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Show r Six Mob Insights from the man who wrote The Valachi Papers Bosses: Removed By Execution r Bgsy Siegei, shot na Beverly Hifts IMug room, 1947 N THE VALACHI PAPERS , 18 YEARS ago. Joseph Valachi described to me his induction into what was popularly called the Mafia until he revealed its true name, Cosa Nostra, which translated into English means Our Thing." Valachi was the first member of the Mafia in America to reveal its secrets. He explained that, in the early 1930s, it was organized across the nation into a paramilitary structure called families, each with its own boss, underboss and capos, or lieutenants, who in turn commanded platoons of soldiers. He told me how, during his initiation, blood was drawn from one of his fingers; how he held the burning picture of a saint in his cupped hands as he swore fealty to Cosa Nostra; and how the two most grievous transgressions he could commit were to betray the organization or violate another members My book, combined with Valachi's earlier revelations to federal officials, created an instant sensation. Still, there were plenty of scoffers. How could grown men indulge in such college fraternity antics? Who had ever heard of this nutty name, Cosa Nostra? What new fiction was being cooked up here? But last November, speaking through a translator in a federal court in New York City, a member of the Mafia in Sicily named Tommaso Buscetta. a soldier like Valachi, repeated almost verbatim Valachis description of his oath to Cosa Nostra, right down to staying away from the wives of fellow members. Now, though, a funny thing happened. Nobody blinked an eye at Buscetta's testimony. There were no scoffers. And in the myths and realities that swirl around the Mafia today, this is the biggest reality of all. No longer is there the slightest doubt about the existence of the Cosa Nostra so vividly portrayed by Valachi. Where once the official position of the FBI was that there was no national crime organization like the Mafia, the word currently being touted is that the COAER PHOTOGRAPHS BY PICTORIAL PARADE I VALACHI I. HAM) SOU H MM YORK POSTlBILOTThAVD THL MM YORK POM I AVAST ASIA) PACE 6 FEBRUARY 16, 1986 PARADE MAGAZINE |
