Roberto Saviano (Naples, 1979) has claimed the title of Italian judge Giovanni Falcone to the category of fictional characters. Behind the title ““The brave are alone”The Italian writer, who has lived under constant threat from the mafia since his book “Gomorrah” in 2006, addresses the figure of the judge who wanted to dismantle the Cosa Nostra and was ultimately murdered along with his wife and three bodyguards in a brutal explosion of his car in 1992. Saviano assures us that the magistrate was a “revolutionary” who “changed world history” with his investigations into the mafia by showing that “organized crime is a form of criminal capitalism.” Saviano is probably the journalist who knows the subject best: “These are not gangs of thieves or murderers, but rather economic, moral and military organizations. If today there are judicial investigations against organized crime in Madrid, Los Angeles or Manila, we owe it to Falcone.”
Saviano assures that the judge “It not only allowed us to see the world in a different way, but it also changed it.” “That’s why they killed him,” Saviano tells a group of journalists via video conference. “His head couldn’t think any further.” Falcone is characterized in the novel as a courageous and lonely person who “never held a responsible position in high positions” and who was always “sabotaged” by those around him. “On the day of his death, everyone was his friend, the father of the country. Unfortunately, his corpse was much less scary than his life. They immediately sanctified him so that he would never be dangerous again.”
The vision he offers of his country is devastating. “Democracy in Italy is a shell and what lies inside is a country ravaged by corruption and a slow justice system, with an economy always dependent on government policies.”“It is a terrible country,” he adds, warning that “the future of Spain and France, if things go badly,” will be the same as the future of Italy.
Saviano refers to the “Mafioso totalitarianism” as the element that articulates national life. “Unlike political dictatorships, in mafia dictatorship the tyrants fall but are renewed in Darwinian fashion.” “The mafia organization will never be beheaded.”. This even happened with the arrest in 1993 of Toto Riina, the Sicilian gangster who ordered Falcone’s murder, a year after the brutal attack that shocked the world. “It was a mistake by Cosa Nostra to attract media attention with this murder. If they hadn’t killed him, Riina would have lost her inner strength, so it was also a way to defend herself, otherwise other families would have killed him.”
Spain, a country infected by the mafia
When it comes to Spain, Saviano always warns against the silent establishment of Italian mafia in our territory. “Spain is full, but it is only talked about in very general terms. The Spanish believe that the mafia is a Russian and Italian affair. This perception leads criminal organizations to invest in these countries in complete safety.” He also warns of “the indifference of Europe, which is very scattered,” before revealing that “The European country waging the fiercest war against drug trafficking is Sweden. but that doesn’t happen because there is no story or narrative.”
In addition, the mafias have changed their strategy today, explains the author of “ZeroZeroZero”. “They no longer attack the state head-on. “The state can be bought.”
When asked about the tragedy of living hidden and accompanied, and what would have changed if he could revisit his life, Saviano concludes: “It wasn’t worth it.” “If If I could go back, I wouldn’t do what I did because it destroyed me. Today I am 44 years old and under protection and have led an absurd life.” Saviano admits that he tries to match the courage and bravery of characters like Falcone. “I try not to let fear control me.. Fear can be a positive thing in life, just like pain. She gives you information that will help you. Courage is a choice, you are not born with it.”
Saviano not only feels caught up in the murderous breath of the mafia, whose powers he exposed in “Gomorrah,” but he also lives plagued by “the silence” that he perceives from the world of politics and other areas such as the university. “You accuse me of stupidity for living in a penthouse in Manhattan, having an escort like it was a privilege. “That’s what the current Italian deputy prime minister said,” he says, referring to Matteo Salvini, “one of the most dangerous politicians in Europe, and not just because of his relations with Russia.”
A new hearing is scheduled for December 7th for Salvini’s defamation trial for linking him to the mafia in a publication on his social networks in 2018. A few weeks ago he was sentenced to pay a thousand euros to the mafia to Prime Minister Meloni, whom he called a “bastard” in a television program in 2020 in which he expressed his opinion on the anti-immigrant rhetoric of some Italian politicians. Asked about the migration policy of the European Union, Regrets that Brussels has chosen to forge “alliances with human traffickers and corrupt governments in Africa”. instead of trying out plans so that the countries sending migrants “can grow and have a responsible political class.”
Finally, the journalist complains: “We live in the age of silence, you sell more if you don’t take positions, you’re nicer if you don’t talk about bullshit.”