A Socio-Economic Study of the Camorra Through Journalism
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A SOCIO-ECONOMIC STUDY OF THE CAMORRA THROUGH JOURNALISM, RELIGION AND FILM by ROBERT SHELTON BELLEW (under the direction of Thomas E. Peterson) ABSTRACT This dissertation is a socio-economic study of the Camorra as portrayed through Roberto Saviano‘s book Gomorra: Viaggio nell'impero economico e nel sogno di dominio della Camorra and Matteo Garrone‘s film, Gomorra. It is difficult to classify Saviano‘s book. Some scholars have labeled Gomorra a ―docufiction‖, suggesting that Saviano took poetic freedoms with his first-person triune accounts. He employs a prose and news reporting style to narrate the story of the Camorra exposing its territory and business connections. The crime organization is studied through Italian journalism, globalized economics, eschatology and neorealistic film. In addition to igniting a cultural debate, Saviano‘s book has fomented a scholarly consideration on the innovativeness of his narrative style. Wu Ming 1 and Alessandro Dal Lago epitomize the two opposing literary camps. Saviano was not yet a licensed reporter when he wrote the book. Unlike the tradition of news reporting in the United States, Italy does not have an established school for professional journalism instruction. In fact, the majority of Italy‘s leading journalists are writers or politicians by trade who have gravitated into the realm of news reporting. There is a heavy literary influence in Italian journalism that would be viewed as too biased for Anglo- American journalists. Yet, this style of writing has produced excellent material for a rich literary production that can be called engagé or political literature. A study of Gomorra will provide information about the impact of the book on current Italian journalism. The book was later made into a film with similar religious overtones. The film version, made up of five vignettes, serves as social commentary as explained through cinematic parables. Similar to Saviano‘s book, Garrone has blurred the lines between objective documentation and artistic embellishment in reporting the Camorra malaise on Italian society. INDEX WORDS: Camorra, Saviano, Garrone, Gomorra, Gomorrah, Italian journalism, End of Times, New Italian Epic, Dal Lago, Wu Ming 1, apocalyptic, Mafia, parable, prophet, martyr, Pasolini, Cosa Nostra. A SOCIO-ECONOMIC STUDY OF THE CAMORRA THROUGH JOURNALISM, RELIGION AND FILM by ROBERT SHELTON BELLEW A.B.J., The University of Georgia, 1995 FORM (Laurea), Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy, 2004 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2011 © 2011 Robert Shelton Bellew All Rights Reserved A SOCIO-ECONOMIC STUDY OF THE CAMORRA THROUGH JOURNALISM, RELIGION AND FILM by ROBERT SHELTON BELLEW Major Professor: Thomas E. Peterson Committee: Steven Grossvogel Jan Pendergrass Electronic Version Approved Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2011 iv DEDICATION To my lost son Massimo who has not been home since May 2007: ―You will travel far my little [one], but we will never leave you, even in the face of our death. You will make my strength your own. You will see my life through your eyes as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father and the father the son.‖ −Jor-El as cited in Bryan Singer v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my mother and sister who have stood by me as I try to help my son. I am particularly thankful to the Walker‘s Coffee Shop; especially Chris Helms, Alex Pritchett and Erik Nelson who have rendered my life lighthearted while I toiled over my dissertation. My major professor and my committee have been patient, and for this I am grateful. To Dean Noel Fallows: he is one of the few people whose infinite compassion equals his vast wisdom. To Jack Lauder who made coffee time fun and intellectual during my years in Florence, Italy. A special thanks to my 753 group/family: Professor Ian Hagarty, Peter Mwaura Gachanja, don Lino, Professor Fazal Khan, Ben Walters, Esq., Josh Squires, Dott. Alessio Artuffo, Professor Gary K. Baker, Professor Byron Joey Warner III and of course "Bit. ‖ I flashed the Bat signal hoping to hear from Robin or the Caped Crusdaer, but instead I got you, the "Superheroes' Hall of Justice.‖ vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………………….. V CHAPTER INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………… 1 1 SAVIANO AND REPORTAGE: ITALIAN JOURNALISM……………… 23 2 AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE CAMORRA AND THE PEOPLE…. 59 3 APOCALYPTIC ESCHATOLOGY: DUALITY AND END OF TIMES…. 105 4 GOMORRA AS FILM: FIVE PARABLES...……………………….………. 155 CONCLUSION.……………………………………………………………… 190 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………….. 