Word: valachi
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...back room of a New York restaurant in 1930, Joseph Valachi swore his dark oath of allegiance to organized crime. Blood ran from a ceremonial wound in his finger, and the young ex-convict vowed unquestioning obedience to his Mafia overlords. He muttered a final pledge: "If I talk, I'm dead...
...years Valachi kept faith with "omerta" the underworld's blood rule of silence. Then, in 1960, he was imprisoned on a narcotics violation. Suspecting that he was turning informer, the underworld marked him for death. Crazy with fear, Valachi turned to the FBI for 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...
...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...