The story of an Italian immigrant family in the Wild West whose crazy, brave, and magical women overcame impossible odds to become bootleggers, brides—and Mafia bosses.

This based-on-real-events novel tells the story of the family that possibly inspired The Godfather—except this story doesn’t begin with a small robbery in New York. Instead, The Descendant begins with a big, blooming love in the tiny town of Lucca Sicula, Sicily. Told through the lives of the strong Italian women who fought against impossible odds, this historically inspired narrative introduces a whole cast of fascinating characters.

Mariano Barbera was a strong, powerfully built man who saw tiny fourteen-year-old Maria Ragusa at her family’s store and was struck dumb. He had to have her, and she wanted him just as badly. Their life together leads the couple and their children from earthquake-ravaged Sicily to bondage in the mines of Colorado, to cattle ranching in Pueblo, to Mafia life on the mean streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn.

This sweeping family saga centers around the Barberas’ ten children from their three cowboy gangster sons, Peter, Joe, and Austin to their seven wildly different cowgirl daughters. First there’s little Flo—born on the night of the wolves and whose own alpha wolf never left her side—as she navigates life alongside her best pal and younger sister, Clara. Then there’s Flo’s many older sisters: Carrie, who loved and lost; Angie, who loved and left; gorgeous Laura, who loved the wrong man; grouchy but brilliant Helen, who loved many times; and tough-as-nails wrangler Giulia, who loved a woman more than the husband she was forced to marry.

The Descendant is not just the story of how the Mountain Mafia began in the United States. This is the story of a family of scrappy, tough, smart folks who refused to let all the power in the world keep them down.

PUBLISHER AND ACCOLADES

Regalo Press, March 2026

“More than a thriller, more than an ethnography, The Descendant brims with a fierce love — I have your back, it will be alright — that rises above the tide of woe.”
–Brooklyn Downtown Star Review

“The Descendant is a riveting family saga that carries readers from a small Sicilian village to the mines of Colorado and the streets of Brooklyn. Inspired by real events, it reveals the resilience and daring of the Barbera family—especially the fierce women whose courage and defiance helped them survive poverty, violence, and the pull of the Mafia. Epic in scope yet intimate in its storytelling, this is a powerful portrait of love, loss, and the fight to carve out a future against impossible odds.”
-Jacqueline Friedland, USA Today bestselling author of He Gets That From Me and Counting Backwards

“Vivid as folklore and true as history, The Descendant brings early twentieth-century Colorado to life through women whose strength and defiance reshape their families—and the world around them.”
-Shelley Blanton-Stroud, author of An Unlikely Prospect

“The Descendant by Linda Stasi is an incredible work. There is nothing that reaches the soul quite so much as history presented with the lives of those who lived through it. Amazing characters: I am a huge history buff, and this is much more than history. It’s heart, soul, and mind for the reader.”
-Heather Graham, winner of Romance Writers and Thriller Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Awards and author of over forty New York Times bestsellers

“I guarantee your imagination will put you there with them and, as I did, you will wonder what you would do to survive. This is a story that will resonate in your thoughts for a long time.”
-David Fisher, author of twenty-four New York Times bestselling fiction and non-fiction books

“Set in turn-of-the-century Colorado, The Descendant is a poignantly moving tale of the American immigrant experience. Linda Stasi covers war, Prohibition, and the birth of the American Mafia in an epic family saga. An exciting and moving read!”
-Ward Larsen, winner of five major writing awards and USA Today bestselling author of Dark Vector

“In The Descendant, Linda Stasi tells a story little-known and hers to tell: the wild and history-based tale of the Italian miners and ranchers in the American West. Immigration, prohibition, the birth of the mafia, and a little girl watched over by a large gray wolf—Stasi’s family was there, and I’m so glad I got to meet them in all their astonishing variety in this novel.”
-SJ Rozan, author of the 2024 New York Times pick of best historical novels: The Murder of Mr. Ma bestselling author of over twenty novels

