The Sacco Gang

"Based on a true story, The Sacco Gang is a "wild west" tale of two brothers who battle both the State and a Mafia empire in 1920s Italy. Raffadali, province of Agrigento, 1920s. The Sacco brothers are free men with strong ideas about Socialism and the State. Their lives change radically one morning when their father, Luigi Sacco, receives an anonymous letter from the local Mafia demanding protection money. Luigi tells the police of the extortion letters, but the police don't know what to do: no one in the village has ever dared denounce the Mafia before. From that moment on, the Sacco brothers must defend themselves from the Mafia, from the authorities, from the Fascist state, from collaborators, traitors, and their neighbors as they are assailed by murder attempts, false accusations, and false testimony. The Sacco Gang is not only an entertaining Italian western but also an indictment of the Mafia's influence and the devastation it wreaks upon people's lives."--Inside front cover.

• International Dublin Literary Award

  2020

  Longlist