But putting that aside for a moment, is there some code of honour (like omerta) that says a mafioso's wife and children aren't to be targets?
I can't give you a long answer, but I can tell you that the Sicilian capi dei capi Totò Riina murdered dozens of kids, brothers, friends, wifes, dogs, and other family members of maffioso Tomasso Busscetta. That was in the 70's/80's.
While Riina brutalized the way the Maffia works and became more violent than his predecessors, I think no maffioso ever respected this 'rule',
if it exists.
As long as there's greed in the game, almost all maffioso suddenly 'forget' the rules. Strange, innit?
