I was a mafioso. Now I'm a mafia historian

My last book about the mafia, Mob Rules: What the Mafia Can Teach the Legitimate Businessman, was an international bestseller translated into 20 languages. Because of the book's global appeal, I was invited by the German media conglomerate Axel Springer to speak at their annual retreat for editors, being held at the Hotel Villa Athena in Agrigento, Sicily.

The first evening, I met an older gentleman who introduced himself as George. We struck up an enjoyable conversation that centred on our mutual love of history, and, at some point, George said to me: "I would like to publish your next book." This softly spoken man, who conversed with me as if we had known each other forever, was Lord Weidenfeld, one of the most talented and influential book publishers of the 20th century.