The Sicilian

Set in postwar Sicily and connected to the world of The Godfather, the novel opens in 1950 as Michael Corleone, youngest son of the powerful American Mafia boss Don Corleone, arrives in Palermo with new orders from his father: He must arrange the escape of Salvatore Guiliano, Sicily's most famous bandit, before he can return home. Michael meets with Don Croce Malo, the supreme boss of the Sicilian Mafia (locally called "Friends of the Friends"), who explains the difficulty. Guiliano no longer trusts anyone, and he possesses a document called the Testament, a diary proving the Italian government secretly aided his banditry for political purposes. If published, it would topple the ruling Christian Democratic government. Don Croce and his allies prefer Guiliano to escape to America with the Testament rather than expose it publicly.

Michael travels to the mountain town of Montelepre, where Guiliano's parents live under virtual martial law. He meets Gaspare "Aspanu" Pisciotta, Guiliano's cousin and second in command, and Professor Hector Adonis, Guiliano's godfather and a secret member of the band. They reveal that Guiliano's pregnant fiancée must be sent to America first as a test of the escape route; only after she sends back a code word will Guiliano trust the plan. Guiliano's mother, Maria Lombardo, expresses fierce distrust of Don Croce and gives Michael a wooden statue of a black Virgin Mary as a parting gift.

The narrative flashes back to 1943. In Montelepre, a poverty-stricken mountain town, 20-year-old Turi Guiliano is the most respected young man. He and Pisciotta undertake a black market smuggling run through the mountains, where three carabinieri, members of Italy's national military police, ambush them at a crossroads. When the sergeant orders a bastinado, or severe beating, Guiliano refuses, strikes a guard, and runs. The sergeant shoots him through the side. Believing himself dying, Guiliano fires back and kills the sergeant with a single pistol shot. Pisciotta carries him three miles to a Franciscan monastery, where Abbot Manfredi grants sanctuary. A doctor pronounces the wound fatal, but Guiliano recovers after two weeks, undergoing a profound transformation: He resolves never again to be powerless.

Guiliano and Pisciotta establish a mountain camp and declare war on Sicily's oppressors. Guiliano raids the local carabinieri barracks using a wine delivery cart as a ruse, freeing prisoners and recruiting two bandit chiefs, Passatempo and Terranova. During the raid, a corporal's concealed pistol misfires at point-blank range, confirming Guiliano's belief in his own invincibility. Over the following years, he builds an empire across northwest Sicily, hijacking food convoys and distributing goods to the poor. Newspapers call him a Robin Hood figure. Don Croce, meanwhile, rebuilds the Mafia's postwar power through American military connections, watching Guiliano's rise with admiration and calculation.

The rivalry between Guiliano and the Mafia intensifies. He kidnaps Prince Ollorto, Sicily's wealthiest noble and a man under Don Croce's protection, collecting a massive ransom. Three assassination attempts on Guiliano fail, including one in which Guido Quintana, a Mafia figure, sends a fake priest with a gun hidden in a Communion box. Guiliano executes the impostor and nails his body to a cross at Quintana's door. Don Croce sends Stefan Andolini, a trusted assassin, to infiltrate the band, but Guiliano discovers the plot and spares Andolini only because the Abbot reveals Andolini is his illegitimate son.

In 1947, left-wing parties gain ground in elections, alarming Don Croce, the Church, and Minister of Justice Franco Trezza. Don Croce brokers a deal: Guiliano will suppress Communist and Socialist organizations in exchange for a promised pardon. Guiliano agrees reluctantly and sends Pisciotta to Rome to receive assurances from Trezza and the Cardinal of Palermo. At Adonis's suggestion, Guiliano begins writing his Testament to document every secret arrangement. His campaign against the left culminates in catastrophe on May Day 1948, when his men attack a celebration at the Portella della Ginestra. Machine guns meant to fire over the crowd kill 15 people, including women and children. Guiliano, absent while caring for the ailing Pisciotta, suspects Don Croce secretly paid Passatempo to fire into the crowd, engineering a massacre to destroy his reputation. Don Croce then declares the promised pardon impossible.

Guiliano retaliates spectacularly. At Prince Ollorto's estate, where six Mafia chiefs ride horses to intimidate peasants claiming land under reform laws, Guiliano arrives with 50 armed men. He binds the chiefs and executes them, personally shooting each through the head. He then kidnaps the Cardinal of Palermo, collects a 100-million-lire ransom, and forces the Cardinal to read the Testament as a warning to Rome. Minister Trezza dispatches a 5,000-man Special Force under Colonel Ugo Luca. Inspector Frederico Velardi, head of Sicily's Security Police, secretly coordinates with Don Croce while feeding Guiliano information on army plans to keep him alive until the Testament can be neutralized. Guiliano counterattacks brilliantly, but his band disintegrates. Through Abbot Manfredi, he confirms Don Croce's role in the massacre and executes Passatempo. He secretly marries his fiancée, Justina Ferra.

The narrative returns to 1950. At a villa near Trapani, Michael discovers the Testament hidden inside the hollow black Madonna statue. He and Peter Clemenza, Don Corleone's top lieutenant from America, extract the documents, which include government letters, official orders, and a note from the Cardinal of Palermo, and send them to Don Corleone. Pisciotta visits Michael and arranges to deliver Guiliano at dawn outside Castelvetrano.

Pisciotta, however, has already betrayed Guiliano. Over the past year, resentment has corroded his loyalty: Guiliano's idealism led them to ruin, his marriage promises an escape to America that Pisciotta cannot share, and his ferocity frightens even his closest friend. Pisciotta has revealed the Castelvetrano rendezvous to Don Croce.

Guiliano arrives alone at Castelvetrano and, warned the town is swarming with soldiers, proceeds to the ancient Greek ruins at Selinus. He sits barefoot on the temple steps in moonlight, dreaming of America and Justina. When Pisciotta arrives, Guiliano playfully surprises him from behind a column. Pisciotta, terrified Guiliano will discover his treachery, raises his gun and fires. Dying, Guiliano believes he is running through the mountains with Aspanu as in their youth. Pisciotta contacts Colonel Luca, who stages an official story that his aide killed Guiliano in a firefight.

Michael and Clemenza learn of Guiliano's death at dawn. Maria Lombardo identifies her son's body; Guiliano's father publicly names Pisciotta as the real killer. Inspector Velardi arrests Michael, but Don Croce forces his release; five days later, Velardi is assassinated. Michael returns home, where Don Corleone reveals the Testament will be suppressed. While Michael was in Sicily, he was injured by a bomb; the Don responded by trading his promise not to publish the Testament for Don Croce's protection of Michael. Michael realizes he sealed Guiliano's fate by telling Pisciotta the Testament was safe in America, since Don Croce no longer needed Guiliano alive. Don Corleone's final lesson is that a man's first duty is to keep himself alive, and honor comes second. Michael accepts the wisdom but privately envies Guiliano.

In the epilogue, Pisciotta, imprisoned for life, threatens to expose the Ginestra conspiracy. His medicine is poisoned on Don Croce's orders, with Adonis masterminding the operation. Adonis slips a note inside the dying man's shirt: "SO DIE ALL WHO BETRAY GUILIANO." At Guiliano's grave, Adonis reflects that Don Croce will be forgotten, but Guiliano's legend will endure. Pisciotta, by committing his great betrayal, ensured he would stand alongside his beloved Turi forever.