indispensable guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington follow the latest on tariffs and executive orders Stay on top of the latest events in US politics with the FT’s trusted and impartial coverage Insight and analysis on US politics from commentators such as Ed Luce and James Politi This subscription does not include access to ft.com or the FT App Essential digital access to quality FT journalism on any device Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders Terms & Conditions apply Discover all the plans currently available in your country See why over a million readers pay to read the Financial Times WAXED: GET YOUR MUSIC PRESSED ON VINYL FOR FREE It’s important to remember that Monster Children isn’t a single narcissistic paranoid schizophrenic whispering to themselves in front of a laptop all day; rather it is a group of anywhere from five to fifteen narcissistic paranoid schizophrenics depending on who is or isn’t in a k-hole (or more recently: which contributor is busy experimenting with synthetic opioids in France (you crazy kids I worry about you)) there is a lot of conflict between us in email chains and text threads and bar booths ‘Kelly Slater is a God!’ someone will yell ‘I don’t think God is bald!’ another will retort It is our differences of taste and perspective that make us worthwhile and that facilitates the production of such diverse and multifaceted content every week to highlight some of the specific staff and also to allow them a platform to show their garbage musical taste without it being necessarily associated with Monster Children as a whole we present Staff Picks; the musical loves of our individual contributors from NYC to Melby; London to Tokyo This week, we hear what NYC-based photographer and writer Elena Saviano is into these days 31 January: The Italian authorities should drop all criminal defamation charges against writer ahead of the start of his trial in Rome tomorrow and faces up to three years in prison if convicted Saviano has been living under constant police protection since October 2006 after receiving threats from the mafia following the publication of his bestseller Gomorrah stressing how ‘criminal defamation lawsuits exhaust their victims they are punitive and can lead to self-censorship and discourage the investigative journalism that is so necessary in a healthy and functioning democracy.’ Salvini asked to join the criminal proceedings as a civil party seeking damages; his request was rejected The next hearing has been set for 27 June 2023 ‘PEN International continues to stand with Roberto Saviano and calls for all criminal defamation charges against him to be dropped That these two criminal defamation lawsuits were initiated by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Italy has a particularly chilling effect on free speech and is meant to intimidate not just Saviano but anyone who dares to speak truth to power We urge once again the Italian authorities to repeal all criminal defamation laws Italy’s Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, is also suing Saviano for a tweet in 2018 that criticized his appointment as head of the news programme TG2 at the Italian state-owned television channel Rai 2 Sangiuliano is seeking hundreds of thousands of euros in compensation as it allowed imprisonment in cases of ‘exceptional severity’ PEN International opposes criminal defamation in all cases. For more information about PEN International’s campaign in support of Roberto Saviano, please click here For further details contact Aurélia Dondo at PEN International, Koops Mill, 162-164 Abbey Street, London, SE1 2AN, UK Tel: +44 (0) 20 7405 0338 Fax +44 (0) 20 7405 0339 e-mail: [email protected] Contact UsFAQs CampaignsPrivacy & GDPRJoin Our TeamSubmit Whistleblowing Report PEN International is a registered charity in England and Wales.Registered Charity Number: 1117088.Company Number: 05683997PEN International 2022 ©167-169 Great Portland StreetLondon Website Design by Vibras Creative Studio Gomorrah author and Meloni critic’s non-inclusion in Italy’s lineup angers writers amid claims of censorship The Gomorrah author Roberto Saviano will appear at the Frankfurt book fair this week despite being snubbed by the organisers of the official Italian delegation setting the scene for a clash between the country’s far-right government and its most prominent writers Saviano, one of Italy’s bestselling living writers and an ardent critic of the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, was absent from the initial lineup of 100 authors representing Italy, this year’s guest of honour, when it was announced in May. The delegation organiser, Mauro Mazza, a conservative journalist, said the non-inclusion was not so much a question of discrimination as of giving other writers a moment in the limelight. But 41 authors who signed a letter of protest in June said Saviano’s exclusion followed a pattern whereby the government was projecting a consensual image to the rest of the world while cracking down on artistic freedom at home, “through more or less explicit forms of censorship”. Read moreSeveral other prominent Italian authors such as Paolo Giordano and Antonio Scurati subsequently cancelled their appearance or declined to represent their country at Frankfurt in an official capacity At the book fair, which runs from 16-20 October, a guest country or region is invited every year to showcase its culture, and given a free hand to curate a series of readings and panel debates. Italy is this year’s guest of honour for the first time since the scheme’s inaugural year in 1988 The theme of the Italian programme is “Rooted in the Future” with panel discussions on relatively apolitical subjects such as “The Scent of Flowers and Kisses” cuts a ribbon to formally open the Italian stand on Wednesday some of the most vocal critics of his government’s policies will appear at parallel events Scurati and Francesca Melandri will speak on a concurrent panel organised by PEN Berlin called “Rooted in the Present” while Saviano will speak on stage on Friday and Saturday The anti-mafia author was sued in 2023 for calling Meloni “a bastard” over her immigration policies and subsequently fined €1,000 (£865) “Roberto Saviano is the most famous Italian writer in the world,” the Austrian author and PEN Berlin spokesperson “By not inviting him to the Frankfurt book fair the Italian government has only managed to put a brighter spotlight on its illiberal practices.” In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Tuesday Saviano said he was travelling to Frankfurt after being personally invited by the fair’s director “I don’t think my presence in Frankfurt is a victory but a form of resistance,” the author said “The book fair has activated a democratic reflex.” The Frankfurt book fair is no stranger to controversies. In 2009 several members of the delegation of guest country China left the auditorium when government critics Bei Ling and Dai Qing took the microphone to speak Both authors had been uninvited from the fair after pressure from Chinese authorities but travelled to Germany anyway Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano (Pan Macmillan, £10.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com World Subscribers only Romania enters government crisis amid election World Subscribers only In Zurich the leaf blower war or the anti-'woke' backlash World Subscribers only Germany's Friedrich Merz is embracing pragmatism World Subscribers only Founder of Sant'Egidio community fears next pope could undo Francis's legacy Opinion Subscribers only 'Russian gas and Europe is an old story that ended badly Economy Subscribers only Europe's steel industry flattened by crisis World Subscribers only How European countries plan to fund defense efforts France Subscribers only Detective tells court Kim Kardashian's robbers were 'a fine team France Subscribers only Macron announces citizens' convention on school schedules France Subscribers only 21 charged over French prison attacks as investigation narrows in on drug traffickers France Subscribers only French mosque stabber was driven by 'morbid fascination,' prosecutor says Videos World expos: From Paris 1855 to Osaka 2025 Videos How the Trump administration is attacking scientific research in the US Videos Tesla cars set on fire in Las Vegas as calls to boycott Musk's company grow worldwide Videos Can France's nuclear deterrent protect Europe Opinion Subscribers only John Bolton: 'The term chaos is commonly used to describe the top of the Defense Department' Editorial European call to aid foreign researchers is too modest Opinion Subscribers only 'The American dream is dying' Magazine Subscribers only Tracking down the pianos taken from French Jews during the Nazi Occupation Magazine Subscribers only Eve Rodsky the American helping couples balance the mental load Magazine Subscribers only Desecration or more glory Joan Didion's private diaries are revealed Magazine Subscribers only For Jewish cartoonist Joann Sfar 2025."> Pixels Subscribers only Golden Owl solution is revealed but leaves players of 31-year hunt disappointed Pixels Subscribers only Secrets of decades-long Golden Owl treasure hunt to be revealed Lifestyle Inside Chanel's French leather workshops Culture Subscribers only The marvelous bronzes of Angkor on display at the Musée Guimet in Paris 4 min read Lire en français ConversationForced to live under police protection the writer has become one of the main intellectual opponents of the Italian prime minister and her far-right government solitude simply looks like an empty restaurant room The waiter who had come to take his order gave him a sympathetic look; the other customers of the establishment were having lunch in an adjacent area the 45-year-old was barely recognizable from his many appearances on television on his YouTube channel (where he has 329,00 subscribers) his face lit up with a sincere smile and the Neapolitan writer dropped his mask Saviano is one of some 600 Italians living under protection whether threatened by the mafia or neo-fascists of various stripes about the criminal clutches of the powerful Camorra the mafia of Naples and the surrounding region the organization has sworn to eliminate its author Saviano has endured an "armored life," as he calls it all this will come to an end: "I lost my 20s A few typical meat dishes remain from this vanished past like the tripe in tomato sauce that Saviano ordered But he blamed himself for eating too much bread He doesn't get to stretch his legs that often You have 74.11% of this article left to read Lecture du Monde en cours sur un autre appareil Vous pouvez lire Le Monde sur un seul appareil à la fois Ce message s’affichera sur l’autre appareil Parce qu’une autre personne (ou vous) est en train de lire Le Monde avec ce compte sur un autre appareil Vous ne pouvez lire Le Monde que sur un seul appareil à la fois (ordinateur En cliquant sur « Continuer à lire ici » et en vous assurant que vous êtes la seule personne à consulter Le Monde avec ce compte Que se passera-t-il si vous continuez à lire ici Ce dernier restera connecté avec ce compte Vous pouvez vous connecter avec votre compte sur autant d’appareils que vous le souhaitez mais en les utilisant à des moments différents Nous vous conseillons de modifier votre mot de passe Votre abonnement n’autorise pas la lecture de cet article merci de contacter notre service commercial Documenting the scars left behind by wars across the world, New York-based music and fashion photographer Paule Saviano brings a heartfelt photography project Saviano has pursued the stories of war survivors in New York capturing their voices and memories in compelling portraits This latest installment of “From Above” at The East End Gallery features portraits of hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and firebombing survivors from Tokyo Through the artist’s gentle yet powerful approach ensuring these stories resonate across generations Explore resilience and memory at this compelling Tokyo exhibition From purple sweet potatoes to wild horse sightings here’s how to make the most of Okinawa’s tropical escape Explore the best local brands shaping Tokyo’s fashion scene From vintage clothing to Hawaiian-themed goods here’s what’s worth checking out before it’s gone From buying and registering a bike to key rules of the road Collagen staples for beauty and health in Japan Our handpicked list of the best events going on this month and the untold tales of Japan’s queer community Everything you need to know before and during a natural disaster Stay up to date with Tokyo news and events Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application 1946 in Chicago to John and Virginia Podraza John graduated from Gordon Technical High School in 1964 then served in the U.S He attended Wright College earning an Associate in Arts degree in Business Administration in 1977 John worked for Allstate for 40 years advancing to Sr John is survived by his children Laura Podraza and Scott (Rachel) Podraza; sister JoAnn (Nick) Saviano; and nephews Jeff He was preceded in death by his parents; sister This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Rome’s criminal court found Gomorrah author and PEN award winner Roberto Saviano guilty of defaming Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and ordered him to pay a fine Saviano’s legal team said they would appeal.  