Janet CollinsGomorrah and Taking on the Mafia
January 4th 2009 06:01
Would you imagine that you could ever take on the mafia, the Neapolitan mafia that is?
Italy’s entrant into the Oscars this year is the result of a young man doing just that. The film “Gomorra” is based on the book by Roberto Saviani, “Gomorrah: Italy’s Other Mafia”. It is about the Camorra of Naples, a mafia group bigger than that of Sicily.
It is not the film that I want to talk about here but the author. So popular has the book been since it was published a few years ago that it has earned sales of more than a million and is sold in some 50 countries.
The problem is that the book is not fiction. It is fact.
Saviani’s life since the publication of his book reads like a thrilling best seller itself. He is now moved from place to place, surrounded by body guards never knowing when, or if, he will have freedom again or even stay alive.
“Gomorrah” was published in 2006 and reached the top of the best selling list almost immediately. It is an in-depth revelation of the workings of the Camorra mafia from Naples including its connection and networks.
This is no ordinary book however. It is a detailed account of not only the local workings of the Camorra and its connections deep inside the bureaucracy, but its organised global business networks including a whole counterfeit fashion industry that stretched to Germany, Spain, Portugal, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Finland, Denmark, Sarajevo and Belgrade.
The fashion garments also found their way to Canada, the United States, South America, Saudi Arabia and North Africa. A boutique in Sydney’s Five Dock was also an outlet of mention.
You would think just gathering the information for his book would have put Saviani in great danger. This doesn’t seem to be the case. Just by using personal contacts and work contacts he found information and evidence quite easy to come by.
Even after the book was first published, the Comorra didn’t seem to have a problem with it. It is Saviani’s view that it was only after the book became a resounding success and took off in Italy and internationally that he had reason to fear them.
The book has certainly had resounding success and the movie by all accounts has done the same and is likely to do even better after the Academy Awards, but this success has come at a very dear price for Saviani.
His brother has moved to another part of Italy to live. His mother fears for her life. The eventual protection of one bodyguard, assigned him six months after the book was published, has now extended to five and he has been forced into hiding with round-the-clock protection.
It begs the question “why would anyone take on the mafia?”
Saviani has said himself that he hates the mafia, in particular, the Camorra who rule his home town of Naples with absolute fear, something even he as a native of the town could never understand.
I have always loved watching crime movies particularly those that are about the mafia. The Godfather trilogy and Goodfellas are excellent ones that come to mind. So too was I heavily addicted to that great series “The Sopranos”.
There is something quite fascinating about the sheer power the mafia yields but Saviani’s book is not fiction and that is what makes this so interesting. The book is real and so are the people in it – an expose of one of the largest, maybe even the largest, network of mafia operations in the world. After penning the book, Saviani scripted a play and he also co-scripted the film.
The other day I heard Saviani being interviewed on ABC radio, a report from the BBC and I really wondered why this articulate, educated man, not yet even 30 years old would do such a thing. While listening to the interview I really felt quite worried and sad for him.
To the question would he do it again, Saviani replied very quickly with a “yes”, but quickly qualified his answer with “well, the writer in me would say yes but deep down inside me I think I would probably say no”.
It remains to be seen if his success has really been worth it.
Information source:
Wikipedia
The Independent
The Guardian, UK
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