(CNN) Italy's firebrand interior minister has threatened to pull an armed police guard off Roberto Saviano, the celebrated writer of a blockbuster book exposing the Camorra mafia.

Speaking on Italian public TV channel RaiTre, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini hinted at a spending review of the writer's guard and said it was up to the relevant institutions to assess whether he runs any real risk to his safety.

"It seems to me that he spends a lot of time abroad, so it seems fair to me to evaluate how the Italians spend their money," Salvini said , adding: "He is the last of my problems. I'll send him a kiss if he is watching now. He is a person who provokes so much tenderness and affection, but it is right to evaluate how Italians spend their money,"

Saviano has been receiving threats to his safety after writing "Gomorrah," a non-fiction bestseller that denounced the Neapolitan mafia. Since 2006, the year "Gomorrah" was published, he has been under constant armed guard, living in police stations and anonymous hotels.

The writer, who is a public figure and frequent commentator on Italian society and politics, has grown increasingly critical of the harsh anti-immigration and xenophobic stance of the interior minister's League party, which may help explain the polarizing statement. After Salvini proposed a census of Italy's Roma population, Saviano wrote on Facebook : "Today someone with great responsibilities of government spoke in no uncertain terms of deportation of the Roma and none of his allies considered it appropriate to distance themselves from this abomination."

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