The Mafia’s Ten Commandments have been found after police arrested a top Godfather in Sicily.

Under the secret Cosa Nostra code of conduct, the so-called “men of honour” must avoid bars, other gangsters’ wives and girlfriends and be on time.

The list of rules emerged from documents seized after the arrest of Salvatore Lo Piccolo, 65, at a secret mob meeting in Palermo, along with his son Sandro, 32, and two other godfathers.

The 10 ‘Mafiosi’ commandments are:

1. No one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.

2. Never look at the wives of friends.

3. Never be seen with cops.

4. Don’t go to pubs and clubs.

5. Always be available for Cosa Nostra, even if your wife’s about to give birth.

6. Appointments must be respected.

7. Wives must be treated with respect.

8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.

9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families.

10. People who can’t be part of Cosa Nostra are anyone with a close relative in the police, with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn’t hold to moral values.

Some of the rules are obvious, such as that absolute silence and secrecy – “omerta” – must be kept at all times.

Along with the rules, police found a holy image bearing the Mafia initiation ritual. The wording is: “I swear to be faithful to Cosa Nostra. If I should betray it, my flesh must burn, just as this image burns.”

Lo Piccolo apparently carried the papers everywhere with him in a brown leather briefcase.