PEN International President Burhan Sonmez said: ‘PEN International utterly condemns the sentencing of Roberto Saviano as an alarming setback for free speech Today’s verdict highlights the urgent need for legal reforms to protect our voices That the lawsuit was initiated by Giorgia Meloni and sends a dangerous warning to writers and journalists across the country that their words could see them on trial for years We must remember that Saviano is facing three years in prison in a separate criminal defamation case Italy must urgently repeal all criminal defamation laws We stand with Saviano and call for all remaining criminal defamation charges against him to be dropped.’ Writer Roberto Saviano was found guilty of defaming Giorgia Meloni under Article 595 of the Italian Penal Code Saviano was asked on the political TV chat show Piazzapulita to comment on the death of a baby from Guinea following the sinking of a boat carrying migrants in the Mediterranean Sea Including in his remarks Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini – who in a previous stint as Interior Minister notably introduced a decree imposing fines of up to €50,000 on NGO rescue boats bringing people to Italy – Saviano said: ‘I just want to say to Meloni who had described NGO rescue boats as ‘traffickers’ that needed to be sunk In an open letter published on 8 November 2022, PEN International’s President Burhan Sonmez urged Meloni to drop all criminal defamation charges against Saviano stressing that ‘criminal defamation lawsuits exhaust their victims they are punitive and can lead to self-censorship and discourage the investigative journalism that is so necessary in a healthy and functioning democracy.’ In a separate case Saviano faces up to three years in prison on charges of defaming Matteo Salvini over a speech that described him as ‘Ministro della Mala Vita’ (Minister of the Underworld) a phrase borrowed from early 20th-century anti-fascist Gaetano Salvemini The trial opened on 1 February 2023 and was ongoing at the time of writing PEN International opposed criminal defamation in all cases. In September 2023, the Assembly of Delegates of PEN International adopted a resolution on criminal defamation laws and Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) which specifically called for all charges against Saviano to be dropped For more information about PEN International’s campaign in support of Roberto Saviano, please click here For further details contact Sabrina Tucci, Communications and Campaigns Manager, [email protected] and Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region at PEN International: [email protected] Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb in place since October 2006 after Saviano received threats from the mafia following the March 2006 publication of his bestseller Gomorrah.   In July 2023, the government-appointed CEO of the public broadcaster Radiotelevision Italia (RAI), Roberto Sergio, announced that a TV show hosted by Saviano had been cancelled Face to Face with Crime – notably explored the mafia’s influence on Italian politics and was scheduled to air in November 2023 Saviano condemned the decision as politically motivated Sergio told the RAI Supervisory Committee that the recorded episodes would eventually be broadcast Saviano attributed RAI’s reversal to sustained pressure by his viewers civil society organisations and mafia victims’ relatives.    In October 2024, Saviano took part in the Frankfurt book fair despite being excluded from the official delegation representing Italy, the guest of honour. Forty-one Italian writers had signed a letter of protest in the lead up to the fair denouncing the decision to exclude Saviano as emblematic of the Italian authorities’ pervasive crackdown on artistic freedom  an international bestseller that has sold over 10 million copies worldwide Other books include La bellezza e l’inferno (Beauty and the inferno) (2009); Vieni via con me (Come away with me) (2011) La paranza dei bambini (The children’s boat) (2016) In mare non esistono taxi (There are no taxis at sea) (2019) He has written several screenplays and theatre scripts and regularly contributes to newspapers and magazines.  There was more to Emma Coronel’s turn at the Milan fashion show than most would have realised due to his short stature – made her appearance at Palazzo Serbelloni during Milan fashion week (which Much has been written about the fact of her appearance The remaining issue is why it happened and whether those who were complicit knew what they were complicit in Guzmán is considered the premier Mexican drug lord. Before his capture, he was head of the Sinaloa cartel. He has escaped from prison twice: in 2001 and then in 2015 Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman after his recapture following a second prison escape Photograph: Eduardo Verdugo/APThe discovery of my book in Guzmán’s hideout tells us a lot about how careful the bosses are about how they are described he had read it to understand exactly how his Sinaloa cartel was seen in civil society Emma Coronel is 35 years old and has been married to Guzmán since she was 18. She is originally from Durango, Mexico, and was the niece of Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel Villarreal, who was also known – until he was killed by the Mexican military – as the “King of Crystal” Nacho trafficked methamphetamine throughout the US who spent a period of time on the run in Durango they fell in love and were married on 2 July 2007 in La Angostura Emma Coronel is 32 years younger than Guzmán who already had eight children from two previous marriages; she was his third wife Coronel was sentenced to three years in prison in the US for complicity in her husband’s business dealings It was a light sentence considering the illicit activities of the Sinaloa cartel and the murders that the boss had ordered Guzmán was able to keep her away from criminal activities It’s some journey from there to the catwalk, but April Black Diamond, the fashion designer who chose Coronel for Milan fashion week responded to those who criticised that choice by saying: “I believe that everyone deserves a second chance and that fashion is the perfect platform to highlight transformation he was arrested in a residence in Mazatlán in 2014 their criminal organisation was still strong it is not the first time that Guzmán and Coronel have used their clothing to send messages to the world to the enemies of the cartel: to those who try to weaken it Coronel was there in court when the embarrassing messages were read aloud, but as we watched her, she didn’t bat an eyelid. She wouldn’t answer questions as she left. We were all convinced that, after that public humiliation, she would never return to her husband’s trial. she arrived dressed entirely in burgundy – the colour of blood She had never appeared in court dressed so flashily and we understood: he too was dressed in burgundy addressed to the whole world: nothing and no one can divide us This happened in 2019 in New York and this But if they are united, to what end? We can read various things into Coronel’s public appearance at Milan fashion week. It could be a united show of defiance against the authorities, but could it also be a coded announcement of her willingness to start collaborating with justice What if the wedding dress also sanctioned Guzmán’s involvement in this new path could be ready to collaborate with US justice finally determined to reveal all the existing relationships between Mexican business and politics Thinking that Guzmán’s wife showed herself in public without a purpose is shallow thinking It is not in the DNA of criminal organisations Where every gesture is a message that only needs to be interpreted This is what happened at Milan fashion week Roberto Saviano is a writer and journalist Looking to access paid articles across multiple policy topics Interested in policy insights for EU professional organisations Italian anti-mafia author and human rights campaigner Roberto Saviano was on Thursday (12 October) convicted of libel and handed a symbolic fine for calling Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni a “bastard” over her hardline views on immigration News Service Produced externally by an organization we trust to adhere to journalistic standards Italian writer Roberto Saviano poses during the red carpet for the TV series 'Gomorra-stagione finale' (Gomorrah - final season) in Rome is based on Italian writer Roberto Saviano's 2006 novel A Rome court imposed a €1,000 penalty on Saviano but his defence lawyer Antonio Nobile told Reuters he will not have to pay it as it is part of a suspended sentence The 44-year-old writer and his supporters had presented the case as a test of freedom of expression in a country where defamation can be punished with up to three years' imprisonment The prosecution had asked for a €10,000 penalty while Meloni had asked for €50,000 in damages in response to a 2020 TV interview in which he lambasted her and fellow right-wing leader Matteo Salvini for their attacks on migrant rescue-charity vessels Saviano spoke after seeing footage of a sea rescue by Spanish NGO Open Arms in which a six-month-old baby from Guinea died before he could be airlifted to Italy Meloni told a newspaper she saw no reason to drop the charges - as she has been urged to by the PEN International writers' association - saying judges could decide "impartially" even in a case involving the prime minister He is a defendant in another libel case brought against him by Salvini involving a separate incident from the 2020 TV interview while he won in May a civil defamation case against Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano Saviano’s remarks followed Piazza Pulita’s coverage of the death of a six-month-old baby from Guinea who was among migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean after Italian authorities delayed their rescue operations.  During the fourth hearing at the Criminal Court of Rome, Piazza Pulita anchorman Corrado Formigli and Amnesty International Italia’s spokesperson Riccardo Noury testified in court. Recalling Amnesty’s report which examined hate speech during the 2018 Italian electoral campaign Noury testified to the role of Meloni in promoting an anti-migrant narrative articulated around hate and xenophobia the judge rejected the request formulated by the defence to audit Meloni Meloni has not appeared in any of the four Court hearings held to date despite having initiated legal action against Saviano for aggravated criminal defamation claiming his remarks had damaged her honour and reputation The judge scheduled the next hearing for October 12 when a first instance sentence is expected to be issued Article 595 of the Italian criminal code provides for prison sentences of up to three years for criminal defamation a fundamental right protected by the Italian Constitution and international law and hinders journalists and writers from expressing their opinions on matters of public interest it is unacceptable for a criminal defamation lawsuit to be used as a weapon to silence critical voices The escalating occurrence of vexatious lawsuits targeting journalists in Italy is deeply concerning Members of the current government are increasingly abusing the law against individuals who express dissenting views This shows that press freedom and civic space in Italy is shrinking with dangerous implications for Italy’s democracy We acknowledge that a number of bills directed at reforming defamation provisions are currently being discussed by the Italian parliament We are particularly concerned as the proposed provisions violate international standards on freedom of expression and Article 10 of the ECHR as they substantially increase fines for criminal defamation and impose additional penalties of disqualification from practising the journalistic profession As the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly stated criminal defamation sanctions have a serious chilling effect on freedom of expression Comprehensive reforms of defamation laws in Italy must be aligned with international freedom of expression standards and should focus on decriminalising defamation and establishing reasonable limits on damages within civil law to protect press freedom Italy should also support the strongest set of anti-SLAPP protections in the forthcoming negotiations over the EU anti-SLAPP Directive Our organisations will keep monitoring the current defamation proceedings against Roberto Saviano and will respond to any additional threats to media freedom in Italy European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) SubscriptionOffers Give a Gift Subscribe Naples 1343: The Unexpected Origins of the Mafia – Amedeo Feniello’s history of the Camorra – has this much in common with the case against them: it’s all about the evidence in the territory with the most homicides in Europe where savagery is interwoven with commerce where nothing has value except what generates power.’ So wrote Roberto Saviano in Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples’ Organized Crime System Sometimes referred to as ‘Italy’s Salman Rushdie’ Saviano has been living under police protection since the publication of this book in 2006 when he began to receive death threats from the Neapolitan crime syndicate Although Saviano has unveiled this organisation’s practices through his investigative reporting and a multi-season television series While Saviano focused on the present dangers of the Camorra Feniello has not been personally threatened by the criminals but the writing of his book was occasioned by a haunting experience a year before Saviano was forced to go into hiding the Camorra executed three young men at the gates of the Neapolitan school where Feniello worked as a teacher ‘What is the source of all this savagery?’ Feniello wondered Naples 1343 aims to establish a ‘bond’ between that event from 2005 and another from 1343 a Neapolitan galley attacked a Genoese cargo ship travelling from Sicily and its cargo – comprising grains and other foodstuffs intended for the richer north – was seized and so remained in the famine-stricken south Feniello argues that the crime was instigated by Neapolitan nobles possibly with the tacit approval of the authorities He suggests that the event foreshadowed the rise of today’s criminal clans a peculiar inconsistency lies at the heart of the book Although its conclusions are fundamentally plausible the argument rests on unsteady foundations in terms of both sources and methodology Despite the author’s valorous insistence on the importance of archival work not a single unpublished archival document is listed in his bibliography More lamentable is the fact that Feniello provides incomplete and somewhat misleading information about the sources he uses is described in a section titled ‘Chronicles of 1343’ he quotes from the Genoese Annals by Giorgio and Giovanni Stella but he should have emphasised that they are merely a near-contemporary source rather than one strictly contemporaneous with the event indirectly quotes from an 18th-century manuscript by Luca Giovanni d’Alitto Readers might naturally question the evidential value of a manuscript compiled four centuries after the event There is no indication of the older sources on which this manuscript Ancient Monuments of the Kingdom of Naples (a title not disclosed by Feniello) ‘dates from 1889 and was recorded by Matteo Camera’ What Feniello fails to mention is that this source is an extract from the 14th-century Secret Histories by Niccolò d’Alife a contemporary and well-informed high official at the court of Queen Joanna I of Naples Attentive readers might question why details about the age and author of this source are omitted might mistakenly assume that Matteo Camera himself authored the description of the ship attack in 1889 when it comes to the book’s overall structure the reader – after encountering a few pages about it early in the book – is left waiting in vain for more details that never come we hear only that the event ‘simply vanished from sight a few days later’ As is typical of books intended for a general audience there is no discussion of previous historiography where Feniello could have clarified how his interpretation of organised crime differs from that of other historians Rather than offering a radical new interpretation he clearly aligns with thosevwho view the origins of the mob as an economic and socio-political phenomenon Feniello leaves unaddressed the large and exciting body of literature on the history of violence Historians have long held the view that medieval society was violent to the core have questioned this notion by arguing that the survival rate of sources is too spotty to allow for accurate measurement of crime rates It is Feniello’s talent as a storyteller that makes the book worth reading as he vividly depicts the daily life and struggles of medieval people in Naples and the surrounding area and the ‘bizarre world of knights and city quarters’ He convincingly illustrates his claim that ‘Neapolitan society was a universevin which quarrelsomeness was chronic and not episodic’ One feels conflicted about recommending this book to critical readers Armed with a dose of scepticism about Feniello’s sources and methodology many will still find the book rewarding for the windows it opens onto the political and economic world of southern Italy in the Middle Ages as well as for its thought-provoking argument connecting medieval violence to the current activities of the criminal clans Naples 1343: The Unexpected Origins of the MafiaAmedeo Feniello, translated by Antony ShugaarOther Press, 323pp, £28.99Buy from bookshop.org (affiliate link) Stefan Bauer is a Lecturer in History at King’s College London. His most recent books are The Invention of Papal History and A Renaissance Reclaimed (both Oxford University Press). © Copyright 2025 History Today Ltd. Company no. 1556332. Brexit trade deal with India finally agreed in multi-billion-pound boost to UK WATCH: Chilling terror warning issued amid Heathrow Airport chaos was pulled from the rubble after the two-storey building collapsed A British tourist is fighting for his life after a devastating explosion destroyed the B&B apartment where he was staying in Rome was pulled from the rubble after the two-storey building collapsed around 9am on Sunday the tourist had been sightseeing in Rome since mid-March the man had posted on Facebook upon his arrival on March 17: "This should be a good week.. if I don't get killed in some ungodly way." Witnesses described the moment of the explosion as terrifying "I was stopped at the traffic lights at the intersection when I heard an explosion a terrifying bomb," one witness told Rai television news A local resident named Liliana said: "It seemed like a bomb Another resident added: "We were still in bed when we heard an insane bang We quickly realised that it wasn't a car crash or anything like that Smoke was seen rising from the collapsed building in the Monteverde neighbourhood A local resident named Liliana said: 'It seemed like a bomb Firefighters reported hearing desperate cries for help beneath the rubble - and spent nearly an hour trying to free the trapped tourist The man was rushed to Rome's Sant'Eugenio Hospital with burns to 70 per cent of his body He said he was working with police and civil protection officials on an investigation into the incident Officials confirmed no one else was injured in the explosion "Initial findings seem to indicate that it was a gas leak causing very significant damage," said Mayor Gualtieri it has emerged that Italian author Roberto Saviano who lives under police protection due to his book about Naples's Camorra mafia are assisting police with the investigation A spokesman for the company said initial checks showed the building's gas meters were intact Saviano clarified on Instagram that he no longer lived there adding: "How heartbreaking to see rubble in a place where I loved to live." Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker {{{ data.post_type_label }}}{{{ data.meta }}}{{{ data.post_date_formatted }}} {{{ data._snippetResult['content'].value }}} We use both persistent and session cookies on our website to be sure promotions are not re-displayed to users who have already seen them We also use cookies set by a third party analytics service to measure traffic and collect statistics about users’ devices and browsers threats against my life barely make the news My name is so often associated with the terms death and murder that they hardly register." With impressive understatement, the journalist Roberto Saviano wrote in 2015: “For a lot of people it’s not like that.” Saviano is one of the “others.” The Camorra (Naples’s version of the Mafia) has been trying to kill Saviano since 2006 For over a decade, Saviano has been living under police protection. Every part of his life has to be planned in advance; nothing can be improvised. This has taken a severe toll: “This life is shit – it’s hard to describe how bad it is and the only alternative is making public appearances I’m either at the Nobel academy having a debate on freedom of the press or I’m inside a windowless room at a police barracks Sometimes I look back at the watershed that divides my life before and after Gomorrah There is a before and after for everything who drifted away because they found it too hard to stand by me and those I’ve found – hopefully – in the last few years leaping from country to country as though it were a checker board searching for any tattered remains of freedom.” His early articles appeared in magazines and newspapers such as Pulp Il manifesto and on the website Nazione Indiana He was also a contributor to the Camorra reporting unit of the Corriere del Mezzogiorno But it was Gomorrah that brought him worldwide fame and misfortune Gomorrah tears away the cloak of anonymity under which the Camorra has always thrived That was not acceptable to the bosses of these crime clans travelling with them everywhere in two bullet-proof cars Various Italian cities showed their support for Saviano by offering him honorary citizenship Saviano went on trial for criminal defamation in November 2022 after he called Italy’s far-right prime minister Saviano’s comment was a response to Meloni’s call for migrants to be repatriated and for the boats used to rescue refugees from the sea to be sunk Saviano faces up to three years in prison if convicted At the first trial hearing on 15 November 2022, far-right Lega Nord leader Matteo Salvini (whom Saviano also called a “bastard”) asked to be admitted as a plaintiff in the trial. He has a separate, pending defamation suit against Saviano IFEX joined European and Italian press freedom groups in calling on Meloni to immediately withdraw her lawsuit against Saviano and on Italy to bring forward anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) legislation to tackle the use of these vexatious lawsuits “We believe that Roberto Saviano’s criminal conviction sets a dangerous example which may further facilitate attempts to muzzle critical commentary on public officials and political leaders bearing grave consequences not only for Roberto Saviano but also for Italy’s wider press freedom.” He continues to work out of hotel rooms and secure locations maintaining his journalistic focus on organised crime Get the latest free expression news delivered straight to your inbox disclose or otherwise provide your data to any outside organisation You can change your subscription preferences or unsubscribe at any time add info@ifex.org to your safe senders list IFEX publishes original and member-produced free expression news and reports Some member content has been edited by IFEX We invite you to contact media@ifex.org to request permission to reproduce or republish in whole or in part content from this site I asked ‘ how long would the security be?' and they said a fortnight. That was nine years ago. [I proved that] the Mafia couldn't kill me. They couldn't annihilate me. While Saviano claims it's an "honor" to be on Berlusconi's bad side, friends say that he has started to internalize the messages. "These kinds of attacks feel so cruel, and wrongheaded," Rushdie told me. "And yet you fear that people will believe them. It's very hard to shake them off." In the afternoon, we got back into the car and headed for lunch at a popular trattoria near Saviano's pied-à-terre. The Carabinieri had notified the staff and closed the restaurant to other customers. Saviano knows that he's bad for business, and he tries to select only restaurants where he has a good relationship with the owners. "Some restaurateurs have befriended me," he said, settling onto a banquette in the deserted back room. "But they are very few." Dining alone is just one of the many inconveniences that come with being Saviano. Sometimes passengers recognize him on planes and beg flight attendants to let them disembark—fearful that a Mafia hit man may have planted a bomb on board. During his year in New York, he used a fake identity, David Dannon. But, he says, his landlord recognized "Roberto Saviano" on the money transfers he sent from his Italian bank account, and asked him to move out. But did he really think he could accept a life of permanent exile, to give up the country that that had both tormented him and nurtured him for so long? Some time after my meeting with Saviano, I got my answer: After spending a few months in New York and a few more at Princeton University as a guest lecturer, teaching a course on the international criminal economy, he had decided, once again, to return to Italy, his assistant told me. Part of a partnership with Albemarle County schools these buses take more than 125 UVA students to local schools to tutor University of Virginia students are hopping on the yellow school bus and headed back to school More than a hundred student volunteers at Madison House the independent non-profit which serves as the volunteer center for UVA students are riding Albemarle County Public Schools buses to tutor in elementary The pilot tutoring program provides transportation to students who want to volunteer to work with kids at schools in the county district but don’t have transportation to get there Madison House has more than 250 students volunteering in schools in Charlottesville and Albemarle The program is one of the ways UVA is working toward President Jim Ryan’s goal of being a good neighbor to the Charlottesville area “The biggest issue with volunteering at local schools is that there are only two in walking distance,” Kate Brisky a second-year student at UVA and the tutoring program’s director two school buses pick up students from Madison House and drop them off at schools in both rural and urban parts of the county Fourth-year cognitive science major Sydney Saviano found out about the new program through Instagram After tutoring younger students in high school she’d turned to some online tutoring opportunities but missed being able to have more personal interaction She immediately sent the Instagram post to her friend who was also looking for volunteer opportunities ‘This is perfect for us because we don’t have cars,’” Saviano said Saviano started tutoring at Red Hill Elementary School in southern Albemarle County a little more than a month ago Many of the students in the second-grade class she helps out said they look forward to the tutors’ visits “It’s my favorite part of the day,” Ashton Some of the kids are eager to leave addition behind and move on to their times tables while others need a little more support to get up to speed on multiplication.  “My favorite part is it gets harder and harder,” a Red Hill student named Aiden said Saviano is patient and offers them encouragement when they falter they’ve given her friendship bracelets and chocolates on Valentine’s Day “I was just surprised at how quickly they would build a relationship with me,” Saviano said One of the second graders recently arrived from Mexico During a period of weeks – and with the help of a bilingual classmate – the two have figured out how to communicate with each other He’s even taught Saviano how to count to 50 in Spanish “Any way to help the students feel accepted that’s the best way for me to form a relationship with them,” Saviano said The elementary students aren’t the only ones doing the learning As a distinguished major in cognitive science Saviano researches kids’ cognitive flexibility as they move between tasks she can see that happening outside the lab as she works as a tutor in the classroom Saviano also said she gets personal satisfaction at seeing the kids master math problems or read aloud more fluently the acclaimed writer has lived in fear for his life following publication of his exposé on the criminal gangs The Observer takes a trip back to Naples with him and his minders On a Friday in autumn 2006, local newspapers and prosecutors in Italy’s south-western region of Campania received the same anonymous letter. Computer-typed and delivered by hand in the early morning, it detailed the Neapolitan Mafia’s plan to execute a 26-year-old Italian writer. His name was Roberto Saviano and his book, Gomorrah a devastating denunciation of the Camorra’s criminal activity refers to a meeting held in a betting office in Casal di Principe known as some of the most violent in the Camorra saying that his murder would take place “when the waters are calm” The letter stated that Saviano “must be punished” that the bosses knew where his mother lived that they’d been following him for weeks and that two hitmen had already been commissioned to murder him It explained that “the weapons that will be used for the execution have already been placed” in an associate’s house It concluded with a threat in bold type and underlined: “If he shuts up Saviano in Castel Volturno where six young African men were murdered by the Camorra in 2008 Photograph: Roberto Salomone/The ObserverSince then he has not spent more than a few nights in the same place take a stroll in busy places or go to the sea I visited him on a recent Monday in a minuscule apartment in Rome while another remains on guard at the entrance The first thing you notice are the thousands of books that line the walls seem to represent the man of letters forced to live like a prisoner and his face is tense – the consequences of a life lived Sometimes I’ve even thought that dying would be better than living like this Death would be more acceptable than this constant pressure the state of anxiety and emptiness in which I’ve been living for so long.” Fifteen years under police escort is a milestone and three armoured vehicles and seven policemen await us downstairs the Observer will accompany Saviano on a road trip from Rome to Naples He left as a young man and returns as the most famous living Italian writer and international symbol of the anti-mafia struggle – hated by the right for his pro-refugee pronouncements and by some of his fellow citizens who accuse him of having tainted the image of his home territory which was the same as taking God’s name in vainRoberto SavianoWe set off in the first armoured vehicle “When I wrote Gomorrah, I knew I was writing stories that many reporters already knew,” says Saviano, who last week launched a graphic novel about his life illustrated by Israeli comic book artist Asaf Hanuka “But I also knew those stories had never received an anthropological interpretation I knew I had something literary in my hands But I never could’ve imagined what would happen next.” After Gomorrah was published Saviano started to receive mysterious phone calls: the phone would ring Then the threatening letters started arriving his mother found in her mailbox a photo of Saviano with a gun pointed at his temple: above was written “sentenced” during an anti-mafia rally in Casal di Principe a town where it’s said there are more guns than forks Saviano challenged the bosses from the stage inciting the crowd to rise up against the clan who made a plan to assassinate the writer in an attack on Christmas day which was the same as taking God’s name in vain” the Camorra was planning to kill Saviano in a spectacular blast reminiscent of the 1992 Capaci massacre when the Sicilian mafia killed the anti-mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone and the members of his police escort with 300kg of dynamite that left a crater on the motorway near Palermo The authorities took the threats seriously “At first I thought I’d be under protection for two or three days and that soon I’d be able to go back to my normal life.” He looks out of the window as we race past the so-called “Land of Fire”, an area in the countryside of the province of Caserta, where the Camorra buried tons of toxic waste beneath roads and land “I realised that the situation was more serious than I thought when [the police] took me to a secure location on a remote island They put me in a house that was only accessible by sea and to make calls a police agent had to ferry me out to sea.” Saviano on the beach of Castel Volturno He has lived under police protection for 15 years Photograph: Roberto Salomone/The ObserverUnder such tight security Saviano asks the agents to pull over at a motorway service station so he can use the bathroom Two men alight from one car and check that the bathroom is secure while the other agents remain outside to guard the door “The price I’ve paid is higher than anything I could have imagined,” says Saviano “But what really bothers me is seeing my family have to move from town to town I feel guilty every day of my life for this.” several European countries have offered Saviano protection including a Scandinavian country which offered him asylum Saviano would be required to give up his fight against organised crime: no more interviews “I’ve thought long about leaving Italy,” he admits I was committed to changing the status quo Saviano has attempted to live a normal life “Even when I was abroad, in some countries I was forced to live under police guard,” he says. “At a certain point I was being transferred to cities I didn’t even know existed. One of the days I felt the freest in years was in London, when I met Julian Assange I went from the airport to the city centre by myself They were chosen at random to send a message to the African drug gangs The massacre inspired the episode African Blood in the first season of the TV series Gomorrah Saviano hadn’t been to Castel Volturno for years The escort vehicles stop at the ruins of an abandoned tourist village We decide to stretch our legs along the beach Two additional armoured vehicles join our escort to accompany us to the Vele. Saviano gets out briefly – just enough time to have a quick chat with the officers at the police station in Scampia and leave in haste. He isn’t well liked around here. On the walls of the neighbourhood are written slogans like “Scampia is not Gomorrah”. It’s not only the bosses who don’t like his presence here; many residents have expressed their displeasure. if the state has intervened to rid the quarter of several mafiosi it’s also because Saviano brought attention to the place While Saviano can count on millions of supporters he is also the target of thousands of haters the majority of whom accuse him of having earned millions of euros by tarnishing Naples And there are those who argue that Saviano does not need an escort; that if the Camorra had really wanted to kill him The far-right ex-minister of the interior, Matteo Salvini, threatened to remove Saviano’s escort after the writer attacked him for his anti-immigration policies ‘‘Many people have forgotten how this story began and why I am under escort today,’’ says Saviano “Many think being under escort is a privilege Some people even see the escort as a sign of success Salman Rushdie who was forced into hiding after receiving death threats over his novel The Satanic Verses said when he met Saviano in 2008 at the Nobel Academy in Sweden: “People blame me for being alive – to keep going to parties or to write books They will blame you for your life.” “For the people I am a martyr who is not dead,” Saviano says It might have been better if they had killed me I feel like everything I’ve fought for has been for nothing It happens when you feel you cannot free yourself from this life condemning the mafia men who had threatened me.” I’ve paid a high price. But what really bothers me is seeing my family have to move from town to townRoberto SavianoLast May, judges ruled that a Camorra mafia boss, Francesco Bidognetti, and his lawyer had threatened Saviano’s life and that of a journalistic colleague – Rosaria Capacchione It was a landmark ruling – the first time someone had been held accountable for Saviano’s plight As our journey draws to a close at the foot of Vesuvius and with the beauty of Naples unfolding before us Saviano says: ‘‘I should have celebrated that ruling The boss who condemned me to this life was finally sentenced I was only 26 when they sentenced me to a life under armed guard all the beautiful things you have done in your life flash by you I relived everything I have not been able to do in the last 15 years.’’ A smile that seems to hide his anger; a smile that reminds me of the final line of Gomorrah: “Damned bastards This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025 The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media Saviano’s story figured in film about Boston Globe investigation that revealed how priests molested children and got away with it Phil Saviano, a clergy sex abuse survivor and whistleblower who played a pivotal role in exposing decades of predatory assaults by Catholic priests in the US, has died. He was 69. Read moreSaviano’s story figured prominently in the 2015 Oscar-winning film Spotlight, about the Boston Globe investigation that revealed how scores of priests molested children and got away with it because church leaders covered it up. He died on Sunday after a battle with gallbladder cancer, said his brother and caregiver, Jim Saviano. In late October, Phil Saviano announced that he was starting hospice care. “Things have been dicey the last few weeks,” he wrote, asking followers to “give a listen to Judy Collins singing Bird On A Wire and think of me”. Saviano played a central role in illuminating the scandal, which led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law and church settlements with hundreds of victims. The 2002 series earned the Globe the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003. Spotlight won Oscars for best picture and best original screenplay. Neal Huff played Saviano. “My gift to the world was not being afraid to speak out,” Saviano said in mid-November, in a brief telephone interview. Saviano recalled going to confession at St Denis Church in tiny East Douglas, Massachusetts, as an 11-year-old in the early 1960s. The priest, David Holley, forced him to perform sex acts. Holley died in a New Mexico prison in 2008, while serving a 275-year sentence for molesting eight boys. “When we were kids, the priests never did anything wrong. You didn’t question them, same as the police,” Jim Saviano said. “There were many barriers put in [Phil’s] way intentionally and otherwise by institutions and generational thinking. That didn’t stop him. That’s a certain kind of bravery that was unique.” A self-described “recovering Catholic”, Saviano established the New England chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or Snap, an organization working to bring allegations to light. His faith shattered, Saviano leaned on politicians and prosecutors to bring