Capo di tutti i capi

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Capo di tutti i capi or capo dei capi (Italian for boss of all bosses or boss of bosses ) is mainly used externally by the mass media , police and judicial authorities as a title to dominant leaders within the mafia ; So especially for leaders of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra or bosses of the American Cosa Nostra . As a rule, the head of the most powerful "family" is referred to as such a "boss of bosses".

This title is not used in internal circles as it would lead to tension between the individual “families”, their political groups or their full members.

American mafia

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 .

When Salvatore Maranzano was sent from Sicily to New York by Vito Cascio Ferros , a conflict arose in 1930/31, which became known as the War of Castellammare . After Masseria's murder in 1931, Maranzano apparently actually sought a position as capo dei capi of all five families . In order to ultimately achieve and consolidate this position, he planned to eliminate Masseria's surviving allies as well. But Lucky Luciano , who had been lieutenant under Masseria at the time, acted immediately. On September 10, killers, most of whom came from the environment of the Bugs and Meyer Mob , disguised as police officers broke into Maranzano's office and shot him.

Masseria and Maranzano were old school Mustache Pete . The views between these old "greaseballs" (English fat dumplings), as the Mustache Petes were also called, and the "Young Turks" (English young Turks ) such as Lucky Luciano in particular, diverged widely. The collaboration between Luciano and the non-Sicilian Frank Costello , a man from Calabria , should have made Masseria suspicious.

With the Seven Group there was already a working context of different nationalities to circumvent alcohol prohibition and the division of labor practiced in it contradicted the position of a powerful central leadership by one person.

After Maranzano's murder, Luciano founded the National Crime Syndicate , in which the so-called American Mafia Commission of the American Cosa Nostra has the "chairmanship" and has always remained the dominant group. Instead of a boss of the bosses , the NCS was headed by the "commission" , which banned the position of capo di tutti i capi . In addition to the five families in New York and the Chicago outfit , gangs of other ethnic origins or associates also had a seat and vote there; in particular the Kosher Nostra Meyer Lansky was the most influential figure of non-Italian origin. Lansky was referred to by the press not only as the "banker of organized crime", but also as the "godfather of the godparents". This was to express his influence on the other gangsters; From a formal point of view, this was basically ruled out, as non-Italians actually cannot become full members of the Mafia. Even if Lansky had been one of the few exceptions, the leadership of a non-Italian would not have been enforceable.

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".

Sicilian mafia

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

After the second great Mafia war 1981–1983 (also known as Mattanza (the "bloody harvests") in Italy ), the Corleonesi achieved a hitherto unknown total hegemony over the entire organization through the consistent killing of their opponents and the investigating officials . Riina reorganized life within the Cosa Nostra and appointed so-called ambassadors who should control the activities of the other families for him.

Riina alone then decided on disputes within the clans and all families were obliged to give a percentage of their income to the ' Cupola ' . After the Italian government arrested Salvatore Riina in 1993 and his brother-in-law and successor Leoluca Bagarella was caught by the authorities in 1995, the leadership passed to Bernardo Provenzano . Provenzano led the organization back into anonymity. He stopped the attacks and bombings and allowed the individual families to regain their independence.

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 Lo Piccolo and three other men, including his son Sandro, Denaro is now the new potential capo di tutti i capi of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.

Movie

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Riina watches life story from jail cell . variety.com. February 11, 2007. Retrieved April 22, 2013.