Omerta, paperback/mario puzo

Omerta, the Sicilian code of silence, has been the cornerstone of the Mafias sense of honor for centuries.

Born in the Sicilian hills, omerta carried the Mafia through a hundred years of change, but now at the centurys end it is becoming a relic from a bygone age.

Honor may be silent - but money talks.

New York - a mob boss is assassinated.

His nephew Astorre Viola and the head of the citys FBI both launch investigations into the murder.

But this time silence spreads like a contagion: the silence of rival gangs, the silence of crooked bankers, even the silence of the courts.

The world of the Mafia is riven with greed, and Viola knows that now is the time to claim his destiny.