“The girls” in any given Mafia town

Why breaking up with your female friends is more painful than losing a lover

Sisters are important, but it’s ‘the sisterhood’ that most women can’t live without, says Kathy Lette. Until things go terribly wrong, that is

The IndependentKathy Lette

… there is, of course, the “sisterhood”, and, in many ways, friends are just as important. My best girlfriends are like Orion’s Belt; always there, lined up alongside each other. Whenever I feel lost and can’t find my place in life, my girlfriends are my bookmark. Loving, loyal girlfriends – and you know who you are – lift you two octaves up on the happiness scale without even realising they’re doing so. On a girls’ night out, I sometimes feel like I’ll have to be hospitalised from hilarity. …

That’s very very strange. With so much lower lip shooting out for “friends” like that, one can sense a gang payback or mafia vendetta coming already, fueled by drugs and alcohol and jealousy over boyfriends.

Be friendly; don’t dump or betray your friends who really are friends, but don’t be deceived either. That’s not a lifestyle of moderation or promises being kept.

And the men. There’s an unspoken, unacknowledged and un-introduced “brotherhood” just around the corner from these strange ladies, practicing strange rites and holding peculiar ceremonies. Marriages of convenience. Marriages on paper only. Marriages for immigration fraud among other illicit purposes between men and women who never actually relate to each other. Typical in organized crime groups. Too many jailbirds and prison buddies.