offenders to justice. “We’re putting our faith in legislators and prosecutors to solve this problem,” he told reporters in 2002. Mike Rezendes, a member of the Globe team that brought the scandal to light and now an AP investigative reporter, said: “Phil was an essential source during the Spotlight team’s reporting on the cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church, providing other critical sources, research materials and the names of several accused priests. “He also shared his own heartbreaking story of abuse, imbuing us with the iron determination we needed to break this horrific story. During our reporting, and over the last 20 years, I got to know Phil well and have never met anyone as brave, as compassionate or as savvy.” Saviano earned degrees in zoology and communications from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Boston University and worked in hospital public relations. Later, he shifted to entertainment publicity and concert promotion, working closely with Collins, a lifelong friend, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme and others. In 1991, he became seriously ill with Aids. He went public with his childhood abuse the following year, one of the first survivors to come forward. “Father Holley forced me and two of my friends to have repeated sexual contact with him,” Saviano told the Globe in the first of many interviews that would lead to widespread prosecutions as the enormity of the scandal became evident. By the early 2000s, Saviano was spending 10 hours a day on the phone with victims and journalists. He was an outspoken critic of the Vatican’s reluctance to deal decisively with the fallout from the scandal. In 2008, when Pope Benedict XVI hinted to US bishops during a visit that they had mishandled the church’s response, Saviano questioned the pontiff’s decision to hold masses in New York and Washington. “If he was really serious about the issue, that Mass would not be held in New York. It would be held here in Boston,” he said. In 2009, suffering kidney failure and unable to locate a match among family or friends, he found a donor after Snap spread the word to 8,000 clergy sex abuse survivors. Read moreThe abuse that was exposed as a result of Saviano’s work prompted Cardinal Law Globe reporting showed Law was aware of child molesters but covered up their crimes and failed to stop them instead transferring them from parish to parish without alerting parents or police When the archbishop died in Rome in 2017 Saviano asked bluntly: “How is he going to explain this when he comes face to face with his maker?” at the Vatican for an abuse prevention summit convened by Pope Francis Saviano said he told organizers to release the names of abusive priests around the world along with their case files “Do it to launch a new era of transparency Do it out of respect for the victims of these men and do it to help prevent these creeps from abusing any more children,” he said Saviano enjoyed traveling and indigenous art showcasing handmade decorative pieces he bought on trips to southern Mexico and resold to collectors across the US say verdict will have ‘chilling effect’ on media The Italian anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviano has been found guilty of libelling the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and fined €1,000 (£865) for calling her “a bastard” over her migration policies. Supporters of the author criticised the verdict, saying it highlighted Italy’s draconian defamation laws and warned of a “chilling effect” on the media. “This verdict underscores the challenges writers and journalists face in their pursuit of free expression and reminds us of the critical importance of defending writers’ rights and freedom of speech – in Italy and beyond,” said Sabrina Tucci, a spokesperson for the global writers’ association Pen International. Calling on Italy to repeal all its criminal libel laws, she added: “Criminalising defamation has a chilling effect and undermines freedom of expression. If anything, under international law, public officials must tolerate more criticism than private individuals.” A Rome court found Saviano guilty on Thursday and imposed the fine, which his defence lawyer, Antonio Nobile, said he would not have to pay as it was part of a suspended sentence. The prosecution had asked for a €10,000 penalty. Saviano would appeal against the ruling, Nobile told Reuters. Read moreThe case dates back to a TV interview in December 2020 in which Saviano, author of the bestselling book Gomorrah castigated Meloni and her fellow far-right leader Matteo Salvini over their vitriol towards charity-run ships rescuing people in the Mediterranean Asked to comment on the death of a six-month-old baby from Guinea in a shipwreck, Saviano said: “All the bullshit [said about NGOs] whose government came to power last October described the high-profile author and journalist as a “serial hater” adding that she was “sick of witnessing this disgusting profiteering” Saviano has had libel cases brought against him by two other current government ministers the deputy prime minister and former interior minister who sued the author in 2018 after he referred to him as “il ministro della mala vita” – which roughly means “minister of the criminal underworld” – in a post on social media Saviano won a civil defamation case brought in 2020 by Gennaro Sangiuliano the culture minister in Meloni’s government Defamation is punishable in Italy with prison terms of between six months and three years Italy’s highest court has previously urged lawmakers to rewrite the legislation arguing that prison time in such cases is unconstitutional Italy ranked 58th in the Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index Meloni has sued journalists at the left-wing newspaper Domani recently said he would also sue the outlet over a story Journalists in Italy regularly receive threats of legal action from members of Meloni’s government I don’t think life for journalists has got any worse [under her government] as there has always been pressure from all governments and cabinets,” said Gianni Riotta the director of the school of journalism at Rome’s Luiss University especially on social media … It is always better never to make personal insults politicians have to accept that a public figure is a public figure.” An outspoken victim of clergy sexual abuse — who supported and inspired other survivors in western Massachusetts and across the country — died of gall bladder cancer on Sunday People are remembering Phil Saviano as low-key That's how he was portrayed in the 2015 film "Spotlight," which told the story of the Boston Globe investigative team. Their reporting brought to light details of decades of sexual abuse by priests covered up by the church has carried a cardboard box filled with his research on abuse to a meeting with Globe reporters and it goes right up the Vatican,” said Saviano in the film How could they have hidden it for so long?” said Saviano I know of 13 right here in Boston,” said Saviano in the film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm8Y7wzogZo Saviano was sexually assaulted by his parish priest in the 1960s in Douglas He first spoke to the media about it in 1992 He refused to accept money from the church that would prevent him from telling his story According to his website, in 1996 Saviano settled a case with Diocese of Worcester that had no restrictions on speaking freely. A year later, he founded the New England chapter of SNAP, or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests In 2005, WFCR's Bob Paquette interviewed Saviano when he was speaking at the UMass Amherst Olan Horne is a survivor from Chester who said he was abused at St Horne said Saviano was a mentor and a dear friend who inspired other survivors to take care of themselves and a very sense of calm that a lot of us didn't A lot of us were very enraged," said Horne "Phil had this quiet sort of strength that was also a big beacon of safety for us — a lot of us https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO6aRNa0rnM his brother was driven to prevent more abuse “The way he has taken on this battle with trying to save the innocent of young children was extraordinarily taxing — painful because he did not receive a lot of support There were threats against him,” Jim Saviano said And yet his brother said he was very resilient and tried to help other survivors find a positive path. Phil Saviano talked about that two years ago in a film by the Gilead Project about restorative justice in clergy abuse “And the message that I have to a lot of survivors who are struggling is that it is possible to get past the struggle," Saviano said in the film "And to get to the point in life when you can feel joy and you can become whole — despite the hole that might have been created in you as a child by being abused by a priest." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpDTDF_NjFk Jim Saviano said Phil wanted to have his memorial service held at the same church where he was abused as a child “It was his intention to deliver a message to the Catholic Church that despite trying they have not knocked him down,” Jim Saviano said Phil Saviano's funeral Mass will be held this Friday at St This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page There was a war going on between two mafia clans for control of the territory and violence between them spilled into the streets I wanted to tell the world what this war zone was like: the victims’ families tearing their clothes the stink of piss from a man who knew he was going to die and couldn’t control his fear people shot in the street because they looked like the intended victim I got to know the workers in industries run by the Camorra It became an instant bestseller – so many people bought it that the Camorra couldn’t ignore it Not long after the book came out in 2006, someone left a leaflet in my mother’s postbox. I was living in Naples, but she was still in Caserta. It showed a photograph of me, with a pistol to my head, and the word “Condemned”. Soon afterwards, I was invited to give an address at a gala to inaugurate the new school year in the town of Casal di Principe with one of the highest murder rates in Italy I singled out the Camorra bosses from the stage which local people had been too intimidated to do The then-speaker of the Italian parliament was there with his bodyguards they told me it would be too dangerous to go back to Naples on public transport The following day the local paper denounced my intervention as an insult to the Camorra someone followed me on the street in Naples and got on the bus behind me He said: “You know that they are going to make you pay for what you did in Casale [Casal di Principe] returning to Naples from a literary festival I was met at the railway station by two carabinieri they said they had been assigned to me for my protection the security detail was doubled after rumours emerged from prison that the Camorra was planning to kill me watching a feature about me on the TV news in prison “Keep talking because soon you won’t be talking ever again.” I have travelled everywhere with seven trained bodyguards in two bullet-proof cars I live in police barracks or anonymous hotel rooms and rarely spend more than a few nights in the same place It’s been more than eight years since I took a train Everything is scheduled to the minute; nothing is left to chance My name is so often associated with the terms death and murder that they hardly register After all these years under state protection I almost feel guilty for still being alive This life is shit – it’s hard to describe how bad it is I’m either at the Nobel academy having a debate on freedom of the press or I’m inside a windowless room at a police barracks who drifted away because they found it too hard to stand by me and those I’ve found – hopefully – in the last few years searching for any tattered remains of freedom but I knew he was living under armed guard I knew about his situation and the risks he was taking Freedom of expression is not a right we are granted in perpetuity – if we neglect it it will wither like a plant you forget to water I was struck by something Charbonnier said in 2012: “I’m not afraid of reprisals I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees.” For a lot of people If Gomorrah had been just another book read by a few thousand people the Camorra wouldn’t have taken any notice The reason they objected to it was because I told the truth about organised crime to such a massive audience Their worst fear is to be under the spotlight the camorristi want to be VIPLs: very important persons at a local level; they want to be famous in their own territory Having their exploits told to a wider audience than the local press was a major blow because it drew public attention to their illegal affairs I always try to make it clear: they’re not afraid of me After. Living with bodyguards changed everything; it’s so complicated trying to work with an armed escort in tow. If I’m in Italy I have to decide what I’m doing three days in advance I live in this permanent three-day time lapse so I always feel like I’m late for everything I have to inform the government security department weeks or even months