Word: nostra
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...even the Cosa Nostra hoods have worries. In 1965, DeCavalcante forbade the killing of a Negro construction worker who assaulted a Marioso's son with a shovel during a fight. The Negro was a Black Muslim, and DeCavalcante feared a Muslim-Mafia war. Hoods also become disenchanted. Discussing one doublecross in 1964, DeCavalcante complained to an underling, Frank Mamri: "Sometimes, Frank, the more things you see, the more disillusioned you become. You know, honesty, honorability -all those things...
...bootlegger's girl friend. Before commutation, Licavoli was not eligible for parole; Ohio law forbids it in the case of a life sentence for first-degree murder. Now, however, the pa role board can vote to free him at any time. Licavoli has relatives who are Cosa Nostra powers in Michigan, Ohio and Arizona. If released, he would live in a Grosse Pointe, Mich., house until now occupied by an in-law who is still in the rackets...
...Genovese proved himself a tough and shifty "soldier" and then "capo" (officer) in the Mafia ranks. Over the years he was indicted 13 times, including a conspiracy-to-murder rap he beat when the state's key witness was found poisoned. In 1957, Genovese assumed the Cosa Nostra throne after the barbershop slaying of rival Albert Anastasia (no indictment returned), but two years later the Federal Government finally nailed him with a 15-year narcotics conviction. For a time in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary his cellmate was Joe Valachi, a suspected informer. Genovese planted the "kiss of death" on Valachi...
...Thug version of Cosa Nostra might have gone on for more generations had it not been confronted by William Sleeman, who came out to India as a Bengal army officer in 1809 at age 21. He didn't smoke, and he soon became a teetotaler. His only known thirst was for work, and that was regarded by his compatriots as unquenchable. In that wilting climate there was something of the untemptable Anglo-Saxon saint about Sleeman, as well as "something near to ruthlessness...
...VALACHI PAPERS, by Peter Maas, recounts one man's career in the Mafia. The tale is made all the more fascinating by the author's observation: "If the Cosa Nostra's illegal profits were reported, the country could meet its present obligations with a 10% tax reduction instead of a 10% surcharge increase...