It is interesting to understand the symbolic way an affiliato, an associate, is taken into an organization such as the Cosa Nostra, the Camorra or the ’Ndrangheta. When he becomes part of a criminal organization, he enters it through symbolic rituals, baptisms, because the criminal structures are true hierarchical organizations with classifications, rituals, wages, responsibilities. Being part of a criminal organization means being part of a structure that in some ways resembles a corporation, in some ways a religious order, and in some ways an ancient army (like the Roman army, which was made up of legions).

For example, the person to be ‘baptized’ in the ’Ndrangheta, the one who is about to become an associate, has a name: he is called the ‘contrasto onorato’. In the ’Ndrangheta’s lingo, general members of the public are ‘contrasti’, and those who respect the Mafia and do not oppose it are called ‘contrasti onorati’. But they are not yet ‘affiliati’, or associates. One reaches the first level of actual affiliation, namely ‘picciotto d’onore’, honourable young soldier, through an atavistic ritual, identical for all time. The associates take their places in a room, around a u-shaped table – no one really knows why, but that’s how it is – then the capo-società, an elder of the organization and chairman of the meeting, reads out a very long rite; afterwards the initiate takes an oath and assumes the responsibility for being part of an organization whose code will stand above his family, his children, his own blood. The ’Ndranghetisti call each other ‘blood brothers’, because a blood brother is one whom you choose; a biological brother on the other hand is the brother of sin, because to give birth to him the mother committed a sin with the father.

It seems incredible, but even today there are young people in Italy who live according to the course of action prescribed by this oath. Outside the organizations, it is a rite known only to scholars and magistrates: