{{Italic title}} [[File:Pizzino Provenzanos.jpg|thumb|''Pizzino'' by Bernardo Provenzano]] '''''Pizzino''''' ({{IPA|it|pitˈtsiːno}}; plural as ''pizzini'') is an Italian language word derived from the Sicilian language equivalent ''pizzinu'' meaning "small piece of paper".<ref name="Lorenzi">{{cite web|url=http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060417/mafiaboss_tec.html|title=Mafia Boss's Encrypted Messages Deciphered|last=Lorenzi|first=Rossella|date=2006-04-17|work=Discovery News|publisher=Discovery Channel|access-date=26 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060421164832/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060417/mafiaboss_tec.html|archive-date=2006-04-21}}</ref> The word has been 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 instruction that Matteo Messina Denaro become his successor. The ''pizzini'' of other mafiosi have significantly aided police investigations.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Palazzolo, Salvo|date=13 November 2007|title=Palermo, nei "pizzini" del boss Lo Piccolo i nomi dei "soldati" delle cosche (Palermo, "pizzini" of boss Lo Piccolo name the "soldiers" of the mafia clan)|newspaper=La Repubblica|location=Rome, Italy|language=it|url=http://www.repubblica.it/2007/11/sezioni/cronaca/arrestati-lo-piccolo/vertici-boss/vertici-boss.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623234420/http://www.repubblica.it/2007/11/sezioni/cronaca/arrestati-lo-piccolo/vertici-boss/vertici-boss.html|archive-date=23 June 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Provenzano case== Provenzano used a version of the Caesar cipher, used by Julius Caesar in wartime communications.<ref name="Lorenzi"/> 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.<ref name="Lorenzi"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060417/mafiaboss_tec_02.html|title=Secret Mafia Notes Reveal New 'Godfather'|last=Lorenzi|first=Rossella|date=2006-04-25|work=Discovery News|publisher=Discovery Channel|access-date=26 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060430111351/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060424/mafianote_tec.html|archive-date=2006-04-30}}</ref>
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".<ref name="Lorenzi"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
Pizzino Category:Cryptography Category:Organized crime terminology
{{Mafia}}