Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System

by Roberto Saviano

Book Overview

The basis of the Sundance TV series Gomorrah A New York Times Notable Book of the Year A groundbreaking, unprecedented bestseller in Italy, Roberto Saviano's insider account traces the decline of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312427794
• ISBN13: 9780312427795
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Length: 301 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Poetry, Tragedy, Reality, Manifesto of Sorts

This can be a difficult book to read, with its never-ending littany of death, but I found the book--a translated work from the Italian--to be absorbing. It can and should be read with the capstone work by Moises Naim, Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy. Moises' book is a global strategic overview. This book is a tactical and operational microcosm that adds significant weight and dread to our overall understanding. First off, kudos to the translator, Virginia Jewiss. There are turns of phrase throughout where it is clear that the poetry was in the original and was preserved by the translator, no easy accomplishment. Bravo. Before setting out some of my notes, I will observe that the book concludes with the observation that it is not criminals, but the concert of criminals and politicians (to which I would add criminal corporations and financial networks) that is consuming the earth. The last chapter is quite a brilliant conclusion, focusing on the illegal disposal of toxic waste as the ultimate crime against humanity and the Earth. I actually shuddered as I realized what the author was driving at: criminal organizations love the construction business in part because they can dispose of a lot of toxic trash mixed in with sand and cement--this means that you could be living in a building that is itself toxic, and will not know until everyone in the building is diagnosed with cancer. Some of my notes: + Naples has a legal economy of roughly 2.6 billion Euros a year, with 1 billion Euros a year in the illegal economy. Compare this with the FBI and ILLICIT views that illicit is roughly 2 trillion a year against a 7 trillion a year "legal" economy. + Tax avoidance is the ultimate discount, and imposed services or and purchase contracts are the modern form of extortion. + Quality is NOT sacrificed. The criminals make their money by matching the quality, lowering the price, and demanding distribution. + Labels do not protest for three reasons: - They share the dirt cheap production facilities with the criminals - The criminals are maintaining the same high quality - It spreads the "brand" even if half the brand is fake. + It's just business. Early on the author observers that Chinese Triads are not a big factor, while Chinese businessman are. He cites one as responding to this question by pulling our Euros, Dollars, and Yuan. "This is my triad." + The Chinese are steadily stealing trade secrets from criminals all over the world. In one instance, they have persuaded a master tailor to allow himself to be video-taped, with a Chinese girl translating his every word into Chinese as he goes step by step. + The criminals lend money at 10%, beating the banks. + 500% return on investment in the drug business, $1000 invested and then rolled over each time becomes $100 million one year later. + Specific clan under discussion invoicing $500,000 Euros a day ONLY for narco-trafficking. + 300 ki

One of the most important books from Italy in the last 50 years

Gomorrah is not a compilation of news clippings on the subject of the Mafia or better the Camorra. It's the result of years of heroic work by a young writer that has devoted himself to the understanding of the criminal world that developed in the area around Naples . The scope and range of the illegal activities are world wide and control the world of fashion, construction, drugs, food, toxic waste, and almost any form of commercial endeavor. The message is a portent of things to come where the claws have not reached yet. The courage of the writer has put him in life danger for the rest of his life and and under constant police protection. The valor of his pen is as great as the beauty of his prose. I can not recall any book that has moved me so deeply in a long time. The story is not only a requiem for the Italian nation but also a heads up for the rest of the world where the connections with the Italian Camorra are blossoming: that is China, Australia, Central and South America, Africa and obviously the US.

What a ride!!

" You've got to read Gomorrah! It's a book written with passion and elegantly translated into English. But, reader beware, the subject matter is the stuff of nightmares. Page after page is filled with images of sweatshops, drug trafficking, murder--and the Camorra's reach into legitimate society. It's poison has insinuated itself into the very fabric of Neapolitan society and further--into the reaches of Europe, the U.S. and China. Saviano has done a great service to society by publishing this book. As a Neapolitan American two generations removed, I am indebted to the author for the courage he has shown in exposing the cancer afflicting the land of my ancestors. Grazie tanto, Saviano. Stay safe!" --Mary (Alexandria, VA)

International Organized Crime in and out of Italy today

This book is an extremely engrossing read about the real world of high stakes organized crime operating in and out of Italy today. It will have tremendous appeal to real life crime fighters and mob aficionados across the world, not to mention anyone with generational ties to Italy as a homeland. Well written and extremely informative, it engages the reader in a tell-all approach of the extensive world wide implications of organized crime originating in and out of Naples today. Graphic and disturbing, it gives factual details only an `insider' would have access to. Particularly fascinating is the increasingly large part women play in the leading role of organized family clans. `The Godmother', if you will. One could only imagine a blockbuster film coming out of this information. This reader would have preferred more details about how the writer actually infiltrated `The System' but perhaps that will be a follow up to this amazing read.

From Tiberio's Leap

Behold here an unfashionable and stirring book. The pages drip with the residue of disfiguring communications left by hitmen on the lifeless bodies of their victims. I do not go in for glamorized violence and I do not watch movies with guns. Still, I turned pages of this grisly book because its message is both fascinating and urgent. The scores of deaths described are countable but only a partial number. What waste. The mafia clans of Campania, whose fractions divide business by terror, account for the fear they inspire with their omnipresent success. It is bizarre to read of this smothering and ultimately corrupting system that renovates, enriches and destroys as it spreads. A marginal insider, Savinio here unloads the weight of his learning and the roar of his disillusionment. His book puts to pasture the works that would try to rival it as discourses or discoveries on the nature of power in society. Fans of Foucault have no idea what power is about until they have read this book. The same goes for the armchair aficionado of corporate monopoly. Much of the information Savinio relates he has gathered as an inhabitant or curious, casual employee of the clans that run Italy from the graced and volatile realm of Campania. The first chapter on the port of Naples is likely to unsettle anyone who lives near a port of entry by sea, as it shows how illegal goods make it from sea to secrecy and to the market. The chapter called "Cement" demonstrates the relationship between contractors, bids, bias and regional economy. These two chapters alone seem to be stunning achievements. The final chapter treats the horrifying management and crippling dispersion of toxins through land, sea and air for the sake of immediate profit. There are chapters that address the subjects of women, religion, fashion, film and clan supremacy. Saviano sheds light not on numbers and accounts but on names and traces. In the face of such an overwhelming and entrenched corruption the only power a writer or citizen can exercise in behalf of the common good is to name the names. Those who speak the truth run mortal risk but only the brave who take up that risk protect the multitude from fear, abuse, and destruction. I commend the inspiring bravery of this author and the skill with which he unwinds the horrors of our twisted realm.