Posted: 7.07pm Tuesday 18 March 2008
Reviews
Gomorrah: insider view of the mafia
Roberto Saviano
by Tom Behan
Gomorrah has become an international publishing sensation. In Italy it has sold a million copies and it has been translated into 33 other languages. A theatrical version of the book has already been performed, and a major film is currently under production.
Not bad going for a first book, especially considering the author is just 28. However the subject matter – the Neapolitan Mafia known as the Camorra – has meant the author, Roberto Saviano, has paid a very high price.
Saviano is scathing about the mafia gangs and their “system”. At a huge public meeting in his hometown he once called on people to take action: “Don’t be afraid, kick them out – they’re worth nothing”.
Subsequently he has lived under police protection for the last year.
The reason for the book’s success is that it is told from the inside.
Saviano worked for a Chinese textile manufacturer linked to the Camorra, as a waiter at a Camorra wedding and as a labourer on a Camorra-controlled building site.
He describes a world in which people live in fear, have no rights and think “democracy” is a sick charade.
The Labour-type Democratic Party has a stronghold in Naples – which hit the headlines recently with a massive rubbish crisis, partly caused by Camorra interference. It has avoided discussion of Camorra influence.
The lack of a political alternative is one of the reasons for people’s ignorance over the mafia.
© Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original.
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