Pizzino
Encyclopedia
Pizzino is an Italian language
word derived from Sicilian language
equivalent pizzinu. Despite it generically meaning "small piece of paper", the word is now widely used to refer to small slips of paper that the Sicilian Mafia uses for high-level communications. Sicilian Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano
is among those best known for using pizzini, most notably in his instructions which underline Messina Denaro to become his successor.
Provenzano used a version of the Caesar cipher
, used by Julius Caesar in wartime communications. The Caesar code involves shifting each letter of the alphabet forward three places; Provenzano's pizzini code did the same, then replaced letters with numbers indicating their position in the alphabet. Thus "mia" might become "16124", since m=13+3=16, i=9+3=12, and a=1+3=4. (Note that the alphabet used is the Italian alphabet, which has a slightly different order and number of characters than the Latin alphabet.) It is a very simple and old code, with the only point of difficulty being the initial confusion of the ambiguous role of the various digits as independent or part of two-digit numbers.
For example, one reported note by Provenzano read "I met 512151522 191212154 and we agreed that we will see each other after the holidays..." This name was decoded as "Binnu Riina".
Discovery Channel News quotes cryptography expert Bruce Schneier
saying "Looks like kindergarten cryptography to me. It will keep your kid sister out, but it won't keep the police out. But what do you expect from someone who is computer illiterate?"
Italian police got a chance to read many pizzini when close associates of Provenzano turned informant. Once in possession of enough pizzini, police were able to break the code quickly.
A biographer of Provenzano also reports that Provenzano used a more complicated code, yet to be deciphered, which referenced selected words that Provenzano had underlined in his copy of the Bible.
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
word derived from Sicilian language
Sicilian language
Sicilian is a Romance language. Its dialects make up the Extreme-Southern Italian language group, which are spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands; in southern and central Calabria ; in the southern parts of Apulia, the Salento ; and Campania, on the Italian mainland, where it is...
equivalent pizzinu. Despite it generically meaning "small piece of paper", the word is now widely used to refer to small slips of paper that the Sicilian Mafia uses for high-level communications. Sicilian Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano
Bernardo Provenzano
Bernardo Provenzano is a member of the Sicilian Mafia and is suspected of having been the head of the Corleonesi, a Mafia faction that originated in the village of Corleone, and de facto capo di tutti capi of the entire Sicilian Mafia until his arrest in 2006.His nickname is Binnu u tratturi...
is among those best known for using pizzini, most notably in his instructions which underline Messina Denaro to become his successor.
Provenzano used a version of the Caesar cipher
Caesar cipher
In cryptography, a Caesar cipher, also known as a Caesar's cipher, the shift cipher, Caesar's code or Caesar shift, is one of the simplest and most widely known encryption techniques. It is a type of substitution cipher in which each letter in the plaintext is replaced by a letter some fixed number...
, used by Julius Caesar in wartime communications. The Caesar code involves shifting each letter of the alphabet forward three places; Provenzano's pizzini code did the same, then replaced letters with numbers indicating their position in the alphabet. Thus "mia" might become "16124", since m=13+3=16, i=9+3=12, and a=1+3=4. (Note that the alphabet used is the Italian alphabet, which has a slightly different order and number of characters than the Latin alphabet.) It is a very simple and old code, with the only point of difficulty being the initial confusion of the ambiguous role of the various digits as independent or part of two-digit numbers.
For example, one reported note by Provenzano read "I met 512151522 191212154 and we agreed that we will see each other after the holidays..." This name was decoded as "Binnu Riina".
Discovery Channel News quotes cryptography expert Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on general security topics, computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of BT Managed Security Solutions, formerly Counterpane Internet...
saying "Looks like kindergarten cryptography to me. It will keep your kid sister out, but it won't keep the police out. But what do you expect from someone who is computer illiterate?"
Italian police got a chance to read many pizzini when close associates of Provenzano turned informant. Once in possession of enough pizzini, police were able to break the code quickly.
A biographer of Provenzano also reports that Provenzano used a more complicated code, yet to be deciphered, which referenced selected words that Provenzano had underlined in his copy of the Bible.