Book on cocaine cartels adapted for TV

Roberto Saviano has shaken readers with his exposé books 'Gomorrah' and 'Zero Zero Zero'. His book 'Gomorrah' was on a crime syndicate and used investigative journalism and literature to reveal the reality of their territory, business and control. 'Zero Zero Zero' exposes the reality of cocaine in South America, how cartels evolved and how they run.Both books were written in Italian and have been translated into English.
Now 'Zero Zero Zero' has been adapted into an eight-part series. Two episodes were premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday in the presence of the author and some of the cast and crews of the series.
“We tell the story of something that I saw and experienced myself making the series...which is that all of us, even if you, personally, don’t use it...you’re not involved in any illegal activity that comes with cocaine, your life is still affected by it,” director and series co-creator Stefano Sollima said.
“What you wear, your bank, or any firm or company that is absolutely legally sound might have started out its activity with money recycled from drug trafficking.”
Actor Dane DeHaan told Reuters, “The series is a truly international story...You have the American storyline, you have the Mexican storyline, you have the Italian storyline, it takes us all across the world.”
“It shows every aspect of the drug trafficking, every story and you really get to know these people personally and they become personal tales, wrapped up in the facts of how all this cocaine gets around the world.”
“Like petrol fuels motors, cocaine is the petrol of human bodies,” the author told Reuters.
“With 5,000 (euros) invested in cocaine, you can be a millionaire...This turns cocaine into Aladdin’s lamp for everyone but the catch is only a few manage to get it and that is the reason they are so ready to kill.”
After all the revelations in the works, the author received death threats and had to live with police protection