“It’s always been the American story: immigrants arrive, work relentlessly, endure misery, find success, and sometimes tragedy… and often both. But no one has ever told it more vividly than Linda Stasi in The Descendant, a sweeping tale that’s grand yet intimate, fantastical yet coldly realistic, and overflowing on every page with big characters, big emotions, and the kind of operatic storytelling that demands you keep turning pages. A knockout.”
-William Martin, New York Times bestselling author of City of Dreams and December ’41

“The Descendant is a compelling historical novel that is an eye opener and reminds us of the brutality that Italian immigrants and others withstood in reaching their American dream.”
-Angelo Vivolo, founding member Italian American Leadership Foundation, board member National Italian American Foundation (NIAF)

“The Ludlow massacre in Colorado in 1914 is a very compelling story of man’s inhumanity to man. It is an issue of human rights, bigotry, and how vicious people can come in stereotyping people for greed and fortune. I look forward to the publication of Linda Stasi’s book, The Descendant and her authorship as only she can dramatize man’s pain, agony, and resilience.”
-Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network, New York Times bestselling author, MSNBC host

“Told through the eyes of one family, The Descendant is the story of how thousands of Italian immigrants helped settle the American West fighting unimaginable hardship, massacre, flood, blizzards, and bigotry to emerge triumphant as cattle ranchers, cowboys, bootleggers, and heroic WWII fighter plane crew members. Written with heartbreak and humor, Stasi’s novel brings needed change to the accepted, but biased, untold Italian American immigrant narrative.”
-Andrew Cuomo, former New York State governor, NYC mayoral candidate, New York Times bestselling author

“In The Descendants, Linda Stasi tells an immigrant story with scenes so vivid and characters so compelling that they will stay in your imagination forever.  Both thrilling and inspiring.” 
-Mary Pat Kelly, former producer of the Today Show and Saturday Night live, award-winning film-maker and author of the bestseller Galway Bay

Some say Demiel ben Yusef is the world’s most dangerous terrorist, personally responsible for bombings and riots that have claimed the lives of thousands. Others insist he is a man of peace, a miracle worker, and possibly even the Son of God. His trial in New York City for crimes against humanity attracts scores of protestors, as well as media and religious leaders from around the world.

Cynical reporter Alessandra Russo heads to the UN hoping for a piece of the action, but soon becomes entangled in controversy and suspicion when ben Yusef singles her out for attention among all other reporters. As Alessandra begins digging into ben Yusef’s past, she is already in more danger than she knows and when she is falsely accused of murder during her investigation, she is forced to flee New York.

On the run from unknown enemies, Alessandra finds herself on the trail of a global conspiracy and a story that could shake the world to its foundations.

Is Demiel ben Yusef the Second Coming or the Antichrist?

The truth may lie in the secret history of the Holy Family, a group of Templars who defied the church, and a mysterious relic stained with the sacred blood of Christ Himself.”

PUBLISHER AND ACCOLADES

Forge Books, January 2013

• Mary Higgins Clark Award Finalist
• Providence Sunday Journal Top 5 Books of the Year

• Featured on:

  • TODAY Show
  • Joy Behar: Say Anything!
  • Access Hollywood
  • New York Post
  • Howard Stern

“Linda Stasi crafts a tale combining Islam, Christianity, and National Security. If you like controversy with your suspense, The Sixth Station is for you.”
―Bill O’Reilly, anchor, Fox News Channel

“Mayhem, madness, passion, and pride battle in this wild escapade that stirs straight to the soul. This one has the Vatican, ancient secrets, mysterious relics, and the Knights Templar– all the right elements to engage both the mind and the imagination. Careful, though, you’ll be gripping the pages so tight your knuckles will turn white.”
―Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author

“The Sixth Station, Linda Stasi’s debut novel, is a hell of a religious thriller. The Sixth Station has it all–great writing, exciting plot, and intriguing characters–and the ending is a shocker.”
―Nelson DeMille, New York Times bestselling author

