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of business’.
    ‘What’s doin’?’ is a typical greeting in the densely populated districts of New York, where crime is big. The stock Mafia answer is ‘What can I tell y’? Nuthin’.’ Because the actual meaning of that retort is: ‘I can’t tell you anything that makes sense because it could cost me my life.’
    ‘D-and-D’ is what you stay if you’re smart, whoever you are. It means ‘deaf and dumb’ or plain silent. Squealers, known in the trade as ‘canaries’ because they ‘sing’ or ‘chirp’to the authorities, usually have a general contract out on them. This keeps them terrified because they never know where the hit might be coming from. The assassin could be their closest buddy. And quite often he is; many of the major victims were at least lured to their execution, if not actually hit, by a trusted friend.
    ‘Omertà’ is the code of silence to which every member is sworn. Penalty for breaking it is death. ‘Capish?’ Do you understand? Bacio del Morte is the ‘kiss of death’, the traditional light brush on the cheek of the victim-to-be. It’s a ritual, now dying out. Some still use it for effect; most don’t believe any more in signalling their intentions.
    To be ‘connected’ means to have a link in some way with the Mafia. Even those who don’t have that link pretend they do, especially people with Italian names. It brings instant respect. Nobody is allowed to mention the name of the person to whom he is connected. Penalty: death. Those on the outside who use a Mafia name are also killed. Anyone who actually gives a name is almost certainly unconnected!
    The Mafiosi used to call themselves ‘The Untouchables’ because they considered themselves able to operate their various activities totally out of reach of the law. This is reflected in some of the nicknames today’s mobsters have.
    Aladena Fratianno became ‘Jimmy The Weasel’ but not because the Los Angeles mobster turned informer on his partners-in-crime. He earned that name long before because of his ability to avoid being brought to justice. This knack of ducking the law turned Antonio Corallo into ‘Tony Ducks’.
    Matty ‘The Horse’ Ianiello, of the Genovese family, got his name through his enormous bulk: 29 stone of it. Colombo boss Carmine Persico was known to police and many in theMafia as ‘The Snake’, although he had tried to foster another nickname, ‘Junior’.
    Sometimes nicknames are wordplays. Joseph Bonanno would be ‘Joe Bananas’. Enforcer Aniello Dellacroce’s parents had given him an Italian name that meant ‘Little Lamb of the Cross’. Aniello turned into ‘Mr. O’Neil’. Joe Stracci, scourge of the Garment District, became ‘Joe Stretch’. Anthony Provenzano was ‘Tony Pro’. Phillip Testa, who headed the Philadelphia family for a year until he was blown to bits, was called ‘Chicken Man’, not because he was a coward, but because he once ran a chicken farm.
    The nicknames often make perfect sense. Benjamin Siegel became ‘Bugsy’ because he acted like a crazy man, as in Bugs Bunny. Hulking Frank Bompensiero in Los Angeles was affectionately known, until his murder, as ‘The Bomp’.
    From the inventiveness of their nicknames and the success of their villainy, it might seem the Mafia is made up of pretty wise ‘Wise Guys’. This is not at all the case. ‘We must remind ourselves that we’re not talking about brain surgeons here,’ warned New York organised crime specialist Tom Luce. And yet sometimes the Mafiosi will come up with a good line or two.
    Al Capone himself had a simple philosophy: ‘You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.’ Here are some of his other recorded quotes: ‘You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun.’ ‘Once in the racket you’re always in it.’ ‘Vote early and vote often.’ ‘I am like any other man. All I do is supply a demand.’ ‘I don’t