by PolackTony » Mon Feb 26, 2024 6:06 pm
B. wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 1:07 am
PolackTony wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 1:21 am
During his testimony at the 1908 murder trial of Rocco Racco, Hillsville quarry laborer Carmine Esposito told of his induction into the local Calabrian Camorra or “L’Unurata Sucità” under Giuseppe Cutrone and Ferdinando Surace. After swearing an oath on a collection of knives and razors, Esposito said that he was told that he was a member and that he “had to go under the buckle of Surace”.
Could be coincidence, but “going under the buckle” could be cognate to “belonging to the button”. Back in the day, “bottone” would have denoted a brass or other metal fastener, thus very similar to a buckle. Would need to know what the original Italian or Calabrisi word that Esposito would’ve used of course.
Another good one. That's how I interpreted Allegra's use of bottone, that it was akin to being "buttoned down" within Cosa Nostra. Similar to "under the buckle" or "buckled down". Too bad they didn't use the term buckleman.
I imagine there were phrases like this in Italian culture in general just like we see in the English language.
We can shed some more light on the Hillsville reference here about “going under a guy’s buckle”.
From the 1920s to 1950s (when “‘Ndrangheta” first came into documented use as a name for the Calabrian Honored Society), several pentitti in Calabria denoted their organization as “La Fibbia” or “Onorata Società di Fibbia”. Fibbia means, literally, “buckle”, so the use of “buckle” for Esposito’s testimony in 1908 would presumably have been a direct translation of Fibbia.
In 1994, ‘Ndrangheta pentitto Francesco Fonti, initiated into the Honored Society in 1966 in Siderno, testified about the organization. Of note here, Fonti stated in his testimony that members denoted as “Camorristi di Fibbia”, a sub-degree of Camorrista, had the authority to “convene and preside over a meeting in which new members are affiliated” (translated from Italian). Going back to Hillsville, I think it’s evident that Carmine Esposito was inducted as an affiliate of the Minor Society under the authority/sponsorship of Ferdinando Surace, as Surace presumably was a Camorrista given the authority to induct neophytes into the Society. I’ve seen other older Calabrian accounts that claimed that Picciotti in the Minor Society were assigned to specific Camorristi in the Major Society (sort of like that Camorrista’s “crew”, it seems to me) for the commission of crimes. I’d think this was referred to as being “under a guy’s buckle”, or a synonymous phrase.
[quote=B. post_id=247658 time=1672992440 user_id=127]
[quote=PolackTony post_id=247370 time=1672734069 user_id=6658]
During his testimony at the 1908 murder trial of Rocco Racco, Hillsville quarry laborer Carmine Esposito told of his induction into the local Calabrian Camorra or “L’Unurata Sucità” under Giuseppe Cutrone and Ferdinando Surace. After swearing an oath on a collection of knives and razors, Esposito said that he was told that he was a member and that he “had to go under the buckle of Surace”.
Could be coincidence, but “going under the buckle” could be cognate to “belonging to the button”. Back in the day, “bottone” would have denoted a brass or other metal fastener, thus very similar to a buckle. Would need to know what the original Italian or Calabrisi word that Esposito would’ve used of course.
[/quote]
Another good one. That's how I interpreted Allegra's use of bottone, that it was akin to being "buttoned down" within Cosa Nostra. Similar to "under the buckle" or "buckled down". Too bad they didn't use the term buckleman.
I imagine there were phrases like this in Italian culture in general just like we see in the English language.
[/quote]
We can shed some more light on the Hillsville reference here about “going under a guy’s buckle”.
From the 1920s to 1950s (when “‘Ndrangheta” first came into documented use as a name for the Calabrian Honored Society), several pentitti in Calabria denoted their organization as “La Fibbia” or “Onorata Società di Fibbia”. Fibbia means, literally, “buckle”, so the use of “buckle” for Esposito’s testimony in 1908 would presumably have been a direct translation of Fibbia.
In 1994, ‘Ndrangheta pentitto Francesco Fonti, initiated into the Honored Society in 1966 in Siderno, testified about the organization. Of note here, Fonti stated in his testimony that members denoted as “Camorristi di Fibbia”, a sub-degree of Camorrista, had the authority to “convene and preside over a meeting in which new members are affiliated” (translated from Italian). Going back to Hillsville, I think it’s evident that Carmine Esposito was inducted as an affiliate of the Minor Society under the authority/sponsorship of Ferdinando Surace, as Surace presumably was a Camorrista given the authority to induct neophytes into the Society. I’ve seen other older Calabrian accounts that claimed that Picciotti in the Minor Society were assigned to specific Camorristi in the Major Society (sort of like that Camorrista’s “crew”, it seems to me) for the commission of crimes. I’d think this was referred to as being “under a guy’s buckle”, or a synonymous phrase.