Roberto Saviano, author of the Italian best-selling expose on the criminal underworld in Naples, may be in danger of losing his life. On Tuesday, anti-Mafia prosecutors in Italy said that they are investigating a reported death threat against Saviano. Of course this is only likely to increase interest in the already wildly popular book.

Prosecutor Franco Roberti of Naples said that his unit is currently looking into a claim by an informant that the Camorra crime syndicate is planning to kill Saviano by December. Roberti said that the reported threat involved an attack along a highway that would also target Saviano's police escort.

Ever since his book "Gomorra", which denounced the Camorra's hold on everything from drug running to waste disposal to the garment industry, became a best-seller in Italy, Saviano has been under police protection.

In the book Saviano claims that Camorra-run cmopanies routinely win contracts to dispose of toxic wastes from northern Italian industries by underbidding competitors, and then disposing of it illegally and untreated in rivers and dumps in the region.

Saviano has been under police protection since 2006 when his book "Gomorra," denouncing the Camorra's hold on everything from garment industry to drug running to waste disposal, became a best-seller in Italy.

"Gomorra" has been published worldwide, and was released last year in the United States. The book is also the basis for a film of the same name that won second place at the Cannes Film Festifal this spring. The film is also Italy's best hope for best foreign-language film at next year's Academy Awards.
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