Ahh gangsterbb.net, it's been so long.

Ok so I have a question about the ritual involved with becoming a "Made Man". It arose when me and a friend of mine were playing "Mafia 2" (just came out, give it a whirl) and a scene comes up where you and your friend are going to become made. Basically it plays out like this.

You come in whatever clothes you have on (you can change between leather jackets, dress shirts, and various outfits in the game) and they tell you whats going to be happening
"We're gonna take you into that room, give you a speech and you'll have to swear an oath"

My first thought is "Jesus christ, they're going to kill us" because in my understanding you A. *Have* to be dressed very well for this ceremony. and B. You aren't expressly told about it unless they're planning to kill you.

So naturally I complained about it. My friend on the other hand who has no real experience in this field said "Well I mean... it's possible isn't it? That they'd do the ceremony in such a way?"

I wanted to argue the point but when I thought about it I wasn't entirely sure. I have read some news articles in which guys have been whacked under the pretext that they're going to be made and I have read that one always needs to be dressed, but the majority of my proof was from pop-culture since the books I had read up to this point didn't really discuss the issue at length.

So, that said, I came here knowing that there are some other serious students of Mafia-history and criminology in general so if anyone could help clear up the issue I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

well only thing i can remember of is in the movie goodfellas, but in real life. Most of the time, made men would know when they were going to be killed. Look at sonny black, usually a sitdown would also mean a ambush or whatsoever.

That is a good point, however to say that as a general rule they know they're going to be killed shouldn't be what we're trying to say. Wiseguys are blindsided all the time even at times they think they're doing nothing wrong. I think the books that Pistone put out were just discussing a healthy paranoia one should have when dealing with the mafia. Since he, as an undercover agent, had even more to fear than the average wiseguy.

What I generally read was that they tell a new member to get dressed formally and be at such and such a spot at a given time. Usually everyone knows what will happen. Of course the induction may or may not be particularly elaborate. Some sponsors will tell the member ahead of time "Tomorrow's your day" or something similar; others won't.

A lot of the reading I've done says that some people go thru the farce of asking if the inductee knows why he is there and the correct answer is no. I don't know what happens if someone says "Yes. And it's about time I got my button!"

Some families don't use any "making" ritual. Fat Vinny Teresa, in his book, "My Life in the Mafia," said that in the Raymond Patriarca family, "they just called you to the Office and told you you was made."

Not sure what to make of that. You'll recall that, in 1989, the FBI was successful in recording a making ceremony involving the Patriarca family.

As far as I'm aware, only the Chicago Outfit supposedly didn't use a traditional initiation ceremony but even that was in the earlier years. Decades later, they were also said to be going through the same ceremony with the drawn blood, burning saint card, etc.

Ok, let's narrow the question down a bit.

This particular section takes place in 1951 in a city much like chicago/new york. Now whats the norm given that timeframe?

in that time in real life, the ceremony was important. With sicillian opening speech

in the later years they did not use the sicillian part and the knife and gun right? only burning of the saint cards.

And by the way, i must say that in mafia2 game they did a good job on the ceremony.

Sammy Gravano ended up with blisters on his hands because he didnt realise that he was supposed to jiggle the burning saint card in his hands!!!
LOL

I thought it was one of the weak points in the game. I mean, you can wear whatever you want, there's no mystery behind it and even after you're made you like never really have to worry about tribute.

That along with the ending were my two biggest complaints for it.

mafia 2 sucked hard in general
i liked mafia 1 game better, thats how a game is supposed to be made.
but in mafia 1 you never saw tommy getting made :S
Don Salieri just hugged him and gave kiss on his cheek and that was it. Like in the old Chicago outfit way.

It's not really about the ceremony itself but the results afterwards. It means you've more respect, access to the books, protection, profits etc. It also means that when you're in you never get out, except in a coffin.

but isnt money supposed to go up and shit down?
i mean you get respect, can earn. But you have to chase money in order to pay your capo etc. its not an easy job being made.

TB had a very good post on just this topic.
Congrats, you're made!!!

True enough...

Absolutely, Lilo .

its a nice post indeed, but still being made has more advantages. you have access to many illegal moneymaking scams. it also depends which family youre in, and who is your capo etc. many low made soldiers had enough money and still kicked up to the boss and still live a rich life. of course with the feds at your back.

I guess we're just two different guys because I absolutley hated the first mafia game. I couldn't believe Angelo as a protagonist at all.

So ok, basic consensus is that there is no true norm it's just too dependent on when, and where you are and who you're with?



Edit*

FOUND IT!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/wildcatgames#p/u/5/Nah1O3LfM_k

It should be in the middle of the video.

I would say that what Mafia II captures is the 'norm' or the stereo-typical 'made-man' ceremony.
What it was at least back in the day, as for how formal it is now is anyones guess.

i dont remember what book it was in, but nowadays they dont use the knife/pistol, and not everyone in the family is present at the ceremony. Its now more in the basement of a house, and it lasts only couple of minutes. All that because of the feds.

