Mafiosi wanted: must swear absolute loyalty, be punctual and avoid bars.
A list of “10 Commandments” for gangsters, found at the home of the Sicilian Mafia’s top boss, has given investigators a unique insight into what makes a perfect mobster.
Italian newspapers yesterday published a list of mob principles set by Salvatore Lo Piccolo, the suspected “boss of bosses” who was arrested on Monday.
The list was found among his “pizzini,” coded notes about the administration of Cosa Nostra that were delivered by Lo Piccolo’s aides.
“I swear to be faithful to Cosa Nostra. If I betray, my flesh should burn,” reads the preamble. Under the category “Rights and Duty” were the 10 entries, meant to be a sort of user’s manual for the good mobster.
“You don’t look at the wives of those who are our friends,” says the code. It goes on to ban Mafiosi from frequenting bars, says they should respect their wives, and excludes from the Mafia anyone with “behavior that does not comply with moral values.”
The code bans from the Mafia anyone related to a police officer, and says Mafiosi should never be godfather to a policeman’s children or vice versa.
Mafiosi must tell the truth when questioned by their superiors and must not steal from other crime families.
“You have a duty at all times to be available to Cosa Nostra, even if your wife is about to give birth,” the code also says.
Men who have experienced “family betrayals” are not eligible to join the Mafia – an apparent reference to anyone who has been cuckolded, a humiliation in traditional Italian society.
Analysts noted that the written memo was surprising for an organization that for decades has relied largely on oral communication or tiny encrypted notes. The “10 Commandments” were typewritten in uppercase letters, police said.
Decades of police efforts in Sicily have failed to shake the Mafia’s grip, while investigating magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were killed by bombs in 1992.
Rome’s Il Messaggero daily speculated the code might have been used by Lo Piccolo to speed up recruitment of new mobsters after he took the reins of the organization from former boss of bosses Bernardo Provenzano.
The 65-year-old Lo Piccolo was captured at a rural house outside Palermo after being on the run since 1993. Investigators believe he could have eventually emerged from a power struggle as the Mafia’s new top boss following the capture of Provenzano, the reputed former No. 1.
Provenzano was arrested on a farm near Corleone, Sicily, in April 2006, after more than 40 years on the lam. Reuters, with AP