Thursday, April 10, 2008

APPRENDISTA: SAVING THE MAFIA


From Wednesday's Guardian:


"They're violent, they're ruthless, they have caused misery to many, but you can't fault their business sense..........

Big business has learned how to sell itself to the public, with television shows such as The Apprentice and Dragons' Den granting us a view of harsh but compellingly competitive environments. Businessmen such as Sir Alan Sugar, Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones have become unlikely media personalities. But the mafia has been using these methods for years.


When Bernardo Provenzano took over the organisation in the mid-90s, he inherited a depleted and demoralised workforce, who had scuppered their own access to politics and industry. The bombs that killed anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino had created a PR disaster and a law enforcement backlash."...............

Read the full article here
I wonder if the present contestants in The Apprentice [UK version] would be using a little more common sense on their tasks if Bernardo Provenzano was the one saying "You're fired!" rather than Sir Alan Sugar?
I believe that Bernardo Provenzano probably treats his customers somewhat better than some of our high street banks working on the principal that a closed business cannot pay any interest payments.
The book which tells the whole story
Boss of Bosses: How Bernardo Provenzano Saved the Mafia is published by John Murray and can be purchased at Amazon UK for £12 plus postage and packing.

2 Comments:

Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Perhaps I should pay a bit more attention to the Mafia in the land of its origin. Here in America, it has fared less well. At NoirCon, my colleague George Anastasia, crime reporter and author of books about organized crime, repeated his assertion that the Italian mob is “done.”

===================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

8:42 PM  
Blogger Uriah Robinson said...

I think that the Cosa Nostra is so intertwined with national and local Italian politics that it will always have a secure position, although the Ndrangheta has possibly overtaken it as a criminal enterprise outside Sicily.

1:40 AM  

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