Roberto Saviano

The "piranhas" are not only the dangerous fish that lurk under the calm surface of the Amazon River-- they are also the men and women whose greed, immorality and amorality feed on the fabric of society; not only those who run the illegal machinations of the Mafia and the worldwide drug trade that controls the shadow governments of many countries, but also those who live in the more "respectable" world of finance, banking, and Wall Street, and who fleece the innocent of their savings in order to gobble up big businesses and whole industries.--WorldCat From sensational New York Times bestselling author Harold Robbins comes his toughest and most compelling novel in years--a dazzling exploration of cold ambition and unrestrained lust. From the ruthless dealings of global drug lords to the corporate savagery of Wall Street's hustlers, the Piranhas are those hungry, vicious, men and women whose greed is all-consuming--and whose power is deadly.--LibraryThing**

Roberto Saviano returns to the streets of Naples and the boy bosses who run them in Savage Kiss, the hotly anticipated follow-up to The Piranhas. Nicolas Fiorilla and his gang of children--his paranza--control the squares of Forcella after their rapid rise to power. But it isn't easy being at the top. Now that the Piranhas have power in the city, Nicolas must undermine the old families of the Camorra and remain united among themselves. Every paranzino has his own vendettas and dreams to pursue--dreams that might go beyond the laws of the gang. A new war may be about to break out in this city of cutthroat bargaining, ruthless betrayal, and brutal revenge. Saviano continues the story of the disillusioned boys of Forcella, the paranzini ready to give and receive kisses that leave a taste of blood.

A truly harrowing and groundbreaking synthesis of intimate literary narrative and geopolitical analysis of one of the most powerful dark forces in our economy. Saviano tracks the shift in the cocaine trade's axis of power, from Colombia to Mexico, and relates how the Latin American cartels and gangs have forged alliances, first with the Italian crime syndicates, then with the Russians, Africans, and others. On the one hand, he charts a remarkable increase in sophistication as these criminal entities diversify into many other products and markets. On the other he reveals the astonishing increase in the severity of violence as they have fought to protect and extend their power.

A major bestseller in Italy, this is a heroic young man's impassioned account of the decline of Naples under the rule of the Camorra, an organized crime network with a large international reach and stakes in construction, high fashion, illicit drugs, and toxic-waste disposal. Known by insiders as "the System," the Camorra affects cities and villages along the Neapolitan coast, and is the deciding factor in why Campania, for instance, has the highest murder rate in all of Europe and why cancer levels there have skyrocketed in recent years. Author Saviano, who saw his first murder at age 14, worked under cover to investigate the Camorra's control of Chinese factories contracted to manufacture fashion goods, legally and illegally, for distribution around the world, and relates how the abusive handling of toxic waste is causing devastating pollution not only for Naples but also China and Somalia.--From publisher description.

"Un uomo si ferma di fronte alla scuola che ha frequentato a sedici anni e vede uscire il ragazzo che è stato, quello che ancora ha un futuro tutto da immaginare. L'uomo sa che quel ragazzo è solo, e il suo cammino non sarà facile. Vorrebbe poterlo aiutare, ma non gli è concesso. Può però radunare intorno a lui dei compagni di viaggio che lo guidino, che lo facciano sentire meno solo, perché i nostri destini individuali compongono, insieme, l'unica grande avventura della storia umana. Ipazia, Giordano Bruno, Anna Achmatova, Robert Capa, Jean Seberg, Martin Luther King, Francesca Cabrini sono solo alcuni di questi compagni, ma ci sono anche personaggi sorprendenti come Hulk Hogan, Joseph Goebbels, George Floyd, due giovani italiani costretti a emigrare... Donne e uomini le cui storie - a saperle leggere con l'accanimento del reporter d'inchiesta, con la visione potente dello scrittore - svelano dinamiche nascoste, pericolose, e pongono domande ineludibili. La competizione feroce, la sensazione di essere ridotti a consumatori manipolati dagli algoritmi, una propaganda bugiarda e invasiva: davvero questo è il solo mondo possibile? E perché quando qualcuno alza la voce per ottenere giustizia c'è sempre chi insinua che lo faccia per tornaconto personale, chi lo mette in ridicolo mostrandone le contraddizioni? No: non occorre essere santi per lottare. Le contraddizioni, le debolezze non ci fermano come non hanno fermato le donne e gli uomini che popolano queste pagine. Questo libro è una mappa fatta di storie, che non vogliono insegnarci niente, tanto meno a non sbagliare. Ma una cosa la pretendono: aprirci gli occhi. Al ragazzo fuori da scuola, a tutti i ragazzi vogliono raccontare come le loro madri, i loro padri, i loro fratelli maggiori sono caduti e si sono rialzati. Agli adulti vogliono ancora scaldare il sangue, restituire la voglia d'indignarsi, di ritrovare la rabbia giovane." "In queste pagine Roberto Saviano raccoglie tanti destini in una grande avventura che vede protagonisti tutti noi, la nostra libertàdi pensiero e di espressione. Sono storie narrate 'in negativo', di cui scopriamo come in un thriller i meccanismi nascosti, le dinamiche pericolose. Ipazia, Giordano Bruno, Anna Achmatova, Robert Capa, Joseph Goebbels, Hulk Hogan, Jean Seberg, Martin Luther King, George Floyd, i bambini siriani e i nostri figli laureati costretti a emigrare... Donne e uomini celebri da sempre o famosi per un giorno ci vengono incontro, ci pongono domande ineludibili, ci chiedono di capire: per ritrovare fiducia nella nostra possibilità di alzare la testa e la voce, per gridare che il mondo può ancora cambiare."

Roberto Saviano is best known for his work on the Italian mafia, but Beauty and the Inferno also tackles universal themes with great insight and humanity, with urgency, and often with anger. This important collection includes essays on the legacy of the earthquake at L'Aquila, a town at risk of becoming overrun by mafia; on boxing as an escape route; on the life of the legendary South African jazz singer, Miriam Makeba; on an encounter with Salman Rushdie, and a tribute to Frank Miller, author of the graphic novel 300; on Michael Herr's Dispatches. One essay reflects on the aftermath of the publication of his book and subsequent film, Gomorrah, and how his life has been conditioned by the mafia's death threats, and the final essay in the collection celebrates the life of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Somewhere in a future time and place, people have no names. Lovers find this inconvenient, so they begin naming each other. The two main characters settle on the following names: the woman is the Nakajima Miyuki Song Book, and the man, who teaches at a poetry school, is Sayonara, Gangsters. Their cat, who prefers milk-and-vodka and is a great fan of Aristotle, is named Henry IV. The first of the book's three parts tells the story of Sayonara, Gangsters's former lover, "the woman," and their daughter, named both Caraway and Green Pinky. In the second section, Sayonara, Gangster explains his work at the poetry school. The last section is an action-filled account of three gangsters who come to be taught poetry and who are killed after a gunfight with a detachment of armored police.

The fiance e of an Italian soldier who was killed in Afghanistan copes with her loss, and a young man from southern Italy recalls the first time a girlfriend from the northern part of the country visited him in his hometown.