Passione/Culture

Passione, like other crime syndicates, have their own culture and policies both generally and within their separate groups.

## Views on Exclusivity

Like any gang, Passione violently protects itself against any enemy, sending members to punish anyone who harms one of their own. It also entertains certain secretiveness as its members actively try to hide from the public. This is a reflection of Father Diavolo's own policies, as he refuses to personally meet anyone and giving orders through proxies while also spending much of his time trying to erase all traces of himself in addition to running his syndicate. Moreover, any member who tries to uncover his identity is immediately branded a traitor and made an example of.

Anyone caught betraying the Boss is condemned to death without trial to remind everyone of the risks of rebellion. The team they are associated with will be punished as well as humiliated in some way- oftentimes by cutting their pay or performing more dangerous and degrading missions- regardless of whether the whole team was actually involved or aware of such treason. However, teams or their members can refute as a means to gain leniency or receive an official statement from Father Diavolo that their "sins are absolved" by him. By being absolved or given more lenient punishments, the team or the member asking for clemency will be less humiliated and regain favor depending on how successful their pleads are. Asking for such involves either the team or the member in question making a strong case that they were not involved in the betrayer's scheme. This is done by either blaming solely on the betrayer or a team that seems most likely to be the cause of such, and disown or renounce the scapegoat from being a member of their team and therefore Passione. If the betrayer hasn't been killed by Father Diavolo, the team that the betrayer works for would have to kill the betrayer themselves, sometimes based on what Father Diavolo wants it to be done. This was the case with Team Bucciarati, having discovered that Stracciatello was paralyzed, left for dead when he was found, and Fedel Agnello was later forced to kill him by the instructions attached on Stracciatello's body.

Corruption and infighting are not unusual, like many other syndicates, and comradeship doesn't exist beyond one's team. Despite the exclusivity and not actually practicing familial nepotism in any of its ranks, Passione has a familial view that causes many to refer to their peers and superiors in such a manner, refusing to consider anyone outside of their own team and team culture as strangers at best. The only exception is the past friendship between Team Bucciarati and The Hitman Team. These friendships and bonds, however, are highly discouraged by superiors, and it is common for the higher-ups, including Father Diavolo himself, to sabotage these friendships to avoid having it grow into a strong rebellion. This was something that Father Diavolo commented when talking about Sorbetto and Stracciatello's deaths affecting their teams' relationship and using it to his advantage. Rebellion regardless is omnipresent and many members throughout the years have at least tried to plan their betrayal against their superiors or even the boss some out of greed, others because they are dissatisfied that the gang is now dealing drugs, while they joined it because it claimed to fight the drug trade going on and felt lied to when realizing their mistake of joining. However, those that try either stop before they were caught or mysteriously "disappear" and/or appear dead soon after.

The hierarchy means that those of lower ranks will be treated worse than those above them. This is especially seen as Hitman Teams are considered the most mistreated compared to their contemporaries; unlike them, Hitman Teams are only given commissions and forbidden to work outside of their teams as a means of gaining or collecting more income or participate in local governments without the syndicate's official permission. Teams in this this category have the highest turnover as a result, due to being the ones that handle "dirty work" for the syndicate, and advancement or promotion is nearly impossible. Teams or even individual members, however, may be viewed more favorably by their superiors and granted privileges as a result. Such examples include The Special Unit and The Narcotics Team, due to their ability to provide more direct benefit to Father Diavolo and therefore placed high or outside of the hierarchy respectively, and The Rise as well as Cassio Montagna being in close relation with Ogio Engio. This can cause jealousy towards these teams and mafiosos, and many will often trying to take their roles or sabotage them to gain their privileges rather than collectively work together for a bigger goal. As a result of favoritism being practiced in Passione, many teams will try to obtain favor from these special teams or mafioso so that they themselves can earn better benefits. The risk of failure is prominent. This was seen when Ceci Mariposa attempted to seduce Massimo Volpe so he could convince Father Diavolo to loosen his punishments on them, only to be publicly humiliated outright by him when her advances failed.

Respect towards a team or member of higher status is expected, especially regarding funerals, weddings, and baptisms, regardless of the relationship between them. Some Capos or high ranking mafioso members require their subordinates to pay respects for occasions outside of these events. The most important event to attend, regardless of territory and who is overseeing it, are funerals. A lower ranked mafioso attending a deceased Capo or a higher ranking mafioso's funeral ceremony for any reason, including childbirth or other deaths, or acting in a disrespectful manner is seen as a major offense, something that Mela Ghirgha mentioned when she called out Andreas Arancini's team for not attending Polpo's funeral while every team based in Naples, including Team Bucciarati, were in attendance. It is believed that The Hitman Team's reputation amongst their peers, with the exception of Hitman Team #36 was looked down upon because they did not send even one person to pay respects to Polpo, something Olio Nero admitted was something he should have done.

