Initiation ritual (mafia)
To become a member of the Mafia or Cosa Nostra —to become a "man of honor" or a "made man"—an aspiring member must take part in an initiation ritual or initiation ceremony. The ceremony involves significant ritual, oaths, blood, and an agreement to follow the rules of the Mafia. The first known account of the ceremony dates back to 1877 in Sicily.
The typical sequence of the ceremony, according to several distinct descriptions, has common features. First, the new recruit is led into the presence of other members and presented by a member. The association is explained, including its basic rules, then the recruit's finger is pricked with a needle by the officiating member. A few drops of blood are spilled on a card bearing the likeness of a saint, the card is set on fire, and finally, while the card is passed rapidly from hand to hand to avoid burns, the novice takes an oath of loyalty to the Mafia family. This ceremony may have been inspired by the oral legends of initiation rituals of the Sicilian sect Beati Paoli, popularized in 1909 by the William Galt serialized novel I Beati Paoli.
In Sicily
The first known account of the ceremony dates back to 1877 in Monreale in an article in the Giornale di Sicilia in an account about the Stuppagghiari, an early Mafia-type organisation. Other early accounts were during a trial against the Fratellanza in Agrigento and the Fratuzzi in Bagheria.One of the first life accounts of an initiation ceremony was given by Bernardino Verro, a leader of the Fasci Siciliani, a popular social movement of democratic and socialist inspiration, which arose in Sicily in the early 1890s. To give the movement teeth and protect himself from harm, Verro joined the Fratuzzi in Corleone. In a memoir written many years later, he describes the initiation ritual he underwent in the spring of 1893:
Soon after Verro broke with the Mafia and, according to police reports, became their most bitter enemy. He was killed by the Mafia in 1915 when he was the mayor of Corleone.
In the United States
As a result of the Apalachin meeting, the membership books to become a made man in the mob were closed in 1957 and were not reopened until 1976. The first known account of the ritual in the United States was provided in 1963 by Joe Valachi, who was initiated in 1930, in his testimony at the McClellan hearings. Valachi's was a high-profile case, and helped convince the country of the existence of the organization in the United States called the Cosa Nostra, also known as the Mafia. He provided the FBI with firsthand information about the inside of the Mafia, including one of the first ever descriptions of the induction ceremony.Ceremony
Choosing new members
The Mafia solicits specific people for membership—one cannot just choose to join up. In Tommaso Buscetta's testimony for the Pizza Connection Trial, he was asked what he did to get into the Cosa Nostra. He answered, "I didn't make out any application to become a member—I was called, I was invited." Joe Valachi had an extended courtship before he finally consented to join. He was eventually swayed by the argument of Mafioso Bobby Doyle, who said that a solo career of crime was much more dangerous. Doyle said to Valachi, "Join us and you will be made. You will earn money and you are not to steal anymore." Things had been getting difficult for Valachi in terms of frequent arrests and other consequences of his lifestyle, and he acknowledged the logic of Doyle's argument.Descriptions
The ceremony is a dinner or a meeting. Several people may be inducted at once. When inducted, "... they are 'made' or 'baptized' or 'get their badges.'" Other terms used are wiseguys, a friend of ours, good fellow, one of us, and straightened out.Valachi gave the most well-known description of the ceremony:
I sit down at the table. There is wine. Someone put a gun and a knife in front of me. The gun was a.38 and the knife was what we call a dagger. Maranzano motions us up and we say some words in Italian. Then Joe Bonanno pricks my finger with a pin and squeezes until the blood comes out. What then happens, Mr. Maranzano says, 'This blood means that we are now one Family. You live by the gun and the knife and you die by the gun and the knife.'
Valachi was inducted with three others. There were about 40 members present, so the new initiates could "meet the family."
During the Patriarca crime family's induction of 1989 that was taped by the FBI, several other details were discovered. Before the inductee Tortora took the oath, he was told that he would be baptized. "You were baptized when you were a baby, your parents did it. But now, this time, we gonna baptize you." The baptism seems to represent the new stage of life that is beginning. This is one example of the family mentality of the Mafia. It is implied that the Mafia is taking the place of the member's family, of his parents. Further evidence of this mentality can be seen when Tortora is asked if he would kill his brother for the Mafia. This mentality most likely comes about because members are giving their entire lives to the organization. The oaths themselves talk about the family bond, suggesting that the rules of secrecy represent the family loyalty as well as a sense of self-preservation. Despite rivalries, all mafia families are considered related. Even between groups in Sicily and New York City, there is a sense of brotherhood.
In another variation in Valachi's description in the 1989 induction recording, inductee Flamaro specifically had his trigger finger pricked—which affirms that there is symbolism in the gesture. After this, a compadre/buddy was chosen for him, and, unlike other ceremonies described, no mention was made of burning a picture of a saint. In Buscetta's testimony, he said that when his finger was pricked, the blood was transferred to a picture of a saint, which was then burned. Buscetta then swore that if he disobeyed the rules, "my flesh would burn like this saint." A variation on this oath is "As burns this saint, so will burn my soul. I enter alive and I will have to get out dead." Jimmy Fratianno, inducted in 1947, described the Capo pricking his finger and saying, "This drop of blood symbolizes your birth into our family, we are one until death." The ceremony is finished with a kiss administered to both cheeks of the new mafiosi.
In the past, it was said that to complete the induction process, the potential member was to kill someone, though the practice seems to have died out for the most part.
After becoming boss of the DeCavalcante crime family in New Jersey in 1962, Sam DeCavalcante altered longstanding parts in the induction ritual, abolishing the use of a gun, a knife and a burning holy card when "making" new members of his family as "he did not feel it was necessary", according to Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo, a onetime de facto boss of the family who cooperated with the government. As per testimony from another DeCavalcante mobster-turned-government witness, Anthony Rotondo, when the DeCavalcante family later came under the control of the Gambino crime family, Gambino boss John Gotti ordered the DeCavalcante family to repeat their inductions of "made" members because they had failed to follow the rules during the original ceremonies and thus he considered them invalid.
Rules
The Mafia Code is remarkably similar to that of not only other crime organizations and societies, but also to that present in American prisons. Donald Cressey notes that it is basically the same as the thieves code, which he outlines as having five basic parts:Women
was inducted to the mafia in 1947, and swore an oath similar to Valachi. Three rules were given to him: "You must never betray any of the secrets of this Cosa Nostra. You must never violate the wife or children of another member. You must never become involved with narcotics."In the Patriarca ceremony, Joseph Russo also explained that you do not mess around with sisters, wives, or girlfriends, unless you have "honorable" intentions.
Buscetta also related how he was instructed about the "appropriate manner" to act. He said he was told to "be silent, not to look at other men's wives or women, not to steal and especially, at all times when I was called, I had to rush, leaving whatever I was doing." The penalty for breaking these laws was death.