in advance exactly where I am going and what my schedule will be Then I have to wait for permission to travel – to find out if the country I want to visit considers me welcome it takes a few days to establish a rapport with the local police escort I’m afraid of getting close to someone and letting my guard down I’m always expecting people to let me down Circumstances have changed him; he’s different from the person he was before the dream most of my colleagues wouldn’t dare imagine But everything else is gone: the chance of a normal life I realised the dream of every writer – an international bestseller But my life has been poisonedSince 2006 my life has been a continual search for somewhere to live I haven’t lived anywhere for more than a few months in all that time a terrace: I’ve longed for a terrace as I once longed for the chance to travel I couldn’t make a decision about where I was going to live I couldn’t go round looking at houses: two bulletproof cars and seven body guards don’t exactly make it easy to get around unnoticed as soon as people figured out where I was living The carabinieri who were my bodyguards tried to help me find somewhere to rent Easy enough until the landlady found out it was for me I’ve just rented it to someone else.” And back I went to the barracks A lot of what I’ve written in the last few years I have visited countries – sometimes places I’ve always longed to go to – and all I see is the inside of a hotel room and the skyline of a city through the darkened glass of a bulletproof car Most countries don’t dare let me out for a short walk not even with the armed guards they’ve assigned to me They usually move me to a new hotel after one night the farther it is from the mafia and the more I feel safe there the more they treat me like an unexploded bomb that could blow up in their faces at any moment A scene from the film Gomorrah Photograph: c.IFC Films/Everett/Rex FeaturesIn Italy with the smell of my roommates’ boot polish; the noisy commentary from the football game on TV the groans when they were called back on duty or the opposing team scored; Saturday I remember early on in my bulletproof life it was dark and I didn’t recognise anything Since then the same thing has happened many times I wake up with a start in the night and don’t know where I am The last time I was in Naples I stayed in a barracks that used to be a monastery It has a terrace and you can see the sea from up there I managed to watch dawn break over the most beautiful bay in the world I’m often asked if I regret writing Gomorrah For most of my waking hours I hate Gomorrah when I told interviewers that if I had known what was coming If it was the last question in the interview But so much time has passed now I feel like I’ve earned the right to share my regrets by claiming that it was only because of our reporting that they had been arrested the clan sent a clear message: if they were found guilty were convicted at the end of the 12-year Spartacus trial they and their lawyer were charged with issuing threats in the document that was read in court When this case concluded in November last year was convicted of making “mafia-style threats” I was sitting in the courtroom in Naples when the verdict was delivered as well as our lawyers and the defendants’ legal team but watching proceedings on video links from prison Behind us was a bank of television news cameras and journalists There were very few people I knew in court; when you live like I do everyone gets used to seeing you from afar or just following your life on social media the fact that two mafia bosses were acquitted while their lawyer was convicted for mafia-related crime seemed absurd I was disappointed but nothing surprises me anymore There were foreign journalists in court but I’m not sure they understood the verdict Santonastaso has since been given 11 years for mafia association aiding and abetting and perjury but that got barely any coverage at all The bosses got away with yet another attempt to intimidate journalists into silence I hope this sentence may be the first step towards freedom for myself and other writers who may eventually be able to reclaim our lives People often ask me if I’m afraid the mafia will kill me about what it would be like to die painfully Antonio Iovine one of the most powerful leaders of the Camorra after his arrest in 2010 in Naples Photograph: Roberto Salomone/AFP/Getty ImagesThere are other things that scare me I’m afraid that my life will never get back to normal I’m more scared of living my whole life like this than of dying It’s happened to everyone who has ever been killed for what they believe in It’s happened to everyone who has reported crimes or told uncomfortable truths the priest who was shot dead in Casal di Principe 1994 for preaching against the mafia and threatening to refuse to give the sacraments to Camorra members After his death he was subject to a smear campaign accusing him of lewd behaviour and links to the Camorra the trade unionist murdered at Casal di Principe in 2002 was pilloried with false accusations on the day of his funeral the anti-mafia magistrate killed by Cosa Nostra in 1992; they did it to the journalist Pippo Fava they always find willing ears to hear ill of the dead The media will have barely started covering my death than the nasty rumours will start I’ll never forget what the ex-husband of murdered Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya said the day after her death: “It’s better like this: better to die than to be discredited Anna couldn’t have borne it.” I have been told that they had been planning to set her up discredit her campaign for freedom of information This is what drags me down: the fear that I will be discredited somehow that it’ll creep up on me and I won’t be able to defend myself he’s libelling us” will end up having more importance than my own research my own attempts to investigate how things work I’m constantly accused of trying to make money out of the mafia It’s a way of turning down the volume of what I’m saying it’s already been written about,” that’s one of the things they say “None of it’s true,” we would know they’re just mouthpieces for the mafia “We’ve heard it all before,” it’s a more subtle way of undermining me but also by parts of civil society and even by journalists who are ashamed that they’ve never spoken out against the mafia and that their silence makes them complicit enduring this kind of criticism is not such a terrible price to pay I didn’t have time to be corrupted or tainted To ask for favours and be in someone’s debt Most people have had to sell themselves at some time I think about the huge number of people in Italy who live like me under state-provided armed guard: 585 of usI can’t afford to waste time thinking about the people who want to attack me The only thing I can do is focus on my work who – almost more than my armed escort – protect me That I have an audience guarantees my freedom My very public profile exposes me to vicious criticism under state-provided armed guard: 585 of us People whose names nobody knows face threats alone and unprotected The deaths at Charlie Hebdo should make anyone who isn’t trying to change the world feel guilty It’s easier to say the satirists brought it on themselves than to look in the mirror and confront the image of our own inertia there’s a greater understanding of the mafia and in Italy successive governments have been shamed into investing in fighting organised crime They can’t pretend they don’t know what’s going on any more and public opinion won’t let them off the hook I’d say the perception of the problem has changed radically This is the power of the non‑fiction novel To tell true stories with the rigour of a journalist and the literary style of a novelist There’s a line from Truman Capote I often come back to: “More tears are shed for answered prayers than unanswered ones.” If I have a dream it’s that words have the power to bring about change In spite of everything that’s happened to me But I’ve become someone different than I imagined I’ve found it difficult to come to terms with until I accepted that none of us is in control of our own destiny We can only choose how to play the role we are given Follow the Long Read on Twitter: @gdnlongread but this is perhaps the first in which the main characters are all in their teens son of mild middle-class parents in the notorious Forcella area of central Naples offers no resistance to an invitation to deal drugs for the camorra Obsessed by manifestations of wealth and luxury a white-walled restaurant overlooking the Bay of Naples Nicolas is nicknamed Maraja by his friends and concentrates all his adolescent attention on joining the ranks of the privileged who can drink champagne on plush sofas and dance all night on the restaurant’s sea terrace he is transforming his friends into a gang of dealers and thugs and planning an ascent to godfather status that Saviano charts in a rising curve of intimidation random shootings from racing scooters and at last after much jockeying for position among the established families fighting for control of Forcella At which point it is his own disgust and nausea that become the focus of the book; violence is awful because it makes him and An image of San Gennaro Photograph: Alamy Stock PhotoIn The Piranhas Saviano wastes no time before arousing our disgust The book opens with Nicolas and his friends holding down a certain Renatino who has been posting too many likes on the would-be boss’s girlfriend’s Facebook page the victim looking up to see a “second piece exiting from Nicolas’s anus chopped the excremental snake into two rounded pieces.” In interviews, Saviano has spoken of the novel as a warning to parents to be more attentive to the world their children move in it is disquieting to see the paraphernalia of contemporary adolescence – WhatsApp the inevitable scooters – mixed in with drugs But if that was the goal there was hardly any need to offer such an extended fantasy of precocious criminal prowess The effect is exacerbated by the absence of any convincing characterisation Cerino – are never more than excuses for plying us with yet more insider info One soon gives up trying to remember who is who Antony Shugaar has done sterling work in the past but he never finds a credible register for Saviano’s overheated prose To write of a camorra boss’s family that they “spilled the beans in a daisy chain” is odd and disorienting One would more soberly translate “e tutta la famiglia a catena parlò” as “and one after another the whole family talked” Perhaps Saviano’s clunky imagery is contagious In Shugaar’s defence one can only say that almost any translation would have pointed up the uneasily inauthentic voice of this disappointing book The Piranhas, translated by Antony Shugaar, is published by Picador. To order a copy for £12.89 (RRP £14.99) go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846 Writer could be imprisoned if found guilty over comments castigating Italian PM for her vitriol about Mediterranean rescues A Rome judge is poised to deliver a verdict in a criminal defamation trial against the Italian anti-mafia author Roberto Saviano for calling the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni In a case that has attracted international attention and criticism of Italy’s draconian defamation laws who has lived under police protection since the publication of his bestselling book Gomorrah faces up to three years in prison if found guilty at Rome’s criminal court on Thursday has expressed solidarity with Saviano and urged Meloni to drop the charges a spokesperson for Pen who is in Rome for the hearing said: “The fact that this lawsuit was initiated by Meloni serves as a dangerous warning to writers and journalists suggesting that their words could lead to prolonged legal battles “Dissenting the opinion of the government should not be equal to getting into trouble with the law.” The case dates back to a TV interview in December 2020 in which Saviano castigated Meloni and her fellow far-right leader Matteo Salvini over their vitriol towards charity-run ships rescuing people in the Mediterranean a former interior minister who sued the author in 2018 after he referred to him as “il ministro della mala vita” – which roughly means “minister of the criminal underworld” in a post on social media Italy’s highest court has previously urged lawmakers to rewrite the law Free weekly newsletterThe most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment Meloni has also sued journalists at the leftwing newspaper Domani Italian author and journalist Roberto Saviano published Gomorrah an exposé of the organised crime network Camorra; since then he has had to live under police protection The book was adapted for the big screen in 2008 and for TV in 2014 an investigation into the cocaine trade; his new novel Giuseppe Graviano files for defamation against Gomorrah author over origin of nickname A Sicilian mobster has asked a judge to order the seizure of all copies of a book by the author Roberto Saviano who is living under police protection after he faced death threats for exposing mafia secrets who is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison filed a lawsuit for defamation last week