Mob allegedly threatens 'Gomorrah' author

NAPLES, Italy, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Italy's Camorra has put a hit out on Roberto Saviano, the journalist who wrote about the crime syndicate in his popular book "Gomorrah," sources told ANSA.

A movie based on the expose is Italy's entry for the upcoming Oscar race. Three men who appear in the film reportedly have been arrested for alleged real-life ties to organized crime.

ANSA said the Naples anti-mafia bureau is investigating a new threat on the life of the 29-year-old writer, who has lived under 24-hour police protection since his book debuted in 2006.

Rome's daily newspaper La Repubblica said the informant was a former member of the Clan dei Casalesi, the crime family featured in Saviano's book. The newspaper quoted the informant as telling police a mob boss ordered Saviano and his guards be killed ''by Christmas."

''That book created too much noise, it became a phenomenon," ANSA quoted the officer who got the tip as saying.

Saviano told La Repubblica, ''Life under siege has changed me for the worse, turning me into a suspicious, taciturn recluse."