Roberto Saviano secures a key conviction against the Camorra: "It's the most important ruling of my life."

Italian writer and journalist Roberto Saviano (Naples, 45), an international symbol of the fight against the Mafia , received a judicial victory this Monday that he described as "the most important" of his life. The Rome Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of Francesco Bidognetti, long-time leader of the Casalesi Camorro clan , and his lawyer Michele Santonastaso, for threats against the author of Gomorrah.

The judges confirmed the sentence of one and a half years in prison for Bidognetti and one year and two months for Santonastaso , in a case that dates back to 2008, when both publicly intimidated Saviano and the journalist Rosaria Capacchione - then a senator for the Democratic Party - during a hearing of the so-called Spartacus Trial, which ended with several life sentences for crimes committed by the clan.

Attorney Santonastaso had read aloud a statement from his clients in which they openly threatened journalists and prosecutors. The court considered this act a mafia-style maneuver to intimidate those investigating and exposing the clan's ties to politics, drug trafficking, and corporate corruption.

The sentence was greeted with applause in the courtroom and tears of emotion from Saviano , who has lived under police protection since 2006—following the publication of Gomorrah —due to threats from organized crime.

The National Federation of the Italian Press (FNSI) and the Association of Journalists participated as private prosecutors in the case, highlighting the symbolic nature of the case: the defense of the right to information and the protection of investigative journalism.

In a column published that same day in Il Corriere della Sera , Saviano reflected on the long judicial journey : “For years I hated Bidognetti and his lawyer, convinced that they were to blame for my condition. But, deep down, it was me who didn’t separate myself from this madness. I decided to stay, to tell it, to resist .”

In the same text, he sent a message to the new generations of journalists who confront organized crime: “ Don't do it alone. Form networks. Don't just put your lives on the line. Don't be naive.”

Fifteen years after those threats, the author who threatened the Camorra has achieved judicial redress. It doesn't erase the price he paid with his personal freedom, but it represents—as he himself put it—a crucial victory in the battle for the truth.

Saviano has lived under protection for nearly two decades because of his books about the Mafia , and he portrayed part of that experience in a graphic novel titled I'm Still Alive (Reservoir Books), with illustrations by Asaf Hanuka, in which the author speaks openly about his life as a man persecuted and threatened by Italian criminal organizations.

#Maduro is a tyrant. He declared a fake election victory. The vote count is irregular and the elections were held in a climate of constant intimidation. #Venezuela is a narco-state that prevents freedom of expression, persecutes opponents and these elections were a farce.…

— Roberto Saviano (@robertosaviano) July 30, 2024

The book recalls that Saviano has been surrounded by his bodyguards since he was 26. They enter his house before him, searching under the bed and in the bathtub.

He even spent a period as a refugee in the United States under the false name David Dannon . "Do you think I could pull off calling myself that, with that face and that accent? Americans have very little imagination..." he jokingly told the newspaper El País .

The sword of Damocles also hangs over the heads of his family and anyone who comes near him. Was it worth it? Saviano responded to La Vanguardia:

– No. Looking back, I would do everything differently. More cautiously, saving my life. I regret what I did, but I don't deny it. What I saw around me made me furious, immensely angry, and I wanted to speak out, to somehow change things with words. I had a great ambition. A mortal sin. To change the world.

The Saviano in I'm Still Alive is destroyed. So is the real one: he only sleeps if he takes medication and has been receiving psychological help for years .

“I'm in pieces,” he said, “and with this graphic novel I hope to be able to say to myself now, 'Enough, I'm alive and I'm becoming someone else.' It's all been too much; I don't know how I've managed to keep going all these years. My will now is to try to put the pieces back together. There's a cartoon in which I'm like a shell; when someone touches me, I don't feel like they're touching me; I'm still inside it, but on the outside, I'm completely damaged. If it were a competition, I would certainly have lost.”