Makes sense, they just can't afford to be as flashy nor even as formal as in the past due to surveillance etc. God knows how they get away with anything these days really...

I wonder if the 'books' are open at the moment?

with the amount of people becoming rats, and the way the young generation behaves. I think the books are open, but like in real life business. They only pick the best, the biggest earner, loyalty etc. I mean thats the way it is nowadays in the world, if a citizen wants a job they only pick the best.

this my have been true fo the patriarca family in the old days but at some point they did start having a ceremony because the FBI bugged one in 1989 with the help of a rat

Transcript of Mafia Induction Ceremony made by sonny mercurio
I found this transcription on the site mafiatoday.com

This was taken from five hours' of tapes made by the FBI transmitted through a listening device planted at 34 Guild St., Medford, Mass. on Oct. 29, 1989, the home of Loretta DiStefano, sister of inductee Vincent Federico, of Boston.
Then-boss Raymond J. "Junior" Patriarca tried to patch a wounded relationship between Boston and Providence after the summer of 1989, when Boston captains Joseph "J.R." Russo, Vincent Ferrara and Robert Carrozza were suspected of ordering the shooting of Grasso and Francis P. "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, in Saugus, Mass. 21 members from three states, including the Boss Raymond J. (Junior) Patriarca; the consigliere, Joseph (J.R.) Russo; five of the family's capo regimes, or lieutenants, Vincent M. (The Animal) Ferrara, Robert F. Carrozza, Biagio DiGiacomo, Charles Quintina, and Guglielmetti; and 10 soldiers, Angelo (Sonny) Mercurio, Antonio L. (Spucky) Spagnolo, Vincent (Dee Dee) Gioacchini, Frederick M. Chiampa, Alexander S. (Sonny Boy) Rizzo, Pryce L. Quintina, all from the Boston regimes, Dominick Marangelli and Louis R. Failla from the Hartford regime, Gaetano J. Milano from western Massachusetts, and Galea from Providence. What they had gathered for was a "baptism" of Mafiosi.

The first arrivals were Gaetano J. Milano of East Longmeadow, Mass., and Louis R. Failla of East Hartford who arrived in a black Lincoln after leaving their car at a drop spot nearby. They chat about loan-sharking with the two hosts, Russo and Ferrara.

Then Patriarca arrives, chauffeured by Angelo "Sonny" Mercurio, who is an FBI informant.

Russo says, "You look good, Ray."

Patriarca, who promoted Russo and agreed to induct three Boston men in an attempt to resolve a rift between Boston and Providence, returns the compliment: "You look good."

When everyone has assembled, including Rhode Islanders Pasquale Galea of Providence, Matthew L. Guglielmetti of Cranston and Robert DeLuca of Lincoln, Patriarca makes a brief introduction.

"We're all here to bring in some new members into our family and more than that, to start maybe a new beginning. . . . Hopefully, they'll leave here with what we had years past. And bygones are bygones and a good future for all of us."

Perhaps because he is Sicilian-born, perhaps because he is alleged to have undergone the induction in both Italy and the United States, Biagio DiGiacomo officiated at the ceremony and explains the significance of the ceremony to Tortora.

"Carmen, we're going to baptize you again," DiGiacomo says, "You were baptized when you were a baby, your parents did it, but now this time we're going to baptize you."

DiGiacomo explained the Sicilian roots of the organization to the members of the Patriarca crime family from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island who dressed in suits for the Sunday afternoon "baptism" of Robert DeLuca of Lincoln, R.I., and three Boston-area men.

Two hundred years ago, DiGiacomo said, "In Sicily, they all get together because there was a lot (of) abuse to the family, to the wife, to the children. Until some people, nice people, they got together, and they said let's make an organization over here, but let's start to do the right thing. "Who makes a mistake he's gotta pay."

After polite applause, DiGiacomo opens the ceremony: "In onore della Famiglia la Famiglia e' aperta. (In honor of the Family, the Family is open.)"

Then he administered the oaths:

"I . . . want to enter into this organization to protect my family and to protect all my friends. I swear not to divulge this secret and to obey, with love and omerta."

A "cumpare" or buddy is designated to assist with the burning of the holy card of the patron saint of the family. The cumpare is selected through an Italian finger-throwing game with Russo doing the counting.

After blood was drawn from each of the inductees' trigger fingers, a holy card with the image of the Patriarca family saint was burned as DiGiacomo administered the second oath:

"As burns this saint so will burn my soul. I enter alive into this organization and leave it dead."

After the inductee burns the saint's card, Patriarca assigns him a captain.

First to be inducted is Vincent Federico, following him is DeLuca, then Carmen Tortora of Brockton, Mass., and Richard Floramo of Everett, Mass. Each swears allegiance to the organization, punctuated with a blood oath with the prick of his trigger finger.

DiGiacomo then explained the commitment they had made.

