WORLD & I: In your earlier books, The Terror Network and Time of the Assassins, you have written about international terrorism. Why did you decide to write about the Sicilian Mafia?
Claire Sterling: The Mafia is the supreme example of terrorism and the art of terrorism. Terrorism is the base on which Mafia power rests: "Kill one, frighten ten thousand" is the principle they follow. Only if the Mafia is seen as being capable of killing anytime, anywhere, can they, as a small group with a few thousand members, retain their power and continue as one of the richer "nations" - drugs alone make them the twentieth richest "nation" in the world.
It only became possible to write about the Sicilian Mafia after 1984-85, when the Mafia wars for control of the heroin trade resulted in defectors, the pentiti, who revealed the Sicilian Mafia's inner workings. Before that, you couldn't get information from eyewitnesses and had to write based on speculation.
WORLD & I: Where has Octopus been published so far?
Claire Sterling: The book appeared simultaneously in Italy, France, Germany, the United States, Britain, and Canada. It has become a best-seller in Europe.
WORLD & I: Beyond being a bestseller, how has the book been received?
Claire Sterling: Octopus has been very well received in Italy. Sicily's celebrated anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone came to Milan to endorse the book when it was first presented, which was reported on television. He never endorsed a book before. The book is being widely discussed. Presently, all of Italy's women's magazines are featuring it.
Also, to my surprise, West Germany's Chancellor Kohl called personally to congratulate me.
WORLD & I: Have there been any significant new disclosures about the Mafia since Octopus was finished?
Claire Sterling: Yes, one of the most interesting developments concerns the connection between the Sicilian Mafia and the Medellin cartel. Last March, some sensational arrests were made in Italy and America based on tips from Giuseppe Cuffaro, a member of the Sicilian Mafia who is in custody.
Cuffaro was present at negotiations between the Sicilian Mafia and Medellin cartel in which the Mafia's distribution in Europe of Colombian cocaine was decided. These negotiations took place in Colombia in December 1987. His information has been confirmed by drug seizures in Europe.
There has been a dramatic rise in the amount of cocaine being imported into Europe, and Italy is clearly the staging area.
Cuffaro not only connected Palermo's Sicilian Mafia with Colombia but also reported that the decisions made in 1987 had been cleared with John Gambino in Brooklyn and the Sicilian Mafia in Venezuela. John Gambino in Brooklyn and the Sicilian Mafia in Venezuela. John Gambino-though related by blood to the
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