A year ago, the shooting of reputed Mafia chief Joseph Columbo at an Italian-American Unity Day rally touched off at least 14 other Mafia shootings. In this hour, reporter Nicholas Pileggi and Luigi Barzini (author of "The Italians") explore the roots, structure, and harsh code of that mystical (and say many Italian-Americans, mythical group, the Mafia.)
Why was Columbo Shot? Because Pileggi says, his much-publicized Italian-American Civil Rights League violated the mob's code of silence. "The sight itself was unthinkable to Columbo's peers- a Mafia leader standing before 50,000 people, guarded by the police." (Parallel case: the recent shooting of Crazy Joe Gallo who had also become something of a public figure,)
