BETA FILMS Salvatore Esposito, left, and Fortunato Cerlino in Sky's epic Italian drama

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They forgot to tell that to Don Pietro Savastano. Father to a weak son, head of a mob family under fire from every quarter and on the run, he has plenty to sweat about. Gomorrah, Sky’s epic Italian drama about organised crime in Naples, is back for a second series. Those who haven’t seen it should banish any mental images of the ancient city’s sweeping bay, glinting in the warmth of a dying sun to the warbling strains of mandolins strumming O Sole Mio. This is organised crime Italian-style. Think The Wire rather than The Godfather. Filmed on location in Scampia and Secondigliano, a purgatory littered with disused warehouses and stinking tenement blocks, this is the Baltimore of Italy.

Neglected, adrift and prey to the will of the strongest, the streets run red. It is a world that Fortunato Cerlino knows well. Though he had enjoyed some fame in the theatre, Gomorrah has propelled the respected Italian actor into dark corners he’d hoped he’d never visit: “I was fortunate to come from a very good family. They didn’t go to university, they weren’t sophisticated, but they were honest,” he says. “My father always set a good example. He always worked hard. He worked in construction and, believe me, he came across very lucrative offers which would have involved an association with organised crime. He always said no. We saw this as children. “My mother is a woman who, while poor, is rich in values. We knew Camorristi, of course. I had friends who joined that life. I was always amazed at how some people can so easily lose perspective, stop seeing the full picture. I just don’t understand those who can choose a road that leads to violence against others. Like I said, I was lucky.”

GETTY Fortunato Cerlino came from a humble family that had a rich moral compass

People have an image of a typical gangster living for violence. And of course, those gangsters exist Fortunato Cerlino

While Sicily has the Cosa Nostra – a rigid hierarchy where the Godfather, or capo di tutti capi, is the ultimate arbitrator of disputes – Naples’s Camorra is different. Families control their own turf and meet as equals to work out problems. It’s more democratic. But also more messy. Fortunato’s character, Don Pietro, is no Tony Soprano. There’s no patience here for “first world” ailments like existential crises. “People have an image of a typical gangster living for violence. And of course, those gangsters exist,” says the 52-year-old actor. Unlike Sicily, where major anti-Mafia successes have emboldened shopkeepers to display “No al Pizzo” (no protection money) signs, the practice is still rife in Naples. “Honest shopkeepers still have to deal with it,” he says. “Now the Camorristi may be dressed in nice suits when they come through your shop door. “They offer you insurance. And if you refuse, they don’t threaten you.

GETTY Fortunato Cerlino’s character Don Pietro has no time for existential crises

“They gently and politely ask why you’re not worried about your young son, who is still at school, where anything can happen to him. These are areas with little state presence. The simplest thing to do is to comply.” Violence remains all too prominent, but that’s not to say mob bosses aren’t changing. “When it comes to the top, the street thugs of yesterday have gone. Over the past 10 years we’ve begun to see a new kind of boss. These are men who have gone to university and studied, even worked abroad, all the while preparing themselves for the responsibilities they will have one day. “They’re much more frightening because they blend in so well with regular society. We’re discovering now that some politicians have been planted, from the very beginning, to make sure laws go a certain way. Like sleepers. You can’t tell them apart any more. That’s playing the long game.” His co-star Salvatore Esposito, who plays on-screen son Gennaro “Genny” Savastano, was also transformed by the role.

GETTY Salvatore Esposito grew up around the type of people that appear on Gomorrah