Murder Cannolis
Description: they’re cannolis that have been bathed in the death energies thrown off by someone who has been suddenly and ritually murdered. Murder Cannolis don’t have to be dipped in blood or anything like that to gain their esoteric status. In fact, it’s preferable that they’re not, because pastries that have been in direct contact with an actual corpse are the very definition of ‘gross’ and ‘unsanitary.’
Powers: Soak up a man’s death, soak up that which he leaves behind. Murder Cannolis bring good financial luck; eat one, and a portion of the victim’s total wealth gets transferred to you. This is usually coincidental in nature, but sometimes it just comes down to a sudden bank account deposit.
Murder Cannolis are actually not often harvested from the rich. Any rich person with even an elementary knowledge of the occult will know perfectly well about the ritual that makes them, and they typically have people whose only job is to make sure that their principals never get suddenly and ritually murdered. And, of course, poor murder victims never have any money anyway. So this ritual is usually done on and by people in the middle criminal tier: wiseguys, finaglers, fixers, flunkies, middle managers, and everybody else willing to cut corners and break laws when building up their nest egg. This custom has become ingrained to the point where the expectation is that Murder Cannolis are not for the big boys, and any mob boss or cabal head that tries to eat one as a demonstration of his/her power will get substantial pushback from their own subordinates. The kind of pushback that can end with a car bomb.
Most esoterically inclined higher-ups can take the hint; any organization has to have social safety valves, and allowing Murder Cannolis to remain the exclusive unofficial privilege of the underlings is a small price to pay for a functional working environment. But there’s always some idiot who didn’t get the memo, or who thinks that unwritten rules only apply to everybody else. When that happens, things can get sticky for a while. Potentially remunerative, but sticky.
Oh, one last note: knowingly eating a Murder Cannoli is considered a heinous act, to put it mildly. Some religions might even call it a ‘sin.’ Or ‘foul sorcery’ — and people who use that kind of language often have a proactive way of doing things, so bear that in mind.
I’m sure Clemenza ate the cannoli.