Not all important mafioso funerals are so popular, however. Stefano Bontade's murder in Palermo on his forty-fifth birthday in 1981 was a sign that all-out war was imminent. Despite the considerable weight this man carried in the mafia and the fact that, as Salvatore Contorno points out, "it was reasonable to expect an extremely large participation in mourning," very few people attended his funeral (TC: 26). The fear of being targeted as a friend of the victim's probably prevailed.

QUESTION: How does attendance at funerals function as a strategic signal within Mafia networks — both for showing loyalty and avoiding suspicion?

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 1036