By Stephen Brown
56 minutes ago

ROME (Reuters) - Police in Italy are looking into reports that the Naples mafia plans to carry out its threat to kill the author of the best-selling book "Gomorra," which has been made into a hit movie about mafia brutality, by Christmas.

Roberto Saviano, 29, has lived in hiding with 24-hour police protection for the past two years since the "Camorra," as the mob in his hometown is known, decided to punish him for the huge success of his book, which is based on his own investigations.

It has sold 1.2 million copies in Italy and been translated into 42 languages. Now that it has hit the big screen and is a candidate for the Oscars, the mafia is even angrier and wants Saviano and his bodyguards killed as soon as possible.

"We've launched in inquiry to verify the truth behind this news," Franco Roberto, a coordinator of the local anti-mafia squad for Naples, told Reuters.

Italian papers said the Naples mob's notorious Casalesi clan -- in the news recently over the murder of six Africans, which sparked riots by other immigrants -- had moved the threat into the "operative" phase and wanted Saviano dead by Christmas.

The source of the tip-off was a "supergrass" related to the jailed Camorra godfather Francesco Schiavone, aka "Sandokan."

The Camorra has its finger in every pie in Naples and the surrounding areas, from the protection racket to drugs and even waste disposal, as Saviano's book documents in great detail.

With his shaved head, dark close-cropped beard, piercing eyes and black T-shirt, Saviano has become a symbol of the fight against organized crime for a new generation of Italians.

He marked two years living under escort on Monday, telling a radio show of his relationship with the policemen who have been his only company since he was forced to leave his home.

"Many days are terrible," said Saviano, who spends some of his time boxing with escorts "who sometimes call me 'captain.'"

The writer said it was the millions of people who had bought the book who really worried the mafia.

"It's the readers who have frightened the crime bosses, not me," said Saviano.

Some politicians urged the Italian public to show their solidarity with the writer.

"Nobody must touch Saviano!" said the former cabinet minister Giovanna Melandri, denouncing the Camorra as "one of the main cancers blighting our country."

(Writing by Stephen Brown; Additional reporting by Roberto Bonzio in Mila, editing by Paul Casciaton)

By Stephen Brown
2 hours, 36 minutes ago
ROME (Reuters) - The author of the best-selling book "Gomorra" about the mafia in Naples, which has been made into a hit movie, wants to leave Italy to try to have a more normal life after reports that the mob wants him dead by Christmas.

After reports that the "Camorra," as the Naples mafia is known, has added urgency in its threat to kill Roberto Saviano, the 29-year-old who has been in hiding for two years said he was tired of being a "prisoner" of his book's success.

"I'm going away from Italy, at least for a while, then I'll see," he told La Repubblica newspaper.

"Right now I don't see why I should keep living like this, as a prisoner of myself, my book, my success. Fuck success. I want a life, that's all," said Saviano.

"I want to take a walk, get some sun, walk in the rain, meet my mother without scaring her and being afraid."

First published in 2006, the gritty chronicle of how the Camorra dominates life around Naples and makes its money -- by a local boy who saw his first murder victim at 13 -- has sold 1.2 million copies in Italy and been translated into 42 languages.

Saviano worked in a textile and building firm controlled by the mob to research his book, which narrates the Camorra's involvement in protection rackets, drug trafficking, smuggling and even illegal waste disposal.

Now "Gomorra" has hit the big screen and is a candidate for the Oscars, the mafia is said to be even angrier and wants Saviano killed by the end of the year.

Naples police said they were checking the veracity of the reports and politicians from President Giorgio Napolitano down commented on the need to safeguard Saviano's life.

Separated from friends and family and moved from one police barracks to another to avoid attempts on his life, the writer asked: "What is my crime? Why must I live like a recluse, a leper, hidden away from life, the world and other men?"

"I only wanted to tell the story of my people, my land and their humiliation," he said, raging against the head of the notorious Casalesi clan of the Camorra, Francesco Schiavone (nicknamed "Sandokan" after a fictional pirate), who is currently serving a life jail sentence.

A police informer said it was Schiavone's Casalesi clan, which is based in Casal di Principe near Naples where Saviano grew up, who wanted the writer murdered as soon as possible.

Saviano gave no clue as to where he would try to rebuild his life, for obvious reasons, saying only that when first obliged to go into hiding in 2006 he rejected advice to leave for New York: "I stayed here, but how long can I carry this cross?"

(Writing by Stephen Brown, editing by Paul Casciato)

By Gelu Sulugiuc – Sun Dec 7, 1:47 am ET

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – The Italian mafia drama "Gomorra" dominated the European Film Awards on Saturday, winning five prizes including best film, best director and best actor.

Based on a book by Roberto Saviano, who has lived under police protection for two years because of death threats from gangsters, the hard-hitting film depicts organized crime in Naples. It also won the Grand Prix at Cannes this year.

The 1,800-member European Film Academy awarded Matteo Garonne the director prize for "Gomorra" at the 21st anniversary ceremony in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The six writers of "Gomorra," Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni di Gregorio, Massimo Gaudioso, Garrone and Saviano received the screenwriter award.

Toni Servillo won the actor award for his roles in "Gomorra" and in "Il Divo," where he played former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti.
Marco Onorato was selected best cinematographer for his work on "Gomorra."

Britain's Kristin Scott Thomas won the actress award for her performance in "I've Loved You So Long."

Honorary awards were presented to British actress Judi Dench and the founders of the Dogma film movement, Soren Kragh-Jacobsen, Kristian Levring, Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg of Denmark.

The European Film Academy was founded in 1989 to promote European film, with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman as its first president
Although respected in the film industry, the awards have yet to gain the prestige of high-profile European film festivals in Cannes, Venice and Berlin.

The ceremony was only broadcast live on Danish public television and on the satellite channels ZDF and Arte, but will be shown recorded in more than 40 countries.

The awards are traditionally held in Berlin every other year, but next year they will take place in Essen.

(Editing by Matthew Jones)

By Gregg Kilday – Tue Jan 6, 2:47 am ET

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Martin Scorsese will lend his name to IFC Films' U.S. release of the Italian crime drama "Gomorra."

Matteo Garrone's study of the Naples Mafia, the Grand Prix winner at last year's Cannes Film Festival, will carry the presentation credit "Martin Scorsese Presents" when it arrives in New York and Los Angeles theaters February 13.

In a separate development, Italian actor Giovanni Venosa, one of the movie's stars, has been arrested on suspicion of taking part in real-life mob activities. Venosa, who plays a clan boss in the film, has been taken into police custody accused of extortion after allegedly trying to collect a "pizzo" -- Mafia tax -- from businesses in the Caserte region near Naples, the Italian media reported Monday. He has previously been convicted for Mafia links and was sentenced to community service in November for drug trafficking.

Venosa is the third actor from the film to be arrested for Mafia activity; Salvatore Fabbricino and Bernardino Terracciano, who also portrayed gang members, have also been linked to the Naples-based Mafia known as the Camorra.

"Gomorra" offers an inside look at the Camorra. Based on the book of the same name by Roberto Saviano, it is Italy's official submission in the Academy Awards' foreign-language film category.

"Matteo Garrone's 'Gomorra' is a tough, forceful look at the Neapolitan underworld," Scorsese said. "I admire the bluntness of this picture and the devotion of Garrone and his actors in their pursuit of a terrible truth. 'Gomorra' is despairing, but it's also enlightening and, because of its frankness, strangely heartening."

Said Garrone: "I have been waiting for some time for the chance to thank Martin Scorsese publicly for the courage and generosity he has shown in laying his support on the line for 'Gomorra.' I can't forget how deeply touched I was seeing him arrive for the presentation of the film; of all directors, he is one of the most important in my development as a filmmaker. I am therefore extremely proud that the film has found such a prestigious adoptive father, and I will certainly cherish this memory for all time."

The limited February 13 theatrical release will be followed by a nationwide video-on-demand release February 19 and a subsequent theatrical rollout in all major markets across the country.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Who here has seen the film?

I'd like to see it again, but found it very disappointing after such a promising premise (and trailer). Maybe I was expecting it to be like The Wire - which no two-hour narrative can.