For almost a century, our screens have been filled with wise guys and goodfellas. Whether it’s The Godfather or Tony Soprano, we love to watch guys in Italian restaurants taking care of business; the Mafia film becoming a trope as well-worn as the Western.
But, these days, is any of it still true to reality? In 2016, are Italian family men actually putting decapitated horses’ heads in the beds of their rivals and making offers you can’t refuse?
To find out, I’ve come to Italy to a visit an area of Rome that, in Roman times, was known as Suburra. It’s where the wealthy would come to mix with the lower classes in taverns and brothels, often looking for prostitutes or professional killers. It’s also the name of a new film by Gomorrah director Stefano Sollima, because it turns out that 2,000 years later, the city’s political classes still like to come here to make deals with the illegal underworld.
The Collected Works of Kevin EG Perry 