Roberto Saviano, author of 'Gomorrah,' breaks down in tears after the sentencing of the mob boss who threatened him: "My life has been stolen."

Roberto Saviano , the Italian author of "Gomorrah," wept in court Monday as judges upheld the conviction of a notorious mob boss who threatened him.

Francesco Bidognetti , former leader of the Neapolitan Camorra, who was already serving a life sentence for other serious crimes, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for intimidation.

The Rome appeals court upheld a 2021 ruling from a lower court, while also upholding the 14-month sentence for Bidognetti's former lawyer, Michele Santonastaso, for the same crime.

After the verdict, Saviano, 45, sobbed profusely as he hugged his lawyer. He told reporters that the Camorra gangsters had "stolen his life," forcing him to live under 24-hour protection.

The convictions are related to a message Santonastaso read in court in 2008, during another trial, on behalf of Bidognetti and another Camorra boss.

The message contained an "invitation" to Saviano and another journalist to "do their job well," interpreted as a not-so-subtle hint to stop writing about the Neapolitan mafia.

Saviano has been living under police escort since 2006 , when he published 'Gomorrah', a denunciation of the Camorra that has also been adapted into a film and television adaptation.

The book's enormous success made Saviano a public figure, but also an enemy of Bidognetti's ruthless Camorra clan, the Casalesi.