How did Angelina Jolie ended up wearing a dress produced in an illegal underground factory in Naples controlled by the mafia?

Who's responsible for the never-ending garbage crisis in Campania? The government? The camorra? The northern regions and their industries? Or all of them? How do they turn the trash into gold?

How can a region with one of the lowest economic development end up with one of the highest Mercedes Benz ownership in Europe?

I just finished reading two great books about the Camorra, they are some of the best books I have ever read. The stories are shocking, facinating, and infuriating. To see the extend the mafia, in particular, the camorra, and its effect on the Italian political, economical and social life, these books will open eyes even for those who lived here for many year. This makes those mafia movies look like fairy tales.

Review: Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano
Roberto Saviano is from Naples and he risked his life writing this book. He has received numerous life threats and now he is under police protection around the clock.

This book was so fascinating, it took me three to four days to finish it. Furthermore, I have visited and stayed in Campania many times in the past several years. I have witnessed with my own eyes the garbage crisis, the hoodlums and idiots who set the trashes on fire; I have seen the store that was burned down because the owner was courageous and refused to pay the Camorra a "protection" fee; the park used for wildlife conservation that a mayor wanted to sell cheap to his political cronies to build a shopping center.

Although I have never been personally exposed to any crimes and the cities in Campania felt safe to me - even after midnight around the train stations. The petty crimes don't bother me, it's the serious crimes against the people and the society that are much more damaging.
I have been to Pozzuoli, dined in Quatieri Spagnoli (Spanish Quarter), and many of the neighborhoods mentioned in the book. It's true, many of these towns are a mess. This book helped to see what the towns are the way they are, beyond the asthetical aspect. Before I read this book, I have known a lot about the Camorra and the corrupt political *system* and the consequences of their crimes. However, this book was comprehensive and detailed enough to name the criminals and shows the true nature of the political system and the savage nature of the criminals, many of whom are part of the political system.

Did you ever see or buy some couterfeit goods like a Gucci belt, a Prada purse or DVD from the street vendor? Did you every wonder where these things are made? Not China. I remember talking to some immigrants and they told me how much they pay the trafficker to get them into Italy. Do you wonder where these street side vendors got their supplies? Why are they the ones selling them on the side of the street?

And those products that are made in China, who do they have to go through when they are unloaded at the port of Naples?

Who are those people missing for a decade and turned up in the bottom of some well?

Why were the city councils in Campania frequently dissolved?

The books I mentioned here have answers to all those questions and should be a wake up call to the residents of Campania, Italians and an alarm for the rest of us. It shows if the system is weak and severely flawed, some people, even a small group of people, with their selfish and corruptible nature, combined with an audacity and taste for extreme violence, can easily turn life into hell for the majority.

You don't have to have even visited Italy to appreciate this book, because it can serve as a warning to anyone who lives in a community.

Two other books I recommend are:
See Naples and Die: Camorra and Organized Crime by Tom Beha, this book is a more formal approach to the Camorra problem starting from its root during the Kingdom of Naples monarchy.

Some quotes from See Naples and Die:



"It is no longer simply a question of the Camorra manoeuvring votes toward 'friendly' politicians in exchange for favours and protection. Many politicians of the Christian Democrat era have been accused, and some convicted, of being part of the Camorra. The question is no longer one of 'bad government' or clientelism but in some cases total commitment to a violent and illegal organisation". -p. 217

"Galasso was on the run at the time from a 10-year-sentence for Camorra membership and extortion: 'What made me almost laugh was to hear the ideas put foward this future MP; I heard Vito talking about fighting the Camorra, and even though I was on the run I was due to meet him in a few minutes.. He told me that he knew all about my situation and promised to take an interest in it particularly as regards my trial at the Court of Appeal in Naples, as he had lots of friends within the judiciary"

"..several police officers whose 'salaries' from the leading crime families ranged from $1300 to $2800 per month. .. In February the former head of the Naples Flying Squad was arrested...regularly faked investigation into the criminal activities of the Camorra factions who were paying them, while arresting members of rival clans." p. 234

"Harsh sentences at the main trail create the perceptoin in the public's mind that criminals are being convicted and put behind bars. Once public interest wanes and few years pass, the sentences are then either drastically reduced or simply overturned on appeal." p.237

However, this is not to say that all judges are corrupt and linked to the Camorra, far from it. Investigating magistrates are probably the people most at risk from assassination, they work in inadequate conditions, and in the majority of cases are really dedicated to their job.

Furthermore, senior judges are also senior members of the Italian state. As a group, for decades they turned a blind eye to the rampant corruption and bribery among politicians and the busienss community, as well as politicians' links with organised crime." p.239

"an unemployed seller of contraband is far more likely to spend time in jail than a gang leader acued of murder or drug trafficking".

Agostino Cordova, Federal prosecutor said,"In Naples the state is a vague, virtual and random entity. I'm only talking about the official one. The only one that people in Naples fear and recognise cis the Camorra."

and Excellent Cadaver: The fall of the first Italian Republic. This is focused on the events from post World War II to the 1992 assassination of the anti-mafia magistrate in Siciliy. It's a book about mostly the Sicilian mafia. I just began reading this.


After reading the first two books, I felt very angry and want to do something. I used to think that strong government with military patrol and harsh penalty can cure the problem. Harsh penalty doesn't deter people from crime. Throwing people in the gladiator ring with the animals didn't deter crimes in the Roman empire. After digesting both books and combining what I know from living here, I realized once you learn about the history and culture of the place the solutions are not easy to implement any more. Harsh penalty can treat the symptoms but the the root cause. The government is part of the problem, the culture is part of the problem, the people is part of the problem, the camorra is just a parasite who is preying on a weak body. Campania's problem is mainly economical and cultural, the people don't have enough employment or education opportunity and the state has failed them. In desparation, the Camorra came to give them what they need and they seem to be more powerful than the state. If the region has a vibrant economy and people can easily find honest jobs (it is much easier to find a job in California even as a waiter than Italy - if you are thirty here, forget it), there is no incentive for them to risk jail, death and shame to do illegal and immoral work. These camorristi don't live long, but for many it's their only chance in life to do something big, regardless of its moral consequences. It's better for them to live big for ten years and get shot or imprisoned than to be in poverty.

At the end of the book, I found something that surprised me, is that some Camorristi are not completely uncultured and unrependant, some really began to realize the root of the problem and the consequences of their own actions.

If most of the people in a place are dishonest, and they can only get ahead by dishonest and unscrupulous means, then it makes things much harder for the scrupulous ones. On the contrary, if the majority are honest, even the minority who want to do something unscrupulous have a higher deterrence.

I ordered them from Amazon.co.uk as I don't know other English booksellers here in Italy. You might find them here.

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