For as long as it has gripped our imaginations, the Mafia has been tied to an ingrained image of masculinity, with women serving only as trivialized mistresses and long-suffering mob wives. The reality is far more complex, argues Barbie Latza Nadeau, who draws upon interviews to tell the stories of the women who have risen to prominence and fallen out of favor in the Italian mob. In particular, she profiles Pupetta Maresca, who in 1955 avenged her husband's murder, firing 29 shots at the man who killed him.