what is the term for mafia lawyer?

by Ms. Esmeralda Bogan IV 8 min read

Consigliere (/ˌkɒnsɪliˈɛəreɪ/; Italian: [konsiʎˈʎɛːre], plural consiglieri) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel The Godfather (1969) and its film adaptation.

What is the Mafia?

Apr 17, 2022 · Helping business owners for over 15 years. Mafia consiglieri refers to a position in the hierarchy within an organization, particularly one in Southern Italy or on the American mainland. As a result of The Godfather (1969), an English version was also adapted into a film. Bribes, gambling offenses ...

What does associate mean in the Mafia?

Sep 14, 2016 · Scrub up on your mob slang. Administration: the top-level “management” of an organized crime Family — the boss, underboss and consigliere. Associate: one who works with mobsters, but hasn’t been asked to take the vow of Omertà; an almost confirmed, or made guy. Connected Guy: an associate.

What does mob mobster mean?

capo dei capi: "boss of all [the] bosses" is a phrase used mainly by the media, public and the law enforcement community to indicate a supremely powerful crime boss in the Sicilian or American Mafia who holds great influence over the whole organization.

What does CAPI mean in the Mafia?

1875, from Italian Mafia “Sicilian secret society of criminals” (the prevailing sense outside Sicily), earlier, “spirit of hostility to the law and its ministers,” from Italian (Sicilian) mafia “boldness, bravado,” probably from Arabic mahjas “aggressive, boasting, bragging.”. Or perhaps from Old French mafler “to gluttonize ...

image

What do you call a Mafia worker?

associate: one who works with mobsters, but hasn't been asked to take the vow of Omertà; an almost confirmed, or made guy. bagman: a person or paymaster designated to collect or distribute illicitly gained money.

What is a Consiglio?

consiglio m (plural consigli) advice, counsel.

What is a consigliere also known as?

The Consigliere (also known as Consigliori) is an advisor to the family and sometimes seen as the Boss's "right-hand man". They are used as a mediator of disputes, representatives or aides in meetings with other families.

What is a female Mafia boss called?

The Godmother'The Godmother': Italian police arrest female mafia boss A top female mafia boss, known as 'The Godmother' to her associates, has been arrested by Italian police as she attempted to leave the country for Spain.Aug 7, 2021

What is a Conciliare?

verb. conciliate [verb] (formal) to win over or regain the support, friendship etc of. reconcile [verb] to bring (two or more different aims, points of view etc) into agreement.Apr 6, 2022

What is a Pezzonovante?

• Both the Dons (Vito & Michael) use the word "pezzonovante", which means ".95. caliber," or more accurately meaning "big shot".

Is Tony Soprano based on a real person?

The character is loosely based on real-life New Jersey mobster Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo, a former caporegime (capo) and "de facto" boss of the DeCavalcante crime family.

Who is the biggest crime family in the world?

The Genovese family is the oldest and the largest of the "Five Families"....Genovese crime family.Vito Genovese, boss from 1957 to 1969Foundedc. 1890sEthnicityItalians as "made men" and other ethnicities as associatesMembership (est.)250–300 made members and 1,000+ associates (2004)8 more rows

Why do mobsters have mistresses?

Traditionally, part of the Mafia code is to keep the wives and mothers out of the loop of confidences for their own safety and because the mother, in these devoutly Catholic zones, is the Madonna, the pure being; one reason, experts say, why mobsters take mistresses is to have a woman they feel free to confide in.May 13, 2007

What is tax in the Mafia?

tax: to take a percentage of someone's earnings. The Commission and the Sicilian Mafia Commission: two bodies, Italian-American and the Sicilian respectively, of leading Mafia members to decide on important questions concerning the actions of, and settling disputes within the Mafia.

What is a capo?

captain: a capo. cement shoes: a method of murder or body disposal, usually associated with criminals such as the Mafia or gangs. It involves weighting down the victim, who may be dead or alive, with concrete and throwing them into water in the hope the body will never be found.

What does Capo dei Capi mean?

capo dei capi: "boss of all [the] bosses" is a phrase used mainly by the media, public and the law enforcement community to indicate a supremely powerful crime boss in the Sicilian or American Mafia who holds great influence over the whole organization. captain: a capo.

What is a goodfella?

Goodfella: A member of the Mafia. goomar or goomah: Americanized form of comare, a Mafia mistress . goombah: an associate, especially a senior member of a criminal gang. heavy: packed, carrying a weapon.

Definition of Mafia

The Canada social science dictionary [1] provides the following meaning of Mafia: Originally used to identify a specific Sicilian crime group, is now commonly used to identify any ethnic or regionally based crime organization.

Overview and more information about Mafia

For a more comprehensive understanding of Mafia, see in the general part of the online platform.

What does "associate" mean in the Mafia?

Associate (n.) Though the usual sense of this word conveys a sense of belonging, in Mafia-speak an associate is one who works in affiliation with a Mafia organization but is not an official member.

What is the Mafia's stockpile of slang?

Much of the gangland vocabulary has entered our mainstream language. This is a collection of Mafia-related and crime-related slang terms.

What is the crime family?

Crime family. The basic structural unit of the Mafia society. The borgata has an established hierarchy, a body of members or soldiers, and many associates. Literal translation of the term refers to a neighborhood, and there may have been a difference between a Mafia borgata and a famiglia at one time, but the two words are now synonyms.

What is the act of siphoning funds from a legitimate business enterprise to an underworld organization?

The act of siphoning funds from a legitimate business enterprise to an underworld organization. Also, the money withdrawn from a venture - such as casino gambling - before income is calculated for tax purposes.

Why is being a big earner important to the Mafia?

Being a big earner as an associate has also been said to relieve the prospective member of the duty of committing a murder to gain admittance to a crime family.

