The Sicilian Mafia has been in the news. The last time I was inPalermo was in 1985. The Italian authorities were launching a crackdown on the La Cosa Nostra. There was palpable tension in the air. My companion was a beautiful lady called Roberta. My old friend, Zakria, had married a local lady and settled in Naples in 1970. He was originally from Lahore. Zakria told me that Naples and Lahore were exactly alike. The ladies stayed home and cooked. The men were macho, mean and criminals. They thought nothing of killing a man. Naples is the home of the Camorra, the local chapter of the Mafia. If you needed anything you talked to the Camorra. Sound very much like the current Lahore.
When a young recruit is initiated into the secret society, the initiater and his sponsor stand in front of table with a gun or, on occasion, a knife. The Boss picks up the gun and intones in the Sicilian dialect "we represent La Cosa Nostra. This family is our thing". The sponsor than pricks his trigger finger and the trigger finger of the new member, holding both together to symbolize the mixing of blood. After swearing to hold the family above his religion, his country, his wife and children the inductee finishes the ritual. A picture of a saint is placed in his cupped hands and ignited. As the paper burns, the inductee, together with his sponsor, proclaims, "If I ever violate this oath may I burn as this paper". In the Mafia code an honorable man is a man who practices omerta, the code of silence, who peruses vendetta, the code of revenge, and who, per his oath values his loyalty to the fellow members of the criminal family above all others, including his personal family.
Today there are only a few hundred thousand active members of the Mafia - yet it exerts a magnetic fascination. Its activities run the gamut of criminality, from prostitution to loan sharking to drug trafficking to extortion to gambling.
Some of the biggest names in the USA and Italy were racketeers! Al Capone. He took charge of the Chicago Mob in the 1920s. He was the king of Bootlegging. Mayer Lansky took control of the Havana night clubs and Las Vegas casinos. Surprisingly he was a Jew and never a sworn member of the Mob. Lucky Luciano, Sicilian - born, reshaped New York City (he was the first Don of the Genovese family).
The world today should be renamed "Criminal Inc". The world GDP in 2016 was US$ 86 trillion. Of this 25% (US$ 20 trillion) comes from crime - gambling, prostitution, drugs, bribes, kickbacks, over invoicing, under invoicing, gun running, etc. We are all in the wrong business - crime pays.
(The writer is the former Executive Director of the Management Association of Pakistan)