GANGSTERS WALK AMONG US (DRESSED AS BANKERS!)
That organised crime is often right under our noses was the big revelation in Misha Glenny’s non-fiction book McMafia, which inspired the TV series. ‘None of the characters exist in the book,’ says Hossein Amini, who wrote the drama.
‘The book is factual but what was exciting is the world it paints. I loved The Sopranos, which is about the end of the gangster genre. Then suddenly I read this book and it was all about how gangsters are being reborn globally.
‘This is not movie cliché gangsters – they actually look more like bankers. I suddenly thought, “These people could be sitting next to me in this very restaurant.”
‘Through Misha Glenny I met people on the fringes of that world. One was actually, to my surprise, a friend of my in-laws! He told us about a gangster whose hobby was dog shows – I could never have invented that!’
The book’s title has nothing to do with the Scots but refers to a Chechen gang who set up ‘branches’ overseas based on the McDonald’s business model.