against the author of books including Gomorrah and Solo è il Coraggio (Lonely is the Courage) about the life of the judge Giovanni Falcone In a document written in his own hand and addressed to the Trento prosecutor’s office Graviano claims Saviano’s book on Falcone contains inaccuracies about him Graviano was nicknamed “Mother Nature” because he had the power to grant or take life that he earned it for being “very altruistic” Graviano asked the court in Trento to seize and withdraw all copies of the book from Italian bookshops According to magistrates, the 59-year-old was one of the organisers of bombing campaigns in Milan, Rome and Florence in 1993, together with Matteo Messina Denaro, the mobster arrested this month after 30 years on the run Saviano said: “Graviano’s request is … proof that the power of intimidation of the mafia never ends the mobsters are not afraid of someone writing about them In 2006, Gomorrah revealed the secrets of the Neapolitan mafia. Since then he has lived in hiding, emerging only under police escort Last week Trento prosecutors rejected Graviano’s request to seize the Saviano books The final decision rests with a judge who has not yet ruled on the case a best-selling exposé of the Camorra Mafia in Naples The 29-year-old first-time author spent five years researching the book working undercover at a mob-owned construction site and even waiting tables at a Mafia wedding Saviano received a series of death threats He has spent the last two years in hiding under police protection Saviano recently spoke with FRONTLINE/World reporter Carola Mamberto by phone from a safe house in Italy sharing his thoughts on the pervasive threat of the Mafia his life in hiding and why he risked everything to expose the mob against an extremely ferocious world that involves everybody We’re all part of this mechanism,” he explains Stephen Grey is former head of investigations at The Sunday Times in London and author of the acclaimed book Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Rendition and Torture Program He is one of a handful of journalists to uncover the secrets of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program beginning with flight logs of the CIA’s private planes which he helped uncover to bring the program to public attention he describes how he tracked CIA jets used to move suspects around a secret global network of prisons “There was an extraordinary amount of carelessness involved in the way the tracks were covered,” Grey explains He also discusses the growing moral and legal debate over the treatment and disappearance of hundreds of suspects in the war on terror and what he believes is the right course of action to take how long have you been under police protection What does that mean in terms of your daily life My police escort is made up of five carabinieri officers with two armored cars who are with me 24/7 But I’m not the only one -- many in Italy have to live like this Your role in it is somewhat blurred -- you’re in part a writer You don’t exactly infiltrate the Camorra [the Naples-based Mafia syndicate] but you’re always very close to the action We “see” you -- I’m saying “see you” because frankly your book reads like a screenplay -- intercepting the radio frequencies used by the police so you’re always among the first people to show up at the scene of a murder it’s easy to forget that these are all real-life experiences and not fiction All the kids of my generation talk constantly about the Mafia’s leaders There are even local newspapers that only cover these issues -- these stories I realized that those were very powerful stories American film directors would never imagine the stories that actually take place in some small towns of Southern Italy or Russia -- in “Mafia countries.” The reality is much more complicated than the common perception when a feud erupted between two families and they needed to find some common ground for peace to stop the bloodshed they decided to divide up various territories One faction took possession of some Italian territories and the other claimed parts of Andalusia and southern Spain So here we have two families of a small Italian town who So I decided to write this because they were incredibly gripping stories against an extremely ferocious world that involves everybody -- from the doctor to the local police officer we’re all part of this mechanism that I wanted to expose [The Camorra Mafia families] weren’t bothered that I had written the book; it was the success of the book that bothered them we all thought it wouldn’t sell more than 5,000 or 10,000 copies Those are the average numbers for Italian books that cover Mafia issues; they have very low sales When [the Camorra] saw that we had sold more than 100,000 copies Copies of my book started circulating among Camorra circles They would actually give copies of my book to each other as gifts The big crime syndicates want to have some media attention Being talked about among a few people allows them to control their image So they let themselves be interviewed by one journalist who works for a newspaper that they manipulate by buying all its ad space through companies they control you turn the problem of the Mafia into a problem of everyone That is exactly what happened with Gomorrah [the Camorra] saw it as a book like many others when more than 50 countries bought the rights to publish it Because the book’s success led the media -- radio big international networks -- to put the spotlight on them there’s a huge difference between my case and that of Salman Rushdie just for the fact of having written the book He could have sold one copy or 50 million -- it didn’t really matter [the Camorra] wouldn’t even have bothered me they’re not scared of me; they’re scared of my reader Many things happened after that initial success a jailed Camorrista turned informant declared that the Casalesi clan wanted to eliminate me as soon as possible So authorities gave me full police protection After that came a second signal from the Camorra the clan wanted to send a message -- that we would become targets if they were found guilty at that trial He declared that my police escort and I would be killed before Christmas near the city of Caserta [in Campania] These were the three most difficult times for me these “signals” all came from within the Casalesi clan of the deep hatred that people from the areas I mention in the book felt toward me But both the carabinieri and I never expected such a strong reaction from the actual military wing of the Casalesi Does one ever get used to living under such constant threats You get used to it because you begin to see yourself as another person Anyone who has successfully laid a finger on these powers The first phase is that [the Camorra clans] start pressing charges against you They sue you to try to take your money away -- the money that is vital for you to keep your work and your research going so that you can keep writing about these issues So at first they try to take that money away from you They sue you and sue you and sue you for anything you’ll still find yourself with huge legal bills to pay “You stole information.” “You’re part of the Mafia.” “You’re worthless.” “You crossed the line.” This is very easy for them to do because these people have a lot of visibility so they can easily create a little wind of defamation around you which only happens when you start to lose [popularity] This will never happen when you’re protected by the spotlight and a large popular consensus It happens when you begin to be seen as a guitto someone who’s denounced and attacked by all sides this will happen to me as it’s happened to everybody else I don’t think there’s hope that things can really change these groups will become less and less powerful you will remain under police protection for some time to come We’re the same age -- we’re both about to turn 30 -- and I can’t help but put myself in your shoes obviously my family -- they all had to move But what hurt me most these past few years was seeing my close friends disappear these are things that I usually find too difficult to talk about nobody believes that I’m really going through this In a country where everything always looks like a show where nobody would be willing to sacrifice his or her own life for anything So in order to avoid the sorrow of seeing doubtful faces around me the most difficult thing to overcome is the solitude Even abroad you’re seen as a hero; last year six Nobel Prize winners signed a plea asking Italian authorities to better protect you They say you’re making money off their backs some of these feelings are a consequence of the Camorra’s campaign against me The first thing that comes to my mind is the recent statement of the captain of the Italian national soccer team He said that the book and the film “sent a wrong signal about Naples; they don’t help the city.” Well Someone who states the contradictions of his own country is considered to be someone who’s attacking the country His denunciation is not seen as the solution to a problem So I generally don’t feel very hurt by these hostile feelings I’m not the one defaming my country -- it’s these criminal groups that are defaming it It’s the front pages of newspapers around the world writing in shock about a city the two million people who have emigrated from Italy It’s hard to find another Western country that has had an emigrating population of 2 million in the past 10 years even when they deal with the country’s contradictions Nobody picks on David Grossman when he writes about the war in Israel Nobody picks on Scorsese or accuses him of showing America’s dark side or spoiling its image But in Italy they pick on those who tell these “other” stories They’ve now made a movie based on Gomorrah which premieres in the United States in February It has won many awards in Europe but was not nominated for an Oscar It’s its own thing that doesn’t really concern me The Academy [Award members] didn’t like it at all they found themselves watching the wrong movie The director [Matteo Garrone] decided to re-imagine the criminal world overturning the image that people in the United States still have [of organized crime] Garrone did this by hiring actors from the streets Some of these actors had even been arrested for criminal activities This approach fully embraces the teachings of Italian neo-realism of directors de Sica and Rossellini the idea behind it being that if you take your actors directly from the streets that it isn’t too far removed from a person’s brutal daily life fat and sweaty characters in the movie are unlikely to arouse This was one of the main objectives with the film -- to avoid creating a [Hollywood] criminal epic Let’s go back for a second to this very romantic vision that Americans have of the mob: The Godfather those are two examples of really great storytelling The fictional aspect of them is very well done I know The Sopranos very well; I even studied the show The authors were very good at illustrating the decline of Italian American Mafia families and the daily lives of these characters I was very saddened to see that sections of the Italian American community resented the series The Sopranos really managed to deconstruct the image of the omnipotent It’s often happened that some female reader would come up to me and say “What a Mafioso face you have!” But they say it as if they were paying me a compliment When they see my grave reaction to their words these days you write for the Italian daily Repubblica and its sister magazine I’m always left wondering how you’re still able to report police interceptions and material from the carabinieri which have become a big presence in my life I try to do what I can within the spaces and time frames that my police escort gives me Your book and your articles have turned a giant spotlight on the Camorra and you’re still reporting on these issues What is the situation like today in Naples There have been numerous arrests in the city’s hinterland but there has also been a sort of regrouping the criminal organizations are still very strong and their finances are still widely unknown to investigators There have been some monetary seizures by the Italian authorities but not enough Murders have gone down slightly -- there used to be one murder every day; now there’s one every three days -- but their power is still huge I especially requested that a title card be placed at the end of the [Gomorrah] film with some statistics including a fact that came out of a recent investigation: that the Camorra was trying to invest in New York to rebuild the Twin Towers This gives you an idea of the economic power that they have The story I reported for FRONTLINE/World is based in Sicily There are more and more examples of citizens standing up to the Mafia But the situation is very different in Naples in part because of the huge effort of the Italian government in the fight against the Sicilian Mafia the Mafias that really count and that are the criminal future not just of Italy but of Europe and to some extent of the Americas as well are the N’Drangheta of Calabria and Camorra of Naples and Campania “N’Drangheta” and “Camorra,” are actually only used by journalists The real name of the N’Drangheta is Cosa Nuova (“The New