Pupetta, who died last December at 86, may be the star but she is hardly the only engaging figure in this crisply written, dutifully researched book exploring the role of women in a sector of Italian society not noted for its embrace of a #MeToo ethos.

Pupetta’s story anchors a unique look at organized crime and the underworld that Rome-based journalist Nadeau reveals: the lives of women in organized crime and the underworld. That perspective makes The Godmother unique and refreshing for this genre, and raises intriguing questions about women’s roles.

Nadeau describes well the culture of normalized misogyny in Italy, as well as how 'the mafia and the malavita, ‘dishonest lifestyle,’ it produces are just another facet of the culture.' The trouble is that the book’s tone is all over the place, going from a kind of girl bossification of mafia women to a celebration of anti-mafia prosecutors for imprisoning them — sometimes on the same page.

The Godmother is an original piece of work that takes mob-watchers outside of the usual cliches...It’s often a challenge for American readers to follow a narrative set in a foreign country, but I found myself wanting to hang out with Nadeau’s vicious and deluded sorceresses and listen to them lie to me just a little more about how they’re the victims in all this...Their stories are deeply disturbing, darkly funny in places, and validate the notion that the best thing about the Mafia is its gift for mythmaking..

[Nadeau] interweaves Maresca’s tale with absorbing stories of other Mafia women whose lives were much darker and deadlier than Pupetta’s, plus details of an Italian culture that is rarely shown. Using personal interviews with women in the Mafia, along with other research, Nadeau argues that real Mafia women are vastly different from the archetypes portrayed in film and TV.

In this engrossing account, Nadeau combines diligent research, hours of personal interviews, and vivid prose to immerse the reader in the world of Italian Mafia women...Nadeau tells the stories of those who defected and turned evidence against the mob, such as wives who betrayed their husbands, but she focuses on the unrepentant women...This look at the 'feminine' side of the Mafia is a must for true crime fans..

A glancing account of women’s roles in the making of the Italian underworld...valuable are Nadeau’s accounts of mob wives and daughters who have cashed in on 'mafia chic'...But those are the lucky ones, as 'hundreds of women in mafia families have been brutally murdered over the years'...A good choice for Mafia completists and students of international crime..