Italian police have released footage filmed by hidden surveillance cameras, showing for the first time a mafia's oath of allegiance.

The video was filmed at a country property near Brianza in northern Italy and is believed to show members of several gangs affiliated with the 'Ndrangheta criminal organisation.

The oath is taken to form a "holy society" with some members, police said, being only 17-years-old.

"I swear to renounce everything for the seventh generation and the criminal society known to me as the holy society," a suspected boss says as he leads the oath ceremony.

"Under the light of the stars and the splendour of the moon I form the holy chain," the oath continues.

In a separate recording, new members are informed that they are expected to take their own lives if they diverge from the gang's moral code.

"Today, from this moment on, other men do not judge you, you judge yourself," a suspected boss says.

"There are two alternatives if you make a serious error. It should not be your brothers who judge you. You must know if you have committed an error which road to follow," he said.

"The oath of poison, a tablet, there is a tablet. Or you poison yourself or you shoot yourself. In the gun chamber you should always keep one bullet," the man said.

Italy's southern Calabria region is home to the 'Ndrangheta, one of the world's most dangerous crime organizations that has spread throughout the world.

Some 38 arrests were made as a result of the video footage.

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