Gomorrah
'Gomorrah' is both a bold and engrossing piece of investigative writing and one heroic young man's impassioned story of a place under the rule of a murderous organisation.
Stats for nerds
10recommend
17mentions
15people
2012–2024years
59% recommend41% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Gomorrah (Gomorra), book by Roberto Saviano explains fashion brands business like this in detail (among others). Highly recommend, though sometimes quite depressing read.
- The three main Italian mafia groups are up there, ’Ndrangheta, Comorra and La Costra Nostra. Their reach is simply massive, as is their revenue. Yet they're not well known (even in Italy, according to a northern Italian colleague) and certainty not in the rest of Europe, despite a string of businesses in many industries across the continent. Their reach must be quite a bit larger than the "five families" of New York, yet they're much less well known.
> The ’Ndrangheta – based in the southern region of Calabria, the toe of the Italian boot – is reputed to be one of the richest and most feared criminal organisations in the world. A study by the Demoskopita Research Institute in 2013 estimated its financial strength as more than that of Deutsche Bank and McDonald’s combined, with an annual turnover of €53bn (£44bn).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/27/uk-to-come-und...
Another good book is "Gomorrah" about the Comorra mafia[1]. Their reach is simply staggering across Europe.
- I can’t speak to the British case, but the book Gomorrah goes some way to answering these questions for organized crime in Naples.
- Gomorrah [1], the book, by Roberto Saviano is pretty good too.
[1] quick fun read on the origins of Sodom and Gomorrah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodom_and_Gomorrah
- I highly recommend Gomorrah, a fictionalised set of inter-related stories about the role of the Camorra in running Naples (including waste disposal).
- For those interested in the subject, Roberto Saviano's Gomorrah is a fascinating non-fiction account about the lesser-known but incredibly powerful Naples mafia, the Camorra. Among other industries, it has inserted itself at the center of the luxury fashion industry, with a fascinating hold on the same factories that produce attire and accessories for the red carpet.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jan/12/crime.mafia
> The Neapolitan Camorra, or "the System" as it is known by those on its inside, is a vast, pullulating world of gangs. They form, split, descend into vicious feuds, and re-emerge in new alliances only to be annihilated in some new internecine war. Whereas a Sicilian capo can confidently expect to see his grandchildren set out on their criminal careers, a senior camorrista is lucky if he reaches 40... Following a series of highly credible death threats, since autumn 2006 Saviano has been given an armed escort at public expense.
https://www.esquire.com/style/news/a50424/italy-mafia-counte...
> Quoting Italian journalist Roberto Saviano from his 2006 book Gomorrah: Italy's Other Mafia, the article points out that: The workforce in clan operations is highly skilled, with decades of experience under Italy's and Europe's most important designers. The same hands that once worked under the table for the big labels now work for the clans…Which means that the clothes made by the clans aren't typical counterfeit goods…but rather a sort of true fake. All that's missing is the final step: the brand name, the official authorization from the motherhouse.
> Basically how it works in Italy is that multiple factories would bid on a job to produce clothes or accessories for a fashion brand. The brand would then supply fabrics and designs to each of the factories, and whichever one supplied the garments fastest and with the highest quality would be paid. Those factories that didn't win the bid would then re-brand the clothes and sell them through the Camorra's retail network. It's part of the reason why today, nearly 10 percent of all fashion related-products sold in Europe are counterfeit.
The book itself is a shocking read - highly recommended.
