In this sparkling new novel, Richard Condon again turns his inimitable wit and rich talent for satire on the Brooklyn Mafia – and in particular, on the intricate machinations of the Prizzi Family.

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Set earlier in time than its predecessor, Prizzi’s Family features the same cast as before: Charley Partanna, that incurable romantic of organized crime who is in love with love; Maerose Prizzi, the devious, plotting Mafia princess who is in love with power; the deceptively doddering Don Corrado Prizzi; and all the rest of the shady population of ”the environment”.

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The Prizzi’s family interests– gambling, narcotics, extortion, murder, 
pornography, loan sharking, prostitution, labor racketeering, counterfeiting are opposed by a reforming candidate for mayor of New York City, who has a particular vengeance in mind for Charley Partanna, underboss and vindicatore of the Prizzi family.

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However, George F. Mallon, the mayoral candidate, is the lesser of Charley’s preoccupations. Maerose Prizzi, consumed by ambition to take over leadership of the family one day, is set on marrying him, the future Boss of Prizzi street operations, to consolidate her position at the summit of power. To compromise Charley into marriage, she announces their betrothal to Don Corrado, capo di tutti capi. But Charley has been diverted by the enormous, spellbinding beauty and the many problems of Miss Mardell La Tour, a showgirl with more than a glint of true madness in her eyes, who is in love with fantasy. Both women press their demands on Charley with increasing intensity, while George F. Mellon seeks to nail Charley for the murder of Charley’s best friend… 

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Prizzi’s Family is a comedy of criminal manners set as a jewel in the front tooth of American society.