Crime Boss - Boss (Italian Mafia)

Boss (Italian Mafia)

The boss in the Sicilian and American Mafia is the head of the crime family and the top decision maker. A boss will typically put up layers of insulation between himself and his men in order to defeat law enforcement efforts to arrest him. Whenever he issues orders, he does so either to his underboss, consigliere or capos. The orders are then passed down the line to the soldiers. This makes it difficult under most circumstances to directly implicate a boss in a crime, since he almost never directly gives orders to the soldiers. Only the boss, underboss or consigliere can initiate an associate into the family, allowing them to become a made man. The boss can promote or demote family members at will. If the boss is incarcerated or incapacitated he places an acting boss who responsible for running the crime family. When a boss dies the crime family members choose a new boss.

The typical structure within the Mafia in Sicily and America is usually as follows:

• Capo di tutti capi - Also known as the boss of all bosses or simply boss of bosses as well as the Godfather, the now abolished title for the top boss of the Mafia, by right of heading the most powerful crime family. It has since been replaced with the Commission.

• Boss - Also known as the capofamiglia, capo crimini, representante or Don, this is the highest level in a crime family.

• Underboss - Also known as the "capo bastone" in some criminal organizations, this individual is the second-in-command. He is responsible for ensuring that profits from criminal enterprises flow up to the boss, and generally oversees the selection of the caporegime(s) and soldier(s) to carry out murders. The underboss may take control of the crime family after the boss's death. He keeps this position until a new boss is chosen, which in some cases was the Underboss.

• Consigliere - Also known as an advisor or "right-hand man," a consigliere is a counselor to the boss of a crime family. The boss, underboss, and consigliere constitute the "Administration." The consigliere is third ranked in the hierarchy but does not have capos or soldiers working for him. Like the boss, there is usually only one consigliere per criminal organization.

• Caporegime - Also known as a captain, skipper, capo, or "crew chief," the caporegime was originally known as a "capodecina" (captain of ten) because he oversaw only 10 soldiers. In more recent times, the caporegime may oversee as many soldiers as he can efficiently control. A caporegime is appointed by the family boss to run his own borgata (regime, or crew) of soldato (soldiers). Each caporegime reports directly to the underboss, who gives the him permission to perform criminal activities. If the family needs to murder someone, the underboss normally asks a caporegime to carry out the order. The caporegime runs the day-to-day operations of his crew. The caporegime's soldiers give part of their earnings to the him, and then he gives a share to the underboss. A caporegime can recommend to the underboss or boss that a recruit be allowed to join his crew as a mob associate.

• Soldato - Also known as a sgarrista, soldier, "button man," "made man", "wiseguy" or "goodfella". This is the lowest level of mobster or gangster. A "soldier" must have taken the omertà (oath of silence), and in some organizations must have killed a person in order to be considered "made." A picciotto is a low-level soldier, usually someone who does the day-to-day work of threatening, beating, and intimidating others.

• Associate - Also known as a "giovane d'onore" (man of honor), an associate is a person who is not a soldier in a crime family, but works for them and shares in the execution of and profits from the criminal enterprise. In Italian criminal organizations, "associates" are usually members of the criminal organization who are not of Italian descent.