Operation
In the Mafia, when a boss makes a decision, he passes instructions down through the chain of command. This ranking system protects the higher levels of the organization from incrimination if a lower level member should be arrested by law enforcement. A caporegime acts as an intermediary between the soldiers and the boss. In technical terms, a caporegime operates his own small family within the framework of a larger family.
Each Capo is in charge of a mini-gang or a crew of soldiers and associates that can range greatly in size. These men may or may not be based in close proximity. For example, Bonanno crime family capo Joey Gambino had crew members spread throughout New York's five boroughs and even had crew members operating in New Jersey.
Capos have varying degrees of power. Some are relatives or close friends of the boss, which gives them more influence. A capo with an active crew that generates a lot of profits is always respected.
For example, the Gambino family boss, John Gotti, was widely respected and tolerated due to the amount of profits his crew generated for the family. Despite their various blunders and mistakes, they successfully avoided getting killed by their superiors and were tolerated due to this fact.
On the other hand, capo Joe Sferra of the DeCavalcante crime family was demoted to soldier and removed from his lucrative union post in June 1965 after a series of blunders. In 1984, a more severe loss of power occurred to Salvatore "Salvie" Testa, a once rising Philadelphia crime family capo. He ended up getting murdered by Nicky Scarfo due to the suspicions raised about his loyalty.
A caporegime may also have certain areas he protects with his crew or certain racket such as labor racketeering, numbers running, and other forms of organized crime. The capo's crew members may each have their own criminal activity going on with their legitimate business ventures, while the capo may have his own business or a legitimate job in order to file tax returns.
Capo Anthony Balsano, of the Gambino crime family was recently run out of New York by his superiors, threatening murder if he did not leave. He was found hoarding a percentage of the profits for himself and not giving the Boss his cut for side projects that Balsano had been operating.
Read more about this topic: Caporegime
Famous quotes containing the word operation:
“Waiting for the race to become official, he began to feel as if he had as much effect on the final outcome of the operation as a single piece of a jumbo jigsaw puzzle has to its predetermined final design. Only the addition of the missing fragments of the puzzle would reveal if the picture was as he guessed it would be.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)
“It is critical vision alone which can mitigate the unimpeded operation of the automatic.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
“It requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding. The only idea of wit, or rather that inferior variety of the electric talent which prevails occasionally in the North, and which, under the name of “Wut,” is so infinitely distressing to people of good taste, is laughing immoderately at stated intervals.”
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845)