Some one tell me the ranks of the mafia? I know there are boos, underboss, consigliere, and capo. But what are lieutenats? What is the difference between a soldier and a buttonman? What is a wiseguy?

Do a search for this cause I know theres many other threads of the same topic but because Im bored I think the ranking goes as listed...

Boss
Underboss
Consigliere
Capo
ButtonMan/Soldier/WiseGuy/Goodfella
Associate - not a made guy

1. Capo Crimini/Capo de tutti capi (super boss/boss of bosses)

2. Boss(kind of self explanatory)

3. Consigliere (trusted advisor or family counselor)

4. Capo Bastone (Underboss, second in command)

5. Contabile (financial advisor)

6. Caporegime or Capodecina (lieutenant, typically heads a faction of ten or more soldiers comprising a “crew.”)

7. Sgarrista (a foot soldier who carries out the day to day business of the family. A “made” member of the Mafia)

8. Piciotto (lower-ranking soldiers; enforcers. Also known in the streets as the “button man.”)

9. Giovane D’Honore (Mafia associate, typically a non-Sicilian or non-Italian member)

Now, I may be wrong about all of this. I think Boss of bosses is a term used by the media to identify the boss of the most powerful family in New York. I might of mixed up Underboss and Consigliere. Well, at least I tried.

Wiseguy is a "made GUy" like Billy Batts or Joe Pesci(Tommy) on GoodFellas "going" to be made.
Associates are Henry Hill and Jimmy Conway. they can,t be made coz they are not 100% italian.

GoodFella

Since a year or three it isn't necessary to be 100% Italian to become the made status. Your father must be Italian, your mother doesn't matter.

No rank is a liuetenant.Some use that term for certain ranks but that's not the right word for it. There are Dons, underbosses, Conseglieres, Capos (Captains), and, finally, footsoldier

I didn't know the rules had changed. I thought to be 'made' you must be 100% italian with no exceptions. Why has this changed?

I thought that Charles 'Lucky' Luciano did away with the rank of Capo di Tutti Capi?

It seems that due to the thinning ranks of "capable" Italians and competition from other ethnic gangs, the "rules" have become a bit relaxed.
It's said that some families will now make an exception if the "recruit" is Italian on his father's side, whereas way back when, one had to be 100% Italian.
The best example would probably be John Gotti Jr, whose mother is Russian-Jewish. It is now rumored that due to the defections and legal troubles of the last decade, the old rules are going to be re-enforced.

He did, verbally. While he said that there would no longer be a Boss of Bosses when he took over, in essence he was still the Capo Di Tutti Capi, but made it appear more business like in becoming the Chairman of a board of directors. He made it appear as though he was the Chairman ( Boss ) amongst equals.


Don Cardi

According to Joe (Donnie Brasco) Pistone, in his book, "The Way of the Wiseguy," the "rules" were changed to allow people with only an Italian father. Could be true. On the other hand, you have to wonder if the Commission calls him periodically to update him on rules changes.

This thread was bump up after 5 years that quite something.

Just to reinforce:
According to Joe Bonanno in his autobiography, "A Man of Honor": When Luciano formed the Commission, he did not declare himself chairman. He appointed Al Capone as chairman, and Joe Bonanno as secretary. Luciano was "just a member."
This was an example of Luciano's brilliance. Though born in Sicily, he was a thoroughly American businessman.
Salvatore Maranzano had declared himself capo di tutti capi. This was a real "moustache Pete" move, and it made Maranzano very unpopular--leading to a call by the younger Mafiosi for Luciano to whack Maranzano (who was planning to whack Luciano). Charlie wasn't going to make the same mistake by declaring himself capo di tutti capi. There was no need to: Everyone knew he was first among equals because he'd proved himself.
Luciano was a Mob pragmatist. He appointed Capone as