall I thought these three novellas were worth reading and something a bit different from the usual police procedurals. Good stuff.… (mais)