The Sicilian Mafia has a statute
written by its 'founding fathers', a Cosa Nostra boss arrested
in a Palermo sweep Tuesday says on a police wiretap, judicial
sources said.
Magistrates said the wiretap confirmed long-held judicial views
that the criminal organization had iron-clad rules based on its
own special 'Constitution'.
Bosses continue to respect age-old norms handed down over the
generations and impose them on new members, the sources said.
Cosa Nostra is thus based on its own warped principles, the
judicial sources said.
A preliminary investigations judge described the wiretap as
"extremely rare" proof of the existence of a written Mafia code
which has been jealously guarded for decades and which still
governs the lives of Cosa Nostra in Palermo.
Police on Tuesday arrested seven bosses and affiliates in
Palermo.
One of the bosses was also caught on an intercept criticising
the former all-out assault on the State by the late Totò 'the
Beast' Riina including the 1992 assassinations of magistrates
Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, which sparked an
unprecedented crackdown by authorities which has greatly
weakened the Sicilian Mafia.
But its enduring strength has been confirmed by the web of
allies and supporters which helped boss Matteo Messina Denaro,
captured last Monday in a Palermo cancer clinic, evade capture
for 30 years.
Tuesday's police operation netted long-time bosses and newer
'men of honour' who were described as "reserved".
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