Mafia at war
Luciano’s Luck. By Jack Higgins. Collins, 1981. 215 pp. $15.95.
Thousands of Allied lives may be saved if the Mafia can be persuaded to rise against the German occupiers when the invasion of Sicily starts. Antonio Luca, the Mafia leader whose word is law, is virulently anti-American, so a British Special Operations Major, Harry Carter, is sent to Sicily with the gangster Lucky Luciano — still revered in his homeland — to change his mind. Thus Higgins embroiders history to produce a fast-paced, gripping war thriller: in real life Luciano (then in prison in the United States) did call on the Mafia to help the Allies. As always, Higgins spins a compelling yarn, although as the heroes slip unscathed from one trap after another, there is a growing sense of “Boy’s Own.” It is careless of Higgins, too, to have a main character’s wife killed in 1936 when about to go shopping in her husband’s Ferrari. Anzo Ferrari produced his first racing cars in 1940, and his first road cars well after the Second World War. — A. J. Petre. /
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Bibliographic details
Press, 21 November 1981, Page 15
Word Count
180Mafia at war Press, 21 November 1981, Page 15
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