Word: nostra
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...protection and began to sing for his life. Last week the word was out that the underworld has put a $100,000 price on Valachi's head. But Valachi, now 60, has already told his story - a bizarre account of a blood stained crime syndicate, fondly dubbed Cosa Nostra (Our Thing...
...Terror. Cosa Nostra is run like a feudal state at war. Its "soldiers," the everyday thugs, are organized into "regimas" and led by "lieutenants." The regimas, in turn, are organized into "families" and bossed by twelve '"capos" (heads), each representing a geographic area, who make up Cosa Nostra's grand council, and to gether are the final arbiters of the syndicate's affairs. Chief among them is convicted Narcotics Racketeer Vito Genovese. From Leavenworth Penitentiary, Genovese still communicates his decisions to the mob through ex-cons or in codes sent by letter or visitors...
...Cosa Nostra is inflexible. Only those who boast Italian parentage may take the oath. Anyone who "goes wrong" (informs) is condemned to death and must be "hit" (murdered). The assignment to carry out the death sentence is a "contract." The contracts are awarded to other members who, unlike the highly paid assassins of Murder, Inc., carry them out without pay to demonstrate their loyalty...
...Avenge a Pal. Inevitably, the division of powers in Cosa Nostra has bred jealousies. Valachi for the first time linked some of the top names of gangland past and present in a drama of rivalry and murder...
That angered the infamous Albert Anastasia, a Costello crony and one time high executioner for Murder, Inc. Anastasia was further enraged when another old mobster buddy, Frank Scalise, was hit on Genovese's order a month later for selling memberships in Cosa Nostra for $50,000 apiece. To Anastasia's mind, that broke Lucky Luciano's old law that the Cosa Nostra higher-ups should never be physically punished but only fined by the grand council. Word went out that Anastasia would retaliate against Genovese...