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Roberto Saviano wins against the mafia, bursts into tears in the courtroom: They stole my life!

2025-07-15 12:07:17Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Roberto Saviano wins against the mafia, bursts into tears in the courtroom: They
Roberto Saviano

The Rome Court of Appeal has confirmed the convictions of one of the bosses of the Camorra – the Neapolitan mafia – Francesco Bidognetti and his lawyer, Michele Santonastaso, for threats made in 2008 against the writer Roberto Saviano and against Rosaria Capacchione, a journalist for the newspaper The Morning of Napoli. These threats changed the life of the author of Gomorrah, who has been living with a bodyguard ever since.

Bidognetti, head of the powerful Casalesi clan, was sentenced to a year and a half in prison, while Santonastaso received a year and two months in prison. Both were charged with aggravated threats by mafia methods, which took place during one of the Camorra's most high-profile trials, known as Spartacus.

The threats against Saviano and Capacchione were contained in a document signed by Bidognetti and Antonio Iovine – another mafia boss who later decided to cooperate with justice – which the lawyer, now convicted, read during a hearing in the case.

The verdict was met with applause in the courtroom and tears of emotion from Saviano, who heartbrokenly hugged his lawyer. “Victory is in the proceedings (of the trial), but my life has been destroyed,” he told reporters after leaving the courtroom. “My life has been stolen,” he lamented.

Almost 17 years of waiting

It has been almost 17 years since that event, which the Italian justice system acknowledged on Monday. It is also a moral victory, as in these almost two decades, Roberto Saviano has faced those who criticize the writer for enriching himself through his books and articles thanks to organized crime.

This criticism has been voiced by the far right, notably Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and League leader Matteo Salvini. The latter even threatened to withdraw the writer's bodyguard when he was Interior Minister, as he considered that his life was not in danger. Monday's sentence confirms exactly the opposite.

“16 years of legal proceedings are not a victory for anyone,” Saviano declared after learning of the conviction. “Now we have official proof that their bosses, together with their lawyers, signed a proclamation in which they targeted those who confessed to their criminal power. And they did not attack politics, but journalism, implying that they had held journalists responsible for their convictions. And they mentioned my name and that of Rosaria Capacchione. This had never happened in a court, anywhere in the world,” he declared.


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