Mob bosses in Sicily are said to think new recruits have gone soft, so are encouraging wannabe gangsters to watch Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 movie to pick up the skills they need
Mafia bosses are ordering wannabe gangsters to learn the tricks of the trade by watching The Godfather movie.
It comes after former mob boss Michael Franzese suggested The Godfather actually got one thing very wrong. But if would-be gangsters can’t learn from the film, it seems a board game in Italy might help, after it caused fury by turning players into killer crime bosses.
Mob chiefs in Sicily are trying to restore the Cosa Nostra to its former glory and reckon recruits have gone soft. They reckon would-be wiseguys can pick up tips from Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 masterpiece, particularly when it comes to developing links with crooked politicians.
By watching the legendary film they won’t fuhgeddaboudit when it comes to what the job requires, they believe. Their grievances have been exposed in wiretaps after police arrested 150 suspected gangsters in a huge crackdown on the Italian island on Tuesday.
Big boss Giancarlo Romano was caught whining that youngsters lack ambition and urging them to watch the classic crime film.
He said: “The level is low today. They arrest someone and they become a turncoat.”
He urged a young mobster to “go to school, where you will meet doctors, lawyers – those who run Italy”.
Authorities admit that youngsters in poor areas still see mob bosses as “supermen”. And they think the crime group’s resurgence is because it’s been smuggling tiny mobile phones into prisons to keep bosses in touch with their legions while they’re behind bars.
Palermo’s chief prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia said: “You leave Cosa Nostra in two ways – by becoming a turncoat or dying. Cosa Nostra is particularly active and doing business and trying to rebuild its army.”
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