Naples and the Camorra

Roberto Saviano is the author of Gomorrah, a book about the Neapolitan mafia, now a motion picture.

The BBC has an interesting story about the situation in Naples, with hints that the code of silence is under pressure from citizens who are no longer willing to put up with "the system."

"The Camorra grows rich on silence," says Judge Franco Roberti.

Saviano is under guard. The Camorra threatens that he will be dead before Christmas.

BBC News, "Breaking Camorra's Silence Code," 21 November 2008. Photo: BBC.

See also Alexander Stille, Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic; Leonardo Sciascia, The Moro Affair; Norman Lewis, Naples '44: A World War Two Diary of Occupied Italy; Le Mani Sulla Citta (1963; Hands Over the City) by Francesco Rosi, with Rod Steiger; Rachel Donadio, "Underworld," New York Times, 27 November 2007 (review). IMDB on Gomorrah; movie site and trailer.