Joe Fosco once said something interesting about the "making" ceremony in Chicago: That it was basically just a ruse to pay people less money. You don't want to pay them more money, so you give them a basically dumb title.
I have no way of knowing that if that is true, but it makes a heck of a lot of sense. It is *exactly* what they do in corporate America, and if there is one organization in the world that is even more cynical than corporate America, it's the mob.
I always found it rather hilarious and telling that Marcello was giving Nick Calabrese's family a paltry $4,000 a month to try to keep Nick quiet. $40K a year to not flip and basically sink everyone. If he'd have moved the decimal over, who knows if Family Secrets would have even happened.
As for the heirarchy, I have a feeling it is less formal than a lot of people think. But who knows.
That was Fosco's opinion. Personally I don't think that's the motive. I can confirm that some sources say that during Al Capone's day people were asked to put their hand on a Bible and take an oath. Turns out the Bible belonged to Jim Colosimo and was passed on to Mike "the Greek" Potson and Capone never had it. When the FBI was investigating in the 1960s they found that Chicago did not have any initiation ceremony. When the ceremony was used it was during the period when Aiuppa was in charge. Why did Aiuppa start using the traditional ceremony? Possibly with the encouragement of the other Families, but that's just my guess. It had nothing to do with some sort of Sicilian revival since Accardo and Giancana were both born to Sicilian parents.
