There is a story. And there is a man who tells it. The story is that of Antonino De Masi, Calabrian entrepreneur. The man who tells her is Pietro Comito, a journalist. It is not a simple story. It is one of those stories that bring you down to you, in the underworld, where darkness is not only the absence of light but a living presence. That surrounds you. Challenges you. And then there is also a light, dimly but tenacious, in this darkness. It is there that shines in the eyes of those who have never stopped believing in justice. The book “Underworld: the true story of a survivor to the ‘ndrangheta” is a journey. A trip to an harsh and beautiful land, Calabria, where the wind brings with it the scent of the sea, but also the echo of the threats whispered in the shade of the mountains.
It is a journey into the soul of a man who has chosen to resist, even when everything seemed lost. Nino De Masi is not a hero in the classic sense of the term. He did not choose this battle. He suffered it. How to undergo the rain. But then he decided to stand up under that storm, and in doing so he became something more: a symbol. Pietro Comito – winner of the Borsellino Prize and the Red Agenda Prize for his journalistic work under constant threat – tells himtogether with Nino himself, with the delicacy of those who know the weight of words and the strength of the stories. Because stories can save or destroy you. And this story – that of Nino – is a story that saves.
There is only one man with his fears and his doubts, which, however He found the courage to say “no” to the ‘ndrangheta. A “no” who cost him dearly: 13 years under escorthis factories manned by the army, his life lived with his breath on his neck. But also a “no” who made the difference, because De Masi has shown that resisting is possible. At the head of a leading company in the sector of agricultural mechanization and mechanical buildings, its economic success and moral integrity have attracted the attention of the local gangs. And its complaints against extortion requests and mafia intimidation led to the arrest and definitive condemnation of some of the most powerful bosses in the area.
Pietro Comito is a narrator. A man who knows the underworld well of he writes, because he has touched them several times in his work as an investigative journalist. His words are like notes played on an ancient piano: each sentence resonates with a truth that you cannot ignore. And when you read this book, you almost feel the sound of silence – that deafening silence that falls when important things are said in a low voice, for fear that someone can listen to them. “Ill” is also a collective complaint.
The preface by Antonio Nicaso – Journalist, writer and scholar of the mafia -type criminal phenomena – underlines the importance of individual courage in the fight against the mafias, while the contribution of the founder of Libera, Don Luigi Ciotti, draws attention to the need for a common commitment to build a more just society. Both interventions enrich the volume with profound reflections on the meaning of legality and the role of institutions and citizens in the defense of the rule of law.
Pietro Comito once again demonstrates his ability to tell complex stories with lucidity and passion. His direct but empathic style allows you to get in touch with the daily reality of those who live under escort, without ever losing hope in a possible change. “Under” denounces indifference and silence that often accompany mafia phenomena. It is an invitation to reflect on the role that everyone can play in the construction of a company free from fear and corruption.
As De Masi’s story shows, change is possible only when the courage to say “no” to criminal logic is found and “yes” to the values of justice and solidarity. At the end of the trip – because this book is really a trip – you realize that you are no longer the same. You realize that stories like this have the power to change people, because they force you to look at you in and ask you: “What would I do in his place? Would I have the same courage? ». We talked about it with Pietro Comito.
In telling the story of Nino De Masi you had to immerse yourself in his “Underworld” …
«We wrote and structured the book with Nino to be an immersive reading. In order for the reader to live the events directly on his own skin, as if he was truly immersing himself in what was the life of Nino De Masi, however falling into a context that seems almost a saga, because his is a battle inherited from the dad who began it in the 60-70 years. He told me from the most difficult moments of his childhood or his adolescence – when at 14 years of age together with his younger brother armed with rifle he joined his father in protecting his home and company from the attacks – up to the moments of very deep solitude that he lived in facing a battle for survival. Because he denounced the territory in which Nino Princi was torn apart by a bomb; Where Francesco Inzari, an 18 -year -old innocent, was killed out of retaliation against his dad Pasquale ».
The title “Ill” evokes powerful and dramatic images: what do these in the fight against the ‘Ndrangheta represent for you?
“” Inferi “was born because one day Nino showed me a letter sent by a mafia detained to his dad. At the time Nino was a boy, and this mafia wrote to his father who waited for him for dinner, in prison that was practically a hotel, where he even received people. And Nino remembered him well, who he was. And in his description, he seemed one of those Dante’s characters in Hell. Bad. That evil read it to him in the folds of the face. From here “Underworld”, because the underworld are the gods of the Oltretomba, of the Hades ».
After years spent telling stories of mafia and civil resistance, what do you think is necessary to definitively break the wall of homeerta?
«The story of Nino De Masi, like that of many other hidden heroes of our day, must be enhanced and become a collective heritage before these people become martyrs. When public opinion and our country will learn to love these examples, probably the mafias will be defeated because they will no longer represent a criminal social phenomenon the fight to which it is delegated exclusively to the police or the judiciary “.