Ferrandino studied medicine at the University of Naples without completing his degree, but following instead his passion of working as a comic strip scriptwriter.
At the end of the seventies, he produced a series of renowned scripts, for publications such as Nero, Lanciostory, Dylan Dog, and Mickey Mouse, reaching the peak of his scriptwriting popularity in the 1980s.
However, after being translated into French by Gallimard, the novel was republished in 1998 in Italy by Adelphi Edizioni, with great success.
The story is constructed as an American noir, with a realistic Neapolitan dialect and strong characters, often verging on the grotesque as represented by the pulp literary genre.
In 2007 American director Abel Ferrara produced the film version of Ferrandino's 1st novel, with Italian actor Riccardo Scamarcio in the starring role.