Boss (Cosa Nostra)

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Building a US mafia family

A boss (also Capofamiglia , Representante , Don or Godfather ) denotes the highest level within the hierarchy of a mafia family in Mafia groups - especially in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and in the US La Cosa Nostra .

influence

As a rule, the boss has absolute or almost absolute control over his subordinates, who are usually obliged to risk their lives for his orders. He is greatly feared for his influence and benefits from the criminal activities in which his organization is entangled.

Only a boss, underboss or consigliere has the right to hold the induction ceremony in which an "associate" becomes a member of the family and a "made man" becomes.

The head of the family has the sole right to decide whether a candidate will be accepted into the family and may move family members up or down the organization / family hierarchy as they see fit.

In principle, in La Cosa Nostra only one boss with a lot of power and influence receives a seat in the so-called American Mafia Commission , which is the “umbrella organization” of La Cosa Nostra and the “chairman” of the National Crime Syndicate . The situation is very similar in the Sicilian Mafia Commission , also known as the “dome” (Cupola). The commission is the only authority that is above the boss and has the power to vote on a new family boss before it can become official and also has the right to remove a boss or other high-ranking member and even kill him to arrange.

Dismissed by the Commission:

Murdered by the Commission:

hierarchy

In terms of the structure of the hierarchy, the American “La Cosa Nostra” essentially corresponds to the Sicilian “Cosa Nostra” in Sicily. However, the original terms have been Americanized.

The basis of the organization is the so-called "family", the term should not be taken literally, as it is not actually based on consanguinity as in the 'Ndrangheta . Each family is headed by a boss who is in command. As a rule, the boss is no longer involved in day-to-day business. As a member of the so-called honorable society , it is his responsibility to maintain contacts with representatives of politics, authorities and business and to strengthen the interests of the family there, for example through corruption, money laundering or the operation of front companies.

In the sense of omertà , he is sealed off from the bottom and leaves the day-to-day business to the “underboss” or the authority on site is exercised by a “streetboss” who acts as the commanding officer in the field. An “acting boss” usually comes into effect if the actual head is imprisoned or close to retirement.

As in the legal economy, the “family” has a staff unit , i. H. the boss has one or more consigliers as consultants. Sometimes a modus operandi has developed like in a legal stock corporation, so that a successful boss may change to the position of consigliere in old age, just as a managing director is then appointed to the supervisory board.

The individual groups are then commanded by a capo or captain who, as group leader, has to implement the commands directly on site.

The simple members are then the soldiers, so to speak. The term Mafioso is not used mutually. Members refer to themselves or others as “Man of Honor”, ​​“One of Us”, “A Friend of Us”.

People who are not members of the Cosa Nostra - either because they are still being tested, but also because their membership is excluded for ethnic reasons - are regarded as “associates”. The special thing about the USA is the extensive cooperation with associates who were wrongly perceived as full members in the past. This was especially true for people of Jewish origin who were attributed to Kosher Nostra by the media . But union bosses like Jimmy Hoffa were also perceived as mobsters.

Dominance pyramid:

Boss ↔ Consigliere / Advisor / Right-Hand Man
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  1. Underboss ("Acting Boss", "Street Boss")
  2. Caporegime / Capo / Captain / Skipper : was originally called "Capodecina" (captain of ten), as he only supervised around 10 soldiers
  3. Single member: Made Man , Soldato , Full Member, Man of Honor (Italian: uomo d'onore), "One of Us", "A Friend of Us"
-------------------------------------------------- ----
Associate: (“Associate”); Aspirant or ally


Capo di tutti i capi (Italian for: Boss of all bosses):

In the US Mafia, Giuseppe "Joe The Boss" Masseria was one of the first to be assigned this title, as he controlled the crime organized by Italians in New York City from the early 1920s until his assassination on April 15, 1931 .

In the late 1960s and early 1990s, the Gambino Family was considered the most powerful faction of the New York Five Families . That is why the leaders of the Gambino family, beginning with Carlo Gambino , Paul Castellano and later John Gotti , were referred to by the authorities and especially by the media as "Capo di tutti i capi".

In the Sicilian Mafia the title does not exist, although here too very powerful and influential bosses were called that by the media. For example, Calogero Vizzini , an "old school" Don , was often spoken of as the boss of the bosses . In the 1980s and 1990s, the bosses of the powerful Corleonese family, Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano , were often referred to as such.

On April 11, 2006, Provenzano was arrested by Italian police after a 43 year escape. Salvatore Lo Piccolo and Matteo Messina Denaro are the successors . Especially after the arrest of LoPiccolo and three other men, including his son Sandro, Denaro is now the new potential capo di tutti i capi of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.

Many Pentiti (it: penitent), such as B. Tommaso Buscetta , but repeatedly stated that such a position never existed.

Known bosses

American Cosa Nostra

In fiction

Sicilian Cosa Nostra

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article in the Spiegel about the commandments of the Mafia
  2. ^ Pistone, Joseph D. The Way of the Wiseguy: The FBI's Most Famous Undercover Agent Cracks the Mob Mind. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2005. ISBN 0-7624-2384-6
  3. ^ Manning, George A. Financial Investigation and Forensic Accounting. Boca Raton, Fla .: CRC Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8493-2223-5
  4. ↑ a b Capcei, Jerry. The complete idiot's guide to the Mafia "The Mafia's Commission" (pg. 31-46)
  5. ↑ Maas, The Valachi Papers, p. 32
  6. ↑ Most wanted mafia boss arrested . Neue Zürcher Zeitung April 12, 2006 .