214 1 INTRODUCTION Gomorra: Viaggio nell‟impero economico e nel sogno di dominio della camorra, by Roberto Saviano, is an account of organized crime in the Naples area.1 In my study I will attempt to examine through journalism, history, literature, religion and film how the Camorra is portrayed by a young writer who has been deeply affected by loss and destruction to become a modern-day Italian vate, or a poet-prophet. Gomorra is a disquieting account of a culture that has no moral authority. The author evokes society‘s fundamental beliefs about sin, evil and redemption to create a literary work that compels the reader to think about the future. Saviano draws on Italy‘s rich past to present a current state of lawlessness and to warn of inevitable destruction that will follow. Ultimately he finds his voice through the literature of apocalypse to warn of dire consequences to his region and to the rest of the world: In apocalyptic eschatology, the expectation is also that God will work to accomplish his purposes for humanity […]. From this perspective, human existence and therefore human history have become so contaminated and corrupted by sin and evil that [human history] is basically unredeemable, at least from any human perspective. There is not enough in human history worth salvaging. So, in order to accomplish his purposes in the world, 1The English language translation of the book Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples‟ Organized Crime System is translated by Virginia Jewiss. 2 and to vindicate the faithful, God must destroy present history as we know it and begin again with something totally different. The images of cleansing and purification are often used, most often in the symbol of fire as a way to talk about ridding the world of all evil influences. (Bratcher n.p.) With Gomorra, Saviano becomes a prophet, conveying his experience with the supernatural (the world of evil) to humanity. His prophecy warns of a desolate future. The title is a play on words with the biblical city of Gomorra and an organized crime society known as the Camorra. Saviano writes a compelling account of the clandestine particulars of that organized crime network. He combines gonzo journalism, religious references and philosophy to produce an apocalyptic eschatology. His book and the film version have had a powerful effect on scholars and the general public. In fact, Saviano is forced to live under police protection. The recent global economic collapse can be attributed to many of the same moral, ethical and legal failures chronicled by Saviano. Gomorra begins as a journalistic recounting of the crime and corruption that permeate southern Italy, reaching into much of the world. The Camorra is not new and many articles and books have been written about organized crime in southern Italy. Saviano‘s exposé is unique because of the literary style in which he documents the evolution of the organization and makes moral judgments about its threat to society. Dereck Daschke, in City of Ruins: Mourning the Destruction of Jerusalem Through Jewish Apocalypse, has many insights about the personal suffering as well as group trauma that result in apocalyptic literature. He points out that there is a relationship between mourning as found in symbolic loss and national trauma and mourning as a theme of apocalypse. He insists 3 that national trauma and symbolic loss are ruptures in the continuity of reality, and that the only way to mend it is to face the losses head on, with immediacy: ―The persistence of the apocalyptic mentality through millennia attests to its enduring appeal as a model for comprehending the actions and motivations of others or inspiring one‘s own‖ (Daschke 30). The ancient apocalyptic genre was not confined to a single culture or religious tradition: External influence is important but internal developments are important also. There is a subtle inter-relationship between the two. The early Jewish writers relied heavily on mythology, which was the traditional language and thought form of religion of the time. (Collins 35) The apocalyptic genre also appears in Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, Greek, Latin, Islamic and Persian literature. The choice by Saviano of Gomorra as his title invites speculation on many levels. Gomorrah is mentioned throughout the Old and New Testaments as a metaphor for the consequences of unrepentant sin. References are found in Genesis, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Matthew, Luke, Romans, Peter, Jude and Revelation. The ancient apocalyptic genre is not confined to a single culture or religious tradition. These writings continue the early apocalyptic belief in a ―cosmic realm‖ over the real world of historical event. Wu Ming 1 (Roberto Bui‘s nom de plume) described Saviano‘s style of work as representative of a potentially new literary genre.2 ―New Italian Epic‖ is a term coined by Wu 2 Wu Ming is the pen name for the Italian authors who formed from the Luther Blissett community in Bologna. Wu ming means "anonymous‖ in Chinese. They are a group of literary and pop culture writers whose writing style is often referred to as the ―nebula.‖ Wu Ming Members refer to their literary style as ―New Italian Epic.‖ 4 Ming 1 at a seminar on contemporary Italian literature at McGill University in 2008 and on an online publication in 2008 titled ―The Italian Perspective on Metahistorical Fiction: The New Italian Epic‖ (Wu Ming 1 n.p.).