What mobsters mean by "honor"

They say - Before years, we used to have honor, now the honor is destroyed, but what they mean by honor? They are thieves and murderers where's the honor in the organized crime? I don't know what they mean by that...

A number of things like the obvious one omerta others like don't harm woman or civilians . All of them have been repeatedly broken though even back in the time they supposedly had honour .

There is no honor!!!!!!They use it as an excuse for their actions!Money and honor?!?!?!?.....

Whatever explanation they might have, I think there is no point in even trying to understand their sick parody of honor except for research purposes. Murderers of children and apologists of rape (yes, they did justify it at least in the past if the victim married the rapist) are beings of a lesser category.

I agree with you but can you give me some examples of them murdering children i can't think of any. Unless you're talking about the mafia in Italy then fair enough.

Yes, I was referring to the Italian mafia. I remember however that in the USA there was one "Black hand" gang headed by one Antonio Marino that kidnapped and murdered the 5-year-old Giuseppe Varotta in 1921. But I am not sure know it the "Black hand" can be considered a mafia organisation or if they were just independent gangs.

Mad Dog Coll killed a boy during a hit,but he was killed after that by the Dutch Shultz gang cuz the killing of the biy made a lot of noise and the heat came upon them,bu this has nothing to do with the LCN

It doesn't mean anything. It's just self-justification fluff.

I knew about that also the sicilian mafia killing informants children but i've never heard of LCN doing this which i think the op was referring to.

How many in sicilian mafia you heard of? One? Giuseppe Di Matteo? Sad, but his father wouldn't retract testimony. Next. Who else?

I remember there was Giuseppe Letizia poisoned in 1948 by Michele Navarra (boss of Corleone) in the hospital Navarra was the chief doctor of because he had seen his hitmen murder the political activist Placido Rizzotto.
Then there is Paolino Riccobono murdered in 1961 during the Tommaso Natale feud between the Riccobono and Cracolici families.
In 1985 two six-year-old twins Giuseppe and Salvatore Asta were killed during a bomb explosion (the bomb was meant for the judge Carlo Palermo who was in a nearby car).
There are other examples, if you want, I can search for them.

Calm down i wasn't the one who brought up mobsters killing children. I was only saying the times i've heard of children being killed was by the sicilians. The only other time i can think of was Tommasso Busscettas ( probably spelled wrong ) children being strangled .

You can find anything if you search hard enough. It's not as common as people throw the words around, though. Sicilian mafia killing children, blah blah, blah, and really you can count it on one hand.

I agree that such cases are relatively few by comparison, but I think they are still enough to form an opinion about the whole Cosa Nostra organization and its twisted concept of "honor". Everybody is entitled to an opinion.

Personally, what I think the Mafia means by honor is the rules they basically set out for themselves and if you obey these rules, then you have "Honor". However in this modern world these rules are broken probably everyday and all of them as well. These days for the mob I think honor basically means not breaking Omerta. Although even though that rule is broken from time to time, if you don't break Omerta I think it's fair to say you have some honor. That is because you are not betraying who you are and what you signed up for, your taking your punishment like a man.

Right! The word "omerta" derives from the word "uomo" which means "man".
A true man never goes to the police for protection, but takes care of his own problems and troubles.

A kill is a kill,it doesnt matter if it's an adult or a child,male or female...a lot of kids and women were caught in cross fires and saw stuff that souldnt been seen...

Yeah you're right it's different if it's a gangster since they chose that life and know there's always that rish but killing a civilian is a different matter

yes but sometimes ppl dont choose the life,if you are born into a crime family than i think its very hard to push that life away(not that it cant be done)...what you see is what you get and what you get is what you see....

In 1986 in Sicily there was mafioso Giuseppe Messina. He was in his car with two of his sons. One was 12 and the other 14. A white van with two members of rival clan Stidda pulled up to the car and blew Giuseppe's brains out all over his boys. One son went on to live the same life of his father to avenge his fathers death in the name of his honor. The other son stayed legit to this day and has nothing to do with his family (other 3 brothers are mafioso too). This was his way to honor his father...by staying clean.

Yup, it can go either way. A scenario like that will certainly give you strong feelings one way or the other.

I kinda agree with that statement. There are times someone gets into trouble with someone else, the two guys fight, one guy loses the fight and the next day he's sitting in the police station talking to a cop, wanting to sue the other guy for 'grievous bodily harm'. These things happen and kinda make me sick.
I also got my ass kicked a couple of times but never have I even thought about going to the cops

It's easy to say that. But it depends of what kind of problem does the person in question have. If it's just a bar fight, it's one thing. If they threaten the life of you family members, it's a totally different thing, there is nothing wrong to ask for protection in that case. It would be crazy trying to solve problems by yourself if you had the mafia at your throat.

Dwalin, the quote has been taken out of its context. I was referring to mafiosi and their pledge to omerta.

Sorry, I got it wrong.

Yeah, but the quote also does apply to how some non-mobsters feel about some things

^^^Nice example.Sicilian honor,in two very diferent ways.

Matteo Messina Denaro strangled a rival's three-months pregnant girlfriend. I count that as the killing of a kid.

Well, sicilians relate honor and respect to everything, regardless. Honor and respect, respect and honor. Thats all I've ever heard. And also the reason I had to name my son after my husband's father...for the honor and respect. That was a huge battle I lost, cause even I have to answer to somebody.
I swear it's all I can do to not put a bullet in my own head some days.

True.

lol Thats not somethin that you need to be sad about,for example in my family tradition is goin on for years,usualy the first child is named after the dads father and the second after the mothers father or the grandmother and list goes on...thats one example for family honor,at least thats my opinion

I think criminals tend to confuse honor with ego.

But then again, like you said : you can still count the times a kid has been killed ( which we know of) on one hand.

God knows how many kids were killed in the past years especialy in the villiages of Sicily cuz of vendettas and stuff