Taking place in 1920s Fascist Italy, the Sacco family are Socialist-leaning and also believe in reporting crimes to the police, bypassing the Mafia.

What ensues in this short novel is an “Italian Western”, as the book‘s blurb calls it. Between pick and so-so — would have been better if characters had been fleshed out more; it was a bit hard keeping them all straight. ( )

The Wild, Wild West (of Sicily)
Review of the English translation (2018) of the Italian language original "La banda Sacco" (2013)

This was a very compelling historical fiction novella situated in the Sicily of the early Mussolini years of the 1920's. Mussolini's anti-Mafia enforcer Cesare Mori has a role to play but the bulk of the story is built on a faux-non-fiction of an honest family of Sicilian brothers forced to become outlaws when persecuted by both the Mafia and the authorities.

Camilleri builds up his tale with constant references to family archives and interviews which will have you checking Wikipedia and other online sources for evidence on an actual Sacco gang in the Raffadali & Agrigento area of Sicily. No such actual historical gang seems to have existed though.

I thoroughly enjoyed this although I had not been very impressed with the first of the Inspector Montalbano series in The Shape of Water. I think I'll have to give some of the later Montalbano stories a try. ( )

Raffadali, provincia de Agrigento, la década de los años veinte. Los hermanos Sacco son hombres libres, de las ideas socialistas, tienen un sentido del estado, se han hecho a sí mismos, siguiendo el ejemplo de su padre Luigi quien los ha criado en la cultura del trabajo y el respeto por los demás. La vida cambia cuando una mañana el cabeza de familia recibe una carta anónima, luego otra, luego sufre un intento de robo. Luigi Sacco solicita ayuda a la policía, pero queda desconcertado: nadie en el país se ha atrevido antes a denunciar a la mafia. Desde entonces, deberán defenderse. De la mafia y la policía, de los aldeanos cómplices, los traidores, los notables del país, incluyendo intentos de asesinato, acusaciones falsas, testigos mentirosos. ( )