*SPOILERS FOR SEASONS 1–4 OF GOMORRAH*
When it comes to organised crime, it doesn’t matter what they say: it’s always personal. Over the last four seasons Gomorrah has become the greatest mafia epic of the 21st century, a sweeping story of crime and revenge across Europe. And at the heart of this story have been two men: Ciro “l’Immortale” (The Immortal) Di Marzio (Marco D’Amore) and Gennaro “Genny” Savastano (Salvatore Esposito).
Gomorrah begins in Naples, where the local branch of the Camorra (the region’s organised crime families) is run by the ageing and utterly ruthless Don Pietro (Fortunato Cerlino). His son Genny is an immature screw-up, the kind of kid someone would have killed years ago if not for his family. But even his parents know this can’t go on, so the Don orders his right-hand man Ciro to educate him in the ways of their world – which means trying to get Genny to handle an execution.
Ciro, of course, has plans to use Genny to expand his own influence; when the Don is locked up, Genny’s mother Imma (Maria Pia Calzone) takes over, and she has her own vision for the family. Genny ends up overseas trying to secure a Central American drug connection, while Ciro is sent to Spain on what is basically a suicide mission to shore up local supplies. Neither trip goes the way Imma expects: before the season’s over she’s taken off the board. The bond between Ciro and Genny is shattered forever, and that’s before Ciro puts a bunch of bullets in him.
Ciro and Gennaro in season 1 of ‘Gomorrah’. Source: SBS
Genny’s transformation in the first season introduced what is perhaps the most sinister haircut in the history of organised crime. He left a chunky mamma’s boy; he returned with what can only be described as an evil mullet clinging to his head. Shaved sides, the back spiked up while the top is slicked down, it’s the kind of haircut that advises you to run, not walk, away from the wearer. Exactly what happened to Genny in Central America to change him so completely has never really been gone into in depth. It’s possible that the haircut is some kind of alien parasite controlling him.
The second season saw Don Pietro back on the streets and Genny – who somehow survived the gunshots – trying to move on, leaving Naples to be run by a syndicate of drug dealers led by Ciro. The Immortal’s vision couldn’t last. Struggles over territory, personal differences and bitter rivalries had them on the back foot from the start. Even when they managed to take out their external foes, Don Pietro remained a thorn in their side… though he’d only escaped to an even smaller cell, a tiny hideout apartment hidden behind a wall in a laundry.
Don Pietro (Fortunato Cerlino) and Genny Savastano (Salvatore Esposito) with mullet in season 2 of ‘Gomorrah’. Source: SBS
From there he used shop assistant Patrizia Santore (Cristiana Dell’Anna) as his connection to the outside world, marshalling his forces to wage war on Ciro. Having his father back throwing his weight around didn’t fit in with Genny’s plans; he’d married Azzurra Avitabile (Ivana Lotito), daughter of a crime boss based in Rome, who was looking to go legit, and together they were busy muscling her father out of the way. Now Genny had his own father to deal with – and he reached out to the last person anyone would suspect to do it.
(If there’s a moral to this series, it’s that having kids when you’re a crime boss is a bad move on just about every level.)
Over the first three seasons Ciro and Genny’s fates were intertwined, even when there was an ocean between them. Ciro, who at first seemed like the hotshot future of the Savastano crime family, is gradually undone, even when he seems to be doing everything right. He’s also the one with the serious body count, having been responsible directly or indirectly for the deaths of more than one head of the Savastano family – plus his own wife, who he killed in a fit of rage then made it look like a mob hit.
Ciro and Gennaro in season 3 of ‘Gomorrah’. Source: Distributor
Genny is more of a quiet achiever, utterly ruthless but never one to fly off the handle. He’s more than happy to get his hands dirty when need be – early in season three he helps murder then dismember a number of men just to keep a drug connection safe – but his killings (and they mount up) are always cold-blooded. So at the end of season three, when he puts a bullet in Ciro and dumps him over the side of a yacht, it’s nothing personal – just another chess move in a game that only ends one way.
Now at the start of the fifth and final season, Genny has come a long way. He’s risen to the top, made new enemies, and now finds himself in the same situation his father did towards the end: hiding out in a bunker hoping his men will make it safe to come out. But when he learns Ciro survived the bullet and is still alive (as anyone who saw the stand-alone movie The Immortal ( already knew), all bets are off.
Ciro and Genny in the fifth and final season of ‘Gomorrah’. Source: Distributor
Will these former brothers, former enemies, who between them have shed more blood than an average-sized plane crash, team up again – or will their shared history drive them to one final, deadly encounter?
Gomorrah seasons 1–5 are now streaming at . Double episodes of season 5 are landing weekly on Saturdays. Jump to episode 1 of season 5:
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