Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate

"Gambetta looks at the underworld from the criminals’ point of view and uses social anthropology to examine how criminals think and communicate with language and signs, how a pecking order is established. Well, you don’t go around screwing the wives of senior mafiosi. But the Palermo singer Pino Marchese did and he was found dead on a park bench with his genitals stuffed into his mouth. This is a very eloquent sign to anyone thinking of bonking a mafioso’s wife. Not very sophisticated, no, but the sophistication comes in Gambetta’s arguments – because what they can say to each other is so constrained they have to find ways of communicating without getting caught, and you don’t want to constantly threaten violence because you will end up having to carry it out. Gambetta says it doesn’t pay to go through associates like shit through a goose; you won’t be successful. For example, when Toto Riina ordered the death of Falcone in 1992 everyone in the room knew that if a flicker of doubt about the decision showed in their eyes they would be instantly killed. These barely perceptible signs become so important in this world. He tells a story about someone who gets given a silver heart after a church ceremony like everyone else but his one is riddled with bullets. So, whatever you were doing you would stop doing it after that, wouldn’t you?"