Despite its strict hierarchy and reputation, Passione has rather poor discipline within its ranks due to the many vindictive Stand users in the gang and how many are often brought into the gang forcibly due to having their Stands activated by the Arrow. This is a common joke shared privately among syndicate contemporaries where many are surprised that Passione hasn't destroyed itself from the inside yet. Despite practicing respect, members often criticize their peers and superiors harshly in private.

## Initiation Procedures

Unlike other gangs, Passione possesses a high number of Stand users despite having less than one thousand members, due to its harsh recruiting test.

Regardless of the team they will end up in or the capo that will oversee their team, new members are taken to meet Naple's ruling capo Ogio Engio, unknowingly through his puppet **Polpo**, in a highly secured prison in Naples. From there, after a quick search and pat-down from the guards, Polpo conducts a brief interview one-on-one to know the potential candidate, taking in consideration their intentions of joining and which team they want to serve. Polpo will then offer the candidate a lighter, with the initiation being a task to keep the lighter lit for a full 24 hours, including when the candidate leaves and reenters the prison to return the lighter to Polpo again. Unlike Vento Aureo, the guards themselves are aware of what happens in the test and, despite some of them being non-Stand users, are familiar with Stands enough to know what will happen if the lighter goes off in the prison. In that case, Ogio Engio is able to halt his Stand from coming out until the user steps outside. Unbeknownst to the candidate, one of the guards is actuall Ogio Engio in disguise.

The test itself will prove to be impossible unless the candidate is already a Stand user and able to use their Stand to keep the lighter lit. However, having the lighter unlit and relit again will cause Ogio Engio's Stand Y2K to emerge and hit whoever grabs the lighter with a Stand arrow. Regardless of whether the task is successful, once the lighter is brought back, Ogio Engio, via Polpo, will give his blessing to have the candidate join the team he assigns them to. The candidate is often assigned to the team of the mafioso or capo that recruited the candidate to join, but sometimes assigned to a different team that the Capo will deem a "better fit". A member of the team they are assigned to, usually the leader, will pick them up. Depending on the team, the candidate may go through more initiations before becoming the team's own official member.

Potential members, if deemed worthy by the Arrow, are turned into Stand users, often against their own will. Those who somehow get involved with the test, either as a bystander, or attempting to help the member, could end up becoming Stand users and forced to become a member of Passione as a result. This case happened with Taehyung Pescatore, when he obtained his Stand due to picking up a lighter and relighting it without realizing what will happen. In the case where a member is recruited by accident, their presence are made known to Ogio Engio and the newly made user is brought back to him. Because the Arrow determines worthiness of its victims and killing those otherwise, this caused Passione to have a smaller number of members. This procedure not only allows Passione to find suitable members but takes Stand users out of the public to avoid them from possibly plotting against them, either by themselves or by joining a rival team.

New members are given "code names", which can range from being similar to their current names or vastly different. Naming styles vary from team to team but it is commonly acknowledged that those with higher status and/or public reputation, either as their current positions or previously, have a first and last name as a code name. Teams will either allow members to choose their names or have one chosen for them to suit the team overall, and some teams require names to be changed periodically for security reasons. These code names are used amongst team members, between subordinates and superiors, and the public, and many members will only be referred as much; it is not unusual for team members to not know each other's legal/birth names due to not introducing themselves as such and documentations may even be forged to use their code names to hide their real names. This naming also extends to the team itself, as teams are numbered but can be referred to as their number or a nickname either by their own right or by their peers.

## Syndicate Policies

Unlike its contemporaries, Passione is known for their very complex yet efficient system of communication regarding their computer and telephone messaging approaches. These systems are maintained by specific Information Teams specializing in technologies and telecommunications and allow mafiosos to send encrypted messages and use technologies that are farther advanced compared to publicly available technology at the time. It is rumored that Passione is a stakeholder for various tech companies in Silicon Valley that specialize in security and networking, which allowed them to have such advance systems of communication and would use some of their profits in the drug trade to invest in these companies. These systems work similarly as a VPN that also tracks and stores messages when necessary. If Father Diavolo wants a direct message to the team or individual, he will use these systems and has his own specific encryption to verify that he is the real Boss.

Besides the messaging system, Father Diavolo and other superiors will communicate with each other or their subordinates via a Capo, a member of the Special Unit, or by a Dead Caller. The last form of communication is rather unusual but often used to discard individuals or as part of a team's punishment. Dead Callers are often unwilling victims forced to relay messages and either commit suicide or be killed soon after to avoid further issues. Rarely are Dead Callers willing but they are used when Passione is in need of disposing individuals- either their own, their victims, or their enemies. In terms of their own, it is rare for a member to relay a message to their own team without them actually being killed afterwards, but it is possible if the messenger is highly favored and possibly meant to have a few more tasks to perform before actually being killed.