Massimo Ciancimino was born in Palermo in 1963. At eighteen he became his father's aide. In June 2006, he was accused of laundering his father's 'assets' and sentenced to five years in prison, reduced to three and a half on appeal. He has since been collaborating with magistrates to help shed light on his father's secrets and forty years of links between the mafia and politics in Sicily.

Francesco La Licata is a journalist who has written for la Stampa since 1980. He recently joined hands with the national anti-mafia prosecutor, Pietro Grasso, to write Pizzini, veleni e cicoria: La mafia prima e dopo Provenzano (Feltrinelli 2008).

N.S. Thompson was born in Manchester, educated at Oxford and lived a number of years in Italy as Curator of 'Casa Guidi', the Brownings' home in Florence. His prose translations include Leonardo Sciascia, Sicilian Uncles (Granta).