Roberto Saviano, author behind the journalistic look at organized crime in Naples, Italy, in Gomorrah (2007), returns to the scene of the crimes with a brilliantly realized fictional take on the Southern Italian crime world in The Piranhas: The Boy Bosses of Naples.
The Piranhas is a novel that reads like nonfiction. An opening note by Saviano reads, “[W]hat you are about to read actually occurred. Facts have been modified...in order to make a violent and complex world more comprehensible.”
That world has been narrowed to focus on a group of 10 adolescent boys who want to own Naples. They also want “fine clothing and displays of wealth,” luxury cars, gold Rolexes, Valentino sneakers, bespoke suits, Dolce & Gabbana underwear, bottomless flutes of Veuve Clicquot, and to be “lusted after by women and envied by men.”
In order to achieve this, they form a paranza, an Italian word for “boats that go out to catch fish through the trickery of light.” The leader of the pack is 15-year-old Nicolas Fiorillo, aka the Maraja. In this subculture of crime, nicknames are earned, given to you by someone else. One’s “monicker is more important than your real name,” and Nicolas’ comes from his ambition to have 24-hour access to the private room of the New Maharaja nightclub, an exclusive spot that caters to businessmen, sports stars, notaries, lawyers, and judges.
Nicolas rules the gang by two overarching principles—Machiavellianism and the time-honored invective Adda muri mamma. The latter can be translated as “May my mother die,” and is used as a sort of solemn oath, not wholly unlike swearing on your mother’s grave. From Machiavelli’s The Prince, he learns that it is “better to have a reputation as a master of cruelty than of mercy…. Someone who’s going to be prince shouldn’t care whether the people fear him.” Both Machiavelli and mamma are constant refrains throughout the novel.
As the paranza get closer to their ultimate goals, the acts of vengeance and blood escalate as the blood brothers gain power by murdering rival gang members, use immigrants for target practice, and go from petty crimes like “slinging hash” at school to hijacking a tanker truck. They ignore the consequences of their violent lives, and ultimately the effect it has on their loved ones and families.
The Piranhas is a fully engaging, sometimes gut-wrenching gaze into the savage underbelly of Naples.