Thing”) as opposed to Cosa Nostra (“Our Thing.”) In Campania the Camorra’s true name is il sistema (“the system”) These two criminal organizations are very different from the Sicilian Mafia are much more autonomous; there isn’t a real hierarchy This means that in Calabria and Campania there’s much more blood decides from above about murders and massacres the two organizations are less tied to politics compared to the Sicilian Mafia They tend to tie themselves to politics through business instead of trying to “build” a politician who will one day procure them business deals The Camorra and the N’Drangheta are centered around businesses in any sector: from garbage collection to bread production; from clandestine horse races to gas distribution; from shoes and garment manufacturing to the construction trade; from the resale of IT products to milk and cheese production; butter sold to Germany’s most important confectionary companies There is no industry that these criminal organizations don’t have a hand in The Italian government’s response to the Mafia has always been quite cyclical the government only reacts when there’s some public attention on the issue There is no way out of this until the Mafia problem becomes THE problem it always appears as if the Mafia problem is a problem only of Southern Italy [about half the size of the country] if you launched a campaign denouncing the Mafia you’d automatically lose half of Italy’s votes And you don’t even gain the other half -- far from it So raising the issue of the Mafia isn’t convenient for anybody not even for those who believe that the Mafias should be defeated and you’ve traveled all over Italy since then to promote your book You must have met scores of young Italians Those who stay settle for little and bow their heads down Those who stay will hardly see their talents fulfilled Those who leave will have a better life -- maybe not a happier life I grew up with the daily obsession of leaving the place where I lived as the intellectual that I was trying to be They are tempted to leave things as they are You have to believe me if I tell you that none of the people I know with qualities it’s an issue that is just impossible to bring up in Italy there’s this economic crisis that’s suffocating not just the Italian young people we have a deep advantage compared to our parents’ or grandparents’ generation regardless of ideologies or political affiliations What matters to this generation is how to move forward independently from all these factions: right That’s the positive side of our generation a message that I also tried to include in my book which are the ones that made Gomorrah a hit in Italy It’s the only tool I have to prove that I’m alive do you think that writing the book was worth it But every morning I wake up hating my book more and more and hating myself for writing it Privacy Policy • © 2002-2011 WGBH Educational Foundation Flying Cheap + Jamaica: Girls on Track + South Africa: The Play Pump + Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground + Haiti Quake: Improvisation Amid the Chaos + France: Outlawing Ana + Pakistan: Children of the Taliban MORE VIDEO » Very few music biographies or music memoirs tell compelling stories in a spellbinding way Most of these books flit fitfully across our view and leaving few memories of the lives and art of the artists it’s part memoir and part biography—that mesmerizes us with its riveting storytelling and that captivates us by allowing us glimpses of the life of an artist whose songs shaped and gave birth to what has come to be called Americana music The two reasons that Without Getting Killed or Caught: The Life and Music of Guy Clark (Texas A&M University Press) capture our heart are the exquisite but down-to-the-bone writing of Tamara Saviano Clark's good friend and former publicist who produced This One’s for Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark the music world felt his loss sharply and deeply The man who wrote songs such “Desperadoes Waiting for a Train,” “Dublin Blues,” “Randall Knife,” and L.A Freeway” quietly spun words into gold — a musical alchemist whose influence reaches far and wide — and who was a content building one of his guitars as he was writing a song although the writing didn’t always come easy Clark resisted easy definition; he would never quite fit Nashville’s image of a country singer yet he wasn’t the outlaw that moved through Jessi’s — or in his case forming around him a coterie of younger singer songwriters who held on his every word “I don’t appeal to pop or country in particular but I don’t feel alienated by either and I’m influenced by both The so-called ‘outlaws’ is a term invented by people who had to have something to call them … If they had coined the term ‘outlaw’ 15 years ago and me will be middle of the road and some young kinds will be doing acid-country or whatever.” Clark was always prescient Drawing deeply on interviews with Clark and on meticulous research Saviano transfixes us by eloquently weaving Clark’s own words around threads of narrative to craft a colorful blanket that both covers the enduring qualities of Clark’s life and work and reveals little-known aspects of the man The opening scene of her story is alone worth the price of admission: “Guy Clark and Susanna Talley eased into Nashville on a rainy November night in 1971 Guy had driven his rusted junker of a Volkswagen bus from Houston to Los Angeles back to Houston and now to Tennessee It was loaded with everything they owned: a few clothes and dishes and all the tools and parts needed to fix the damn thing if it broke down in the desert For once there was a little money in Guy’s wallet He had just signed his first publishing deal as a songwriter The beat-up leather also held a scrap from a burger sack with a partial lyric that read: ‘If I could just get off this L.A Freeway without getting killed or caught’.” Saviano goes on to describe Clark’s impact which she illustrates in colorful story after colorful story throughout the book: “No one could predict then how Guy and Susanna would transform the lives of songwriters weaving threads in a tapestry that would grow in size and strength an influence that would blanket all of American roots music No one then realized that they would leave an indelible mark on generations to come.” Rosanne Cash even now tells at her concerts this story of Clark’s influence on her which Saviano shares in the book: “I had just written ‘Seven Year Ache’ and we were sitting at the table in our house but I was too afraid to actually turn to Guy and say ‘Do you want to hear my new song?’ So I started playing it ‘What’s that?’ I told him it was a new song I wrote called ‘Seven Year Ache’ and it was the first time I got real approval from Guy for a song I wrote Without Getting Killed or Caught delivers an intimate and vibrant chronicle of one of our most memorable artists; Saviano’s richly detailed prose and her vivid storytelling — along with Clark’s own lively words — create an unforgettable portrait of a songwriter whose own words live on in our hearts It’s not too much to say that it may just be the best music book of the year Though Saviano is busy working on a film about Clark and doing a book tour--and she also put together a star-studded concert in August at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville to celebrate Clark's life and music--we caught up by phone recently to chat about her new book Henry Carrigan: What prompted you to write this book I went to lunch with Gary and Francine Hartman at the Chili Parlor in Austin I’d always wanted to see the place that had inspired the lines in Guy’s song “Dublin Blues.” Guy had told me not to drink the Mad Dog Margarita there because it tasted horrible who’s the director of the Center for Texas Music History and he asked me if I’d like to write Guy’s bio and he’s going to tell the same old stories and not give me anything new.” I never gave up the idea of doing the book Keith Case—since I was a little scared to ask Guy himself—and asked if he would talk to Guy about this Keith called me back ten minutes later and said “Guy’s in.” I was a little surprised and didn’t really believe it “I’ll go over and talk to Guy myself.” I told him that if we were going to do this that he’d have to bleed on the table for me and that he wouldn’t be able to read the book until it was published I told him I’d come back in two weeks and we could start When did you do your first interview with him The very first question I asked him was about the turquoise ring he wears “okay; he’s really going to do this.” From that point on we became better friends than I thought was possible I did a rash of initial interviews with him—I was there sometimes every other day—and then started doing research We got delayed some in 2009 when Guy had some health problems and then the next couple of years (2010-2011) I was working with Shawn Camp on the Guy Clark tribute album [This One’s for Him] so I didn’t actually put a word on the page until 2011 Did you learn anything about Guy that changed your view of him I did see one incident that disappointed me in Guy Guy didn’t like what the sound engineer there was doing and Guy verbally abused him; he was so mean to this young man Verlon Thompson and I were sitting there with our mouths open since Guy was usually a very sweet and gentle guy What would you describe as Guy’s greatest traits He took the business of writing songs seriously If someone was going to come write with him that writer had better have something ready and be ready to work What do you think were her greatest traits The Susanna that I knew was already going downhill The Susanna I got to know through my research I believe Susanna would have been better off if she had never returned to Guy after their separation I think Townes took some pressure off of Guy and Susanna and Townes were very sensitive is that they put their art above everything else Were there other music biographies you used as a model for your book on Guy I read a lot of music bios looking for a model I tried to get out of the way and let these folks tell their story include Alanna Nash’s Elvis and the Memphis Mafia; I love the way she writes Peter Guralnick is another influence; all of his books take you deep into the details of their subjects I also read a lot of memoirs: Ann Patchett’s Truth and Beauty; that book was an amazing memoir; anything that Rosanne Cash and Rodney Crowell write; their memoirs were models of good writing I’ve always been a writer; that’s how I think of myself; so Four that I think are especially good are William Zinsser’s Exatraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American Biography; Carl Rollyson’s A Higher Form of Cannibalism?: Adventures in the Art and Politics of Biography; Stephen King’s On Writing; Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird What do you think readers will be surprised to learn about Guy He went deep into things he’d never talked about before They may be surprised to find that he was a clean cut jock as a teenager since they know him as this pot-smoking musician They might be surprised to learn about his time in San Francisco What do you hope readers take away from the book His life as a songwriter and how it inspired other songwriters His recording career and how he never fit the model I really want to find people who aren’t hip to Guy and hip them to him My friend is gone; I want to assure that his legacy lives on Saviano’s remarks followed Piazza Pulita’s coverage of the death of a six-month-old baby from Guinea who was among migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean after Italian authorities delayed their rescue operations During the fourth hearing at the Criminal Court of Rome, Piazza Pulita anchorman Corrado Formigli and Amnesty International Italia’s spokesperson Riccardo Noury testified in court. Recalling Amnesty’s report which examined hate speech during the 2018 Italian electoral campaign a fundamental right protected by the Italian Constitution and international law and hinders journalists and writers from expressing their opinions on matters of public interest The escalating occurrence of vexatious lawsuits targeting journalists in Italy is deeply concerning We acknowledge that a number of bills directed at reforming defamation provisions are currently being discussed by the Italian parliament This statement was coordinated by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries This project provides legal and practical support public advocacy and information to protect journalists and media workers The MFRR is organised by a consortium led by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) including ARTICLE 19 Europe the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) International Press Institute (IPI) and CCI/Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT) The project is co-funded by the European Commission Submit your poster to celebrate 10 years of ECPMF Partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) met with European Commission Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty to address increasing challenges concerning the economic viability and the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the media landscape.