“Born in the fire of the Saint and nourished with the blood of sinners, I pledge allegiance to the Cosa Nostra, honoring it with silence and with truth, swearing to fight and defend it through vengeance. Promising to remain within it out of loyalty. Thus I swear upon my life that I will only leave in death.”
The Cosa Nostra began in the dungeons of monasteries centuries ago. To illuminate meetings held in the dark, far from nobility and royalty, the men of that time—mere sinners—burned saints and used them as embers. No one could ever speak of those gatherings, for they would all be killed by the crown they fought against and lose the dominion they had begun to claim each day through “our thing.”
That is the Cosa Nostra in its origin, but it evolved over time, left the dungeons, and took
