This book gives an inside account of the Camorra, the Neapolitan Mafia, which owes its success to its decentralization and its ability to infect all areas of business, including both criminal and non-criminal areas.
The chapters are organized thematically, for example, there is a chapter dealing with the Chinese-staffed Neapolitan sweatshops which make designer-branded clothes, shoes and bags, another dealing with arms trafficking that also tells an anecdote of the meeting between an admiring criminal and the creator of the AK-47. Other chapters deal with the gang wars between various factions of the Sistema, as organized crime is called in the local parlance, toxic waste dumping in quarries surrounding Naples, as well as detailing investments by the Neapolitan syndicates in real estate in locations such as Spain and Scotland, as well as business arrangements in Eastern Europe, Germany, and Holland.
I have yet to see all of the eponymous film directed by Matteo Garrone, but the book has enough detail in it, not only about crime, but also about the relationships between respectable business and crime, to make it an excellent read.
The author of the book, Roberto Saviano, currently remains in hiding, as the Camorra has put a contract out on him.
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