Mafiosi are bound by ten commandments which include punctuality, avoiding bars and being nice to their wives, according to 'mobster guidelines' found by Mafia investigators this week.
The list of rules for the 'perfect' mafioso emerged from documents seized after Monday's arrest of Salvatore Lo Piccolo, the man believed to have inherited the mantle of former Mafia kingpin Bernardo Provenzano.
The type-written sheet of paper, bearing the title 'Rights and Duties', was among the sheaf of papers that Lo Piccolo apparently carried everywhere with him in a brown leather briefcase.
The rules are partly designed to maintain absolute secrecy on all aspects of Cosa Nostra and its activity.
There are tight restrictions on who can join - no one with a policeman in the family - and existing members must not even talk to each other unless they have been formally introduced.
Mafia members must always show the utmost respect for each other, telling the truth when asked for information and never stealing from other men of honour or poaching their wives.
But the set of recommendations also aims to curb licentious or extravagant behaviour seen by old-style Mafia chieftains as immoral.
According to Mafia experts, it is as if Cosa Nostra bosses wanted to rein in the flamboyant behaviour of the younger mobsters who have joined the organisation in recent years.
Trapani boss Matteo Messina Denaro, a Porsche-driving playboy often seen as a rival to Lo Piccolo, reportedly enjoys a semi-mythical status among newer, more ambitious Mafia initiates.
Along with the ten commandments, presumably typed out by Lo Piccolo himself, investigators also found a holy image bearing the formula that police already know is used in the Mafia initiation ritual.
The wording is: "I swear to be faithful to Cosa Nostra. If I should betray it my flesh must burn, just as this image burns".
The ten 'Mafiosi' commandments are:
1. No one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.
2. Never look at the wives of friends.
3. Never be seen with cops.
4. Don't go to pubs and clubs.
5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty - even if your wife's about to give birth.
6. Appointments must absolutely be respected.
7. Wives must be treated with respect.
8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.
9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families.
10. People who can't be part of Cosa Nostra: anyone who has a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn't hold to moral values.
