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A review by zare_i
Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System by Roberto Saviano
5.0
Even after second reading, 10 years after, impact of this book is very strong.
Summary of the book would be in the saying that "Devil's greatest trick was to convince the world he does not exist".
This is horrifying story about organized crime organization from the Naples, Italy, called Camorra. This hydra of the international organization, highly decentralized and with its tentacles in both legal and illegal activities all across the world is a for all means and purposes parallel world to the one where your average Joe and Jane live in. They use the people from their own city as guinea pigs for testing drugs to be sent to the rich north of Italy or rest of world, they exploit them mercilessly in the sweat-shops where they produce the knock-offs of the famous brands for dimes, they recruit the youngest into merciless boy soldier troops, once in they cannot get out in any way, and finally they close the circle by killing off their own people by burying poisonous waste in their backyards.
Due to its de-centralized nature Camorra is very difficult to destroy but interestingly organization's activities were not unknown to police and intelligence activities. Persons involved in the crime fighting knew all of the information from the book for years. Effect of this book was that all of this was given to the whole world to read about, not only insiders and specialists in the field. For organization that aims to fly under the radar and remain in the shadows this was the attack they could not tolerate. And because of this Camorra decided to kill the author, forcing him into nomad style of life under police protection and need to change his name and living quarters in regular intervals.
Book is given in very interesting form - author narrates the events but not in standard way you would expect from the non-fiction book. This is more of a crossing between non-fixtion and personal experiences of the author. By presenting facts and details about Comorra in a very emotional way author steps away from the usual dry fact listing, His approach to the story telling leaves a very strong images and impressions to the reader that will surely leave them thinking about the book long after they read it.
Books is a warning tale about what happens when the market is left unregulated. In [for]ever-going search for achieving more for less all market players (be it in clothes, electronics, drugs, weapons, utilities or waste or anything else - even transporting corpses) will always look the other way and deal with criminal elements if they can gain more profit. Author's comments on how Camorra helped the Northern Italy (heavily industrialized) to become what it is by basically destroying the Southern Italy is horrifying tale. If left unchecked legal and illegal economies will become so interconnected that separating them would cause so much problems or even become impossible. And unfortunately this is not something affecting only Italy but whole world - organized crime (Camorra being only one of the players in this shadowy world) is now truly "business" without borders.
Excellent book, highly recommended.
Summary of the book would be in the saying that "Devil's greatest trick was to convince the world he does not exist".
This is horrifying story about organized crime organization from the Naples, Italy, called Camorra. This hydra of the international organization, highly decentralized and with its tentacles in both legal and illegal activities all across the world is a for all means and purposes parallel world to the one where your average Joe and Jane live in. They use the people from their own city as guinea pigs for testing drugs to be sent to the rich north of Italy or rest of world, they exploit them mercilessly in the sweat-shops where they produce the knock-offs of the famous brands for dimes, they recruit the youngest into merciless boy soldier troops, once in they cannot get out in any way, and finally they close the circle by killing off their own people by burying poisonous waste in their backyards.
Due to its de-centralized nature Camorra is very difficult to destroy but interestingly organization's activities were not unknown to police and intelligence activities. Persons involved in the crime fighting knew all of the information from the book for years. Effect of this book was that all of this was given to the whole world to read about, not only insiders and specialists in the field. For organization that aims to fly under the radar and remain in the shadows this was the attack they could not tolerate. And because of this Camorra decided to kill the author, forcing him into nomad style of life under police protection and need to change his name and living quarters in regular intervals.
Book is given in very interesting form - author narrates the events but not in standard way you would expect from the non-fiction book. This is more of a crossing between non-fixtion and personal experiences of the author. By presenting facts and details about Comorra in a very emotional way author steps away from the usual dry fact listing, His approach to the story telling leaves a very strong images and impressions to the reader that will surely leave them thinking about the book long after they read it.
Books is a warning tale about what happens when the market is left unregulated. In [for]ever-going search for achieving more for less all market players (be it in clothes, electronics, drugs, weapons, utilities or waste or anything else - even transporting corpses) will always look the other way and deal with criminal elements if they can gain more profit. Author's comments on how Camorra helped the Northern Italy (heavily industrialized) to become what it is by basically destroying the Southern Italy is horrifying tale. If left unchecked legal and illegal economies will become so interconnected that separating them would cause so much problems or even become impossible. And unfortunately this is not something affecting only Italy but whole world - organized crime (Camorra being only one of the players in this shadowy world) is now truly "business" without borders.
Excellent book, highly recommended.