“The Sixth Station is exactly the kind of blockbuster thriller you would expect from Linda Stasi–smart, intriguing, irreverent, impeccably researched, and brilliantly provocative. If you liked The Da Vinci Code, you’ll devour this book.”
―Linda Fairstein, New York Times bestselling author

“Stasi does an amazing job of mixing science with religious paranoia in this compelling thriller…Dan Brown and Steve Berry fans have another controversial novel in which to lose themselves.”
―Booklist

“It’s a riveting, fast-paced tale that had my heart pounding on more than one occasion. That said, I was more interested in Ms. Stasi’s real-world discoveries and how they affected her outlook on life.”
―Washington Times

“If you like Dan Brown, I think this book will be right up your alley . . . this is a fast paced thriller that will have you turning the pages quickly.”
―The Kari AnnAlysis

“The thrill of the mystery will suck readers in despite the unusual topic. The Sixth Station undeniably shows Statsi’s ability to completely captivate her readers!”
―Lovey Dovey Books

“Stasi, a reporter herself, has crafted an expertly researched and wondrously conceived tale that delivers at every level, propelling her right out of the box to a Ludlum-esque level and making her heir to the throne once occupied by the great Helen MacInnes.”
―Providence Sunday Journal

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From hard-hitting New York Daily News columnist Linda Stasi comes BOOK OF JUDAS, a riveting religious thriller featuring beloved protagonist Alessandra Russo.

When her infant son is placed in mortal danger, New York City reporter Alessandra Russo is forced to save him by tracking down the missing pages of the Gospel of Judas, a heretical manuscript that was unearthed in Al-Minya, Egypt, in the 1970s. The manuscript declares that Judas was the beloved, not the betrayer, of Jesus.

The Gospel disappeared for decades before being rediscovered, rotted beyond repair, in a safety deposit box. Rumors insist that the most important pages had been stolen-pages that Alessandra now must find, if they even exist.

Do the lost pages contain a secret that will challenge Christianity’s core beliefs about the creation of life, or that might hold the power to unleash Armageddon? What if such explosive documents fell into the hands of modern-day terrorists, dictators, or religious fanatics?

Alessandra plunges into a dark world of murder, conspiracy, and sexual depravity…and most importantly, a race against the clock to save her own child.

In this exciting follow-up to The Sixth Station, award-winning journalist Linda Stasi brings her formidable investigative skills, big city street smarts, and fast-flying pen to a thriller that will leave readers breathless.

PUBLISHER AND ACCOLADES

Forge Books, September 2017

“Fast paced without sacrificing strong character development, Book of Judas will take your breath away.”
―Nelson DeMille

“You won’t be able to put down Book of Judas, and you’ll root for Russo through this gritty, breakneck thriller as she stops at nothing to save her kidnapped baby boy, encountering old lovers, ancient Roman coins,and a sacred relic of Judas, against a vivid backdrop worthy of The Da Vinci Code.”
―Lisa Scottoline

“A foreboding read that’s addictive, menacing, and thrilling. Linda Stasi has her game on with this one.”
―Steve Berry

“One of the most gripping, thrilling and original tales I’ve read in decades! An innovative masterpiece that left me gasping for air and racing through to see how it ended. Linda Stasi is a master storyteller for the ages.”
―Sherrilyn Kenyon

“A stay-up-all-night page-turner, a novel rich in plot and characterization and every other little known and unknown ingredient that creates a great thriller.”
―Heather Graham

“Another stunning thriller from the pen of Linda Stasi . . . don’t expect to put it down till you race to the explosive ending.”
―Linda Fairstein

“A finely tuned, beautifully constructed thriller that would make Steve Berry and James Rollins proud.”
―Providence Journal

“Stasi could literally write four hundred pages of dialogue and it’d be better than two-thirds of the thrillers out there. She’s that good.”
―The Real Book Spy

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