When did the FBI discover La Cosa Nostra?

Striving for credibility after denying the existence of a nationwide Mafia for decades, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI "discovered" La Cosa Nostra around 1960 and began referring to it with the meaningless abbreviation "LCN."

What is the act of ordering a man to report to his superiors?

The act of ordering - without explanation - a made man to report to his superiors. Mafiosi might be called in so they can be disciplined (murdered). Once the order is received, the made man must report as ordered. So, mafiosi in trouble with superiors will sometimes drop out of touch to avoid receiving the call.

What does the Mafia mean?

Today, the word "mafia" is used to refer to almost any organized crime group , and in some cases is even used to describe groups completely unrelated to crime. In this article, we will focus on the traditional meaning of "mafia": org­anized criminal organizations of Italian or Sicilian heritage.

What is an associate in the Mafia?

An associate is simply someone who works with the mob, including anyone from a burglar or drug dealer to a lawyer, investment banker, police officer or politician.

What does "la cosa nostra" mean?

La Cosa Nostra - The term cosa nostra, which is sometimes translated from Italian to mean "our thing, " originally referred to the general lifestyle of organized criminals in Sicily. When the Mafia moved to the United States, FBI agents listening in on wiretaps heard the term.

What is the lowest rank in the Mafia?

A soldier is the lowest rank among made men. They're part of the family, but they hold little power and make relatively little money. The number of soldiers that belong to any given capo can vary tremendously. In addition to soldiers, the Mafia will use associates.

What is the ultimate point of the Mafia?

The ultimate point of the Mafia is to make money. Families use a variety of activities to accomplish this. One of the most common is also one of the simplest: extortion. Extortion is forcing people to give up their money by threatening them in some way. Mafia "protection rackets" are extortion schemes.

Where did the Mafia start?

The current structure of the Mafia took centuries to develop. It all began on the island of Sicily. Although there are major organized crime groups from other parts of Italy, the Sicilian Mafia is generally considered to be the blueprint for all other Mafia organizations.

Is the Mafia an organization?

The Mafia is not an actual organization itself. There is no head of the Mafia. Instead, the word Mafia is an umbrella term that refers to any of several groups of gangsters who can trace their roots to Italy or Sicily.

Who are associates of the Mafia?

The Mafia works through them. They may be drug-dealers, burglars, assassins, lawyers, or even police and politicians who are on the Mafia's payroll.

How effective was the Mafia?

The Mafia had a very effective structure. It prevented the higher-ranked members of the Families to be responsible for the criminal enterprises.

How could a lower ranked mafioso be bailed out of jail?

And any lower-ranked Mafioso could easily be bailed out of jail by cleaning his record and bribing the judges. The cops were also generally of the Mafia's payroll and "looked the other way" whenever the Mafia were involved. The picture displays a typical structure of the Mafia.

How successful is Capo?

A Capo is regarded to be successful only if he earns a huge amount of money for the Mafia. He keeps some of his earnings and the rest are passed up to the Underboss and ultimately the Don. Below the Capo's are the made-men and soldiers.

What is a made man?

Made-men are the ultimate enforcers of the Family who have proved themselves and command respect from their fellow Mafioso. Soldier's are the lowest Mafia members. They do all the "dirty work" and as such are generally the ones arrested by the police. Soldiers command little respect and make relatively less money.

What is the role of the P in the Mafia?

He acts like an adviser to the Don and is supposed to make impartial decisions based upon fairness and for the good of the Mafia, rather thank on personal vendettas. This p [position is generally appointed by the Don but sometimes it is also elected by members of the Mafia.

Is the Consigliere a Mafia?

The Consigliere also acts like the mouth of the Don often and commands huge respect just like the Don. He is, however, not directly involved with the criminal enterprises of the Mafia. Just below the Underboss are the Capos. The number of Capos varied between the Families and depended upon the overall size of the Mafia Family.

Why did Frank Costello become the acting boss of the Mafia?

When he was convicted, Frank Costello became acting boss because underboss Vito Genovese had fled to Italy to avoid a murder charge. Genovese's return to the states was cleared when a key witness against him was poisoned and the charges were dropped.

Why did Luciano set up the Commission?

Luciano set up the “Commission” to rule all La Cosa Nostra activities. The Commission included bosses from seven families and divided the different rackets among the families. In 1936, Luciano was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison for operating a prostitution ring.

How long did Genovese lead the Costello family?

Costello led the family for approximately 20 years until May of 1957, when Genovese took control by sending soldier Vincent “the Chin” Gigante to murder him.

What did Valachi reveal to the committee?

He revealed to the committee numerous secrets of the organization, including its name, structure, power bases, codes, swearing-in ceremony, and members. In 1969, several years after Valachi began cooperating with the FBI, Vito Genovese died in his prison cell.

What was the name of the group that Valachi was a member of?

Recruited by FBI agents, he appeared before the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on September 27, 1963 and testified that he was a member of a secret criminal society in the U.S. known as La Cosa Nostra.

What happened in New Orleans in 1890?

On October 15, 1890, New Orleans Police Superintendent David Hennessey was murdered execution-style. Hundreds of Sicilians were arrested, and 19 were eventually indicted for the murder. An acquittal generated rumors of widespread bribery and intimidated witnesses.

Who was the second member of the Genovese family?

In 1986, a second member turned against the Genovese family when Vincent “Fish” Cafaro, a soldier and right-hand-man to Anthony Salerno, decided to cooperate with the FBI and testify. According to Cafaro’s sworn statement, Gigante ran the family from behind the scenes while pretending to be mentally ill. Cafaro said this behavior helped further insulate Gigante from authorities while he ran the Genovese family’s criminal activities.

image