Roberto Saviano was born in 1979 and studied philosophy at the University of Naples. His novel The Piranhas earned widespread acclaim and was adapted as a major motion picture, which won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the Berlinale. Gomorrah, his first book, has won many awards, including the prestigious 2006 Viareggio Literary Award. It was adapted into a play; a film, which won the Grand Prix du Jury at Cannes; and a television series.
Since Gomorrah was first published in Italy in 2006, Roberto Saviano has received so many death threats that he has been assigned police protection in his native Naples. A groundbreaking study and a searing exposé, Gomorrah is the astonishing true story of the renowned crime organization the Camorra, known by insiders as ‘the System’. With a global reach, large stakes in construction, high fashion, illegal drugs and toxic waste disposal, the Camorra exerts a malign grip on cities and villages along the Neapolitan coast.