"We get in alive in this organization and the only way we gonna get out is dead no matter what. It's no hope, no Jesus, no Madonna, nobody can help us if we ever give up this secret to anybody, any kinds of friends of mine, let's say. This Thing that cannot be exposed."

DiGiacomo defined the organization into which the men were inducted after burning an image of the crime family's patron saint and taking a blood oath to kill their own sons or brothers if a Mafia superior said they were informing on them to the police.

"Everybody fight this thing, they call it Cosa Nostra," said DiGiacomo.
"It is Mafia," DiGiacomo said. "We got together to call it La Cosa Nostra, Mafia, or organized crime."

Later in the ceremony, the new inductees are lectured on the national complexion of Cosa Nostra.

Russo: All Families are related all over America.

Patriarca: Throughout the world.

Russo: Through a common cause, but it's like cousins. The immediate family likes to keep their business to themselves.

Russo: We have one Family in New England. One Family. Remember that. One Family. New York has five Families. . . . Chicago got their own Family.

Patriarca: Springfield's got more than one.

Russo: . . . Springfield also has a smattering belong to New York Family, Vito Genovese. . . . That's been that situation . . . years.

Patriarca: And there's like four or five other Families coming out of Connecticut.

Russo: You're gonna be being with people, but our family mosta them right now here, an like I say, the New England area we have a few from New York. They're all Amico Nostro.

Over and over the ranking members stress to the new underlings that the new Family henceforth is the object of their preeminent allegiance.

DiGiacomo makes sure nothing got lost in the translation.

"You don't know what I was saying to you (in Italian) and repeating after me. But most of you guys you don't understand what you say. You giving up your property, your money and everything over here."

Laughter all around.

Russo stresses that members must inform their captain of all business dealings, unless a member of another family approaches them and says it's an emergency.

Otherwise, they must go through "proper channels."

He says, "Whatever you got belongs to you. None of us will take from each other."

Then Patriarca says, "Actually all, all business deals legal or illegal, should be brought to the table.
"If I'm in the garbage business and you own a dump, before you go to ah, BFI and go do business with them, if you know anybody at this table can aid you in a business, legitimate or illegitimate, your obligation is to come to us first.
"And ask us, you know, whoever put you in that particular business that could aid you before you go to a stranger. In other words, you look to do the business with a Friend before you go outside the Family."

Ferrara pipes in, "Richie, you might want to sell your restaurant. . . . A Friend might want to buy it." He was referring to Floramo's cafe in Chelsea.

Patriarca says, "Don't go sellin' it to a stranger."

The leaders explain to the new members how to introduce themselves to one another and stressing that they cannot reveal that they are soldiers unless they are properly introduced.

"Only a friend can introduce us," Ferrara says.

DiGiacomo adds, "Try to specify" personal friend or "A Friend of Ours."

The inductees also are cautioned about public displays of affection among members.

DiGiacomo: Years ago we used to kiss each other.

Charles Quintina, of Boston: We try to stop kissing in public. . . . We stand out.

Shortly thereafter, there are sounds of furniture moving, men kissing and warm goodbys being said.

Then DiGiacomo says: "L'onore della Famiglia ritorna chiusa. (The honor of the Family is now closed.)
Before locking the doors, Ferrara draws a fateful conclusion: Only the . . . ghost knows what really took place over here today by God.

But even if the FBI do bust in the middle of a ceremony what can the guys possbly be arrested for?All their doning is reciting words and burning a card.

Well its RICO they are afraid of, that alone would be enough to indict. Because the ritual is a thing to belong to the world of Mafia. So then you are breaking a rule because you are part of a organization who commits crimes etc.

when the books are opened and closed is that for all families? or does each family decide when they r gonna open and close there books?

I don't know if it's really a case of "the books" being opened or closed anymore. It seems they were at various times in the past, at least in New York, but I don't believe it's been that way for some time where they will go for years and years without making new guys. Now it's basically the case where they can make guys to replace others that have died, plus supposedly an additional two at Christmas time.

Within New York potential new members still have to be vetted with the other Families before they are inducted but I think it can pretty much be at any time. Though I'd suspect a certain Family will try to do them in as few ceremonies as possible.

As I mentioned above, the "closed books" thing really only applied to New York here and there as far as I'm aware. Other Families may have put a freeze on making their own members for a time but it wasn't because of New York. However, there were some Families, such as Pittsburgh, that were not allowed by New York to make any new members after a certain point. And others, such as Philadelphia and Cleveland, which had to clear the new guys with New York before they were made.

It's like this. The existence of the LCN is an established fact proven in past court cases. The initiation ceremony is part of what makes up the LCN. Mob guys actually being caught in the very act of the ceremony could go towards evidence of conspiracy in a given case. In other words, while they couldn't be prosecuted directly simply for having their fingers pricked, reciting some words, and burning a saint card, all of that could be folded as evidence into a larger RICO case.

can a soldier propose a associate for membership or does it have 2 come from a capo?