Blast from the Past Payback is a bitch named Maxine. She’s a once-demure law student who’s finally free after serving time for a murder she didn’t commit. Maxine has a score to settle, and she’s now driven to return the favor of destruction. Her kill list, unknowingly financed by her frenemy, Layla, is steadily shrinking with bodies dropping all over NYC. Scott and Layla West have buried their children one-by-one from what appears to be random accidents. With the top Mafioso distracted by grief and territory battles, a traitor has infiltrated the tight-knit organization. Scott and Layla’s misfortunes only multiply when they realize they’ve been targeted all along.

Family Feuds The stunning acquittals of Scott and Layla West reverberate throughout the justice system, and the powerful cartels take notice. The Wests were untouchable, and their drug empire is still intact, but family ties begin to unravel. New mom Lucky has a lot on her shoulders as she continues to deceive the head of the Juarez cartel. Partnering with her twin brothers, Lucky lines up the pieces on the chessboard, but she underestimates the king and queen.

When you're the most respected Italian Mafia Boss, you cannot afford to have personal ties. A lesson this man learned the hard way. Now, refusing to allow anyone close to him. His plan of solitude being rattled when a negotiation gone wrong ends with him holding a student hostage in self-preservation. Their story wasn't meant to begin as it did.They weren't meant to meet this way. After all, she was only a university student and he was a ghost.When the most unforeseen circumstances cause their paths to cross multiple times, they have no choice but to acknowledge the dangers looming overhead.A final encounter between them forcing him to vow for her safety because he owes her his life.

Private detective, Adrian Elias, knows what trouble looks like, and ruthless mobster and lion shifter, Sage Tamir, was just that with a capital T. On top of smelling like heaven, the man has the face of an angel, with a body made for unbridled sin. A combination Adrian finds very hard to resist. Unfortunately, someone is trying to kill Sage and they're using magic to do it. Sage usually takes these types of matters into his own hands, but this time, he's out of his league. He believes the only person who can help him is the down-on-his-luck detective. Problem is, Adrian doesn't want to take his case because he feels it may be too dangerous. Never mind the volcanic-level attraction they seem to share for each other raising the stakes. Magic and mayhem awaits.Reader Advisory: 18 and older. Strong adult situations and language. A sarcastic PI and a no-nonsense mobster will keep you turning the pages way past your bedtime. Best order that pizza, because once you start this book, you won't want to stop.

There Can Only Be One Queen Bee. Young and beautiful, seventeen-year-old Apple believes there's one thing she can do better than anyone -- herself. Her selfish actions turn fatal in a New York minute when she gets tangled up with a ruthless hustler. He wants his payment in blood with interest. Apple goes undercover to try to clean up her mess, but the lines between vengeance and reality begin to blur. Meanwhile, Apple's twin sister Kola is leading a fast life of her own with an escort ring. Though she's making long money, she's not satisfied with second best, and she sets out to knock Apple off. Her wicked scheming explodes into the ultimate betrayal. Nisa Santiago's tale of beautiful sisters from Harlem proves that when sibling rivalry spins out of control, loyalty is just a word on the streets.

Antonio Salvo was a mafioso, but he did not traffic in narcotics, he did not run weapons, he did not kill anyone and he did not take part in the 'ordinary' mafia activities. Salvo was a business man, one of the wealthiest business men in Sicily. He took an interest in all important lines of business and had close political connections at the highest levels in Rome. He represented another, but not less important side of the mafia. He was a central part of the far-reaching network of economic and political interests that dominated Sicily through decades. This book analyses the economic and political activities of the mafia on the basis of the latest source material and explains how the mafia has succeeded in surviving, protecting, and flourishing in post-war Italy.

Beautiful Menace (or Viral Violence) Half Japanese and half Jamaican, Aoki is young, beautiful, and known throughout her Brooklyn neighborhood as a menace to local authorities. On the eve of a brutal murder that hits close to home, Aoki needs her friends more than ever. Her ride-or-die besties, Tisa and Ri-Ri, are down to help by any means necessary, even if it puts their own freedom at risk. While coming up in the drug game, AZ gets into a situation he can't handle on his own. When he reaches out to Aoki - an unlikely ally - the girls agree to handle his problem for a small fee. When surveillance video of the conquest goes viral, the Brooklyn hood chicks are transformed into Killer Dolls. This overnight fame brings heat to the Killer Dolls, with jealousy, envy, and a dark secret threatening to destroy everything.

Henner Hess's classic work, first published almost a quarter century ago, gives a detailed picture of the typical career of mafiosi. Hess describes a distinct subculture whose behavioral patterns have been largely determined by the specific political, economic, and social history of Sicily, a society characterized by a weak state and organized on the basis of self-help. This subculture was and is the breeding ground for the strong-arm man "mafioso" or "uomo d'onore," man of honor, as he is called in Sicily, the proud, taciturn, independent man who believes in the use of violence to achieve personal goals. As a rule, the men come from poor families and rise through violent crime, shrewd diplomacy and the building of a "family" of followers to a respected position of power and wealth. Most important are the mafioso's reciprocal arrangements with politicians and government officials whom he supports in the elections and who protect him from law enforcement. Mafia, popularly conceived as a strictly centralized secret society, is instead proven to be a system of independent families which might on many occasions cooperate, but just as easily be driven to bloody feud. Only in the last decade have there been a number of so-called "pentiti," crown witnesses who cooperate with the criminal justice system. Using their testimonies, an extensive afterword brings the book up to date.

When we think of the Italian Mafia, we think of Marlon Brando, Tony Soprano, and the Corleones iconic actors and characters who give shady dealings a mythical pop presence. Yet these sensational depictions take us only so far. The true story of the Mafia reveals both an organization and mindset dedicated to the preservation of tradition. It is no accident that the rise of the Mafia coincided with the unification of Italy and the influx of immigrants into America. The Mafia means more than a horse head under the sheets it functions as an alternative to the state, providing its own social and political justice. Combining a nuanced history with a unique counternarrative concerning stereotypes of the immigrant, Salvatore Lupo, a leading historian of modern Italy and a major authority on its criminal history, has written the definitive account of the Sicilian Mafia from 1860 to the present. Consulting rare archival sources, he traces the web of associations, both illicit and legitimate, that have defined Cosa Nostra during its various incarnations. He focuses on several crucial periods of transition: the Italian unification of 1860 to 1861, the murder of noted politician Notarbartolo, fascist repression of the Mafia, the Allied invasion of 1943, social conflicts after each world war, and the major murders and trials of the 1980s. Lupo identifies the internal cultural codes that define the Mafia and places these codes within the context of social groups and communities. He also challenges the belief that the Mafia has grown more ruthless in recent decades. Rather than representing a shift from "honorable" crime to immoral drug trafficking and violence, Lupo argues the terroristic activities of the modern Mafia signify a new desire for visibility and a distinct break from the state. Where these pursuits will take the family adds a fascinating coda to Lupo's work.