I am currently putting the finishing touches on a screenplay about the Italian mafia, and filming should begin soon, but before everything is set in stone I wanted to ask a couple of organized crime related questions, just so I have all the facts strait. You can answer all or, just some of the questions listed. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank You. - Owen

1. When someone is made whose decision is it?

2. When a boss gives the order for a hit, who tells the hit man about it?

3. Does the top mafia boss ever have direct communication with the hit man, or does he just go through under bosses?

4. If you were to insult a boss, do they have the right to kill you?

5. When you are made do you get total protection from the authorities?

6. Do you need to be 100% Italian to be made?

7. If you didn’t do a hit, and tried to run from the mafia, would they track you down, or just wait until they saw you again before they would kill you?

A made man can sponsor someone to be made. But it's the Don's decision, and he does the "making," because he needs to assure that the new made man is loyal to him, not just to the guy who sponsored him.
2. When a boss gives the order for a hit, who tells the hit man about it?[/QUOTE]
If the boss has any sense, it'll be someone as far removed from the hitman as possible, so that the boss can't be implicated if the hitman turns rat.

3. Does the top mafia boss ever have direct communication with the hit man, or does he just go through under bosses?[/QUOTE]
Not usually, for the reasons cited above. The boss may do it if he wants to conceal the hit from others in his family (for example, if he's suspicious of others).
Owen, you should be aware that many Mobs use freelance killers or killers lent from other families, precisely to protect their own ranks in case something goes wrong and the killer is caught or turns rat.

4. If you were to insult a boss, do they have the right to kill you?[/QUOTE]
The boss can order anyone killed for any reason that he justifies (usually to himself). Supposedly there's a Mafia rule that a made guy can't even lay a finger on another made guy without a sitdown. That doesn't apply to the boss--he's the one who presides over the sitdown.
5. When you are made do you get total protection from the authorities?[/QUOTE]
Certainly not. In fact, given modern surveillance and the ease with which the authorities get made guys to rat out each other, being made is almost a sure-fire invitation to be jailed.

6. Do you need to be 100% Italian to be made?[/QUOTE]

Technically, yes, in a Mafia family. As a practical matter, bosses use associates of any ethnicity as long as they produce (attest Jimmy Conway being the equivalent of a crew chief in Paulie's family in "Goodfellas," even though Jimmy was 100% Irish). Some Mafia families don't have a formal "making" ceremony. Other ethnic mobs have their own rules.

7. If you didn’t do a hit, and tried to run from the mafia, would they track you down, or just wait until they saw you again before they would kill you? [/QUOTE]
Depends on how dangerous you'd be to the boss. If you were, and had info that could endanger the family, they'd spend money and effort to track you down. But if you were some guy sent on a first-time mission to whack an unimportant guy, I don't think they'd make much of an effort--or spend a lot of money--to find you.

1) You need to be sponsered. You work under someone and if you are doing a good job word goes up the later and a reccomendation is made through the ranks. Years back they had what they called books. When the books were closed no one could be made. When the books were open, top ranking soldiers high up on the chain would be told that the books were opened and "refferals" were being taken.

2) The order goes down the chain of command and is NEVER given to the Hitman Directly from the boss.

3)See answer # 2.

4) If you are a made man, then permission must be given to wack you out. If you are not a made man, you are history just like that!

5)Anything that is going to be done to a made man must be approved. This rule is supposed to be intertwined within all of the families. But many times one family would not adhere to the rule if the other guy was from another family. This sometimes crated a war. If something was to be done to a made man within the family, the made man is governed and protected by the rules and a decision MUST be made from higher up.

6) Many years ago you had to be 100% Sicilian to be made! Then as time went on it became a rule that you had to be 100% Italian. Now days, who the heck knows! I don't even think there are any rules today.

7) Years ago they would hunt you down like the dog that you were and leave you dead for the rest of the family to see. This way it discouraged anyone else within the family from even thinking about cutting loose.

The answers above pertain to the "Traditional" Mafia. In my opinion the Tradition went out the window once The Dapper Don was put away. TOday I think that anything goes. No in your face Cosa Nostra exists anymore. The honor amongst those within the structure is totally gone. My signature below sums it all up and is an exact quote from The Dapper Don Himself and I'll tell you this, from a mob perspective, no truer words were ever spoken!


Don Cardi

Turnbull,


Now he's gonna send the OCB to investigate both you and I!


Don Cardi

I hear there's an opening in the Witness Protection Program in Arizona, formerly occupied by a certain Salvatore Gravano...

1. When someone is made whose decision is it?
THE family you are being absorbed by will first
go to the commisson,if the reasons are just
they will allow the faction to straighten a
guy out,usually the soldier being made has done
something very good for the family.
2. When a boss gives the order for a hit, who tells the hit man about it?

The boss will discuss the hit w/counsel,
counsel will contact one of the capos and
from there a soldier or connected guy will
then contact a outside contractor or do
it themselves,sometimes a outside contractor
will also be clipped thus removing one whole
piece of puzzle.

3. Does the top mafia boss ever have direct communication with the hit man, or does he just go through under bosses?

It depends on the hit and how fast it has to
be done.A boss may send a top notch capo
out to do a piece of work if the family is
in trouble,gambino boss paul castellano
personally sanctioned anthony gaggi to
hit roy demeo,gaggi was the only one who
could get close enough to pull the trigger.

I hear there's an opening in the Witness Protection Program in Arizona, formerly occupied by a certain Salvatore Gravano... [/QB][/QUOTE]

NAH! I think that I would rather go the route that The Dapper Don went. Did his time without dropping the dime.

Don Cardi

Not I, if I were to choose a life of crime in the mafia I'd rather go the route of making money for myself and partners and being respected not feared. Being smart enough NOT to get caught and living a long and fruitful life and growing old and dying peacefully in the comforts of my own home.

Not being locked up in a federal prison for the rest of your life.

Not I, if I were to choose a life of crime in the mafia I'd rather go the route of making money for myself and partners and being respected not feared. Being smart enough NOT to get caught and living a long and fruitful life and growing old and dying peacefully in the comforts of my own home.

Not being locked up in a federal prison for the rest of your life. [/QB][/quote]Luca,
I think that you missed the jist of the original post: Turnbull and I had answered his questions and I had made a joke that by knowing the answers to these questions both Turnbull and I may be picked up by OCB. Turnbull replied that we could enter the witness protection program, and my reply was that I would rather do the time and keep my mouth shut than go into a witness protection program and rat everyone out. Of course I agree with you 100% that any gangster would like to make and enjoy thier money until dying a ripe old age, but that was not what we were reffering to.

Don Cardi