Conversations: To Shed Light on the Mob, Robert Saviano Lives in Its Shadow

Author Robert Saviano has been under 24-hour police protection for 2 1/2 years -- ever since his best-selling nonfiction novel "Gomorrah" made him the enemy of the Neapolitan mob. Director Matteo Garrone's adaptation of Saviano's tale of totalitarian gangsterism has received worldwide acclaim, including a prize at Cannes. It is about the legacy of the Camorra crime family -- the title is a play on the name -- and the virtual state of war it has maintained in Italy (10,000 deaths over 30 years).

-- John Anderson

Any regrets about having written such a successful book?

No, the story needed to be told. The Camorra family has had more victims than the Palestinian-Israeli conflict [since the intifada].

How has the Camorra family managed to wield such unquestioned power in Naples?

Because they've infiltrated every stratum of civic life. It's not just drugs and guns, or the protection racket, it's banking and supermarkets and transportation and energy. And, of course, the profits from such an enormous enterprise are extremely difficult to turn off.

Garrone has made his film in a close-to-documentary style, and several performers were recruited from the streets -- several have also been arrested since the making of the film. Yet names are changed, and some aspects are compressed and altered. Does this bother you?

No, I knew when we agreed to make the film that I would have my book, and [Matteo] would have his movie. They are different animals. Some of the incidents -- the assassination of the housewife, for instance -- are true, but some of the characters actually represent more than one person.

Naples is your home town. . . . Was there any sense that you'd betrayed your birthplace? I know that might sound strange . . .

No, absolutely. Naples is a place where the outrageous is routine, and a lot of people's livelihoods are made on the margins of decent society. There are a lot of people I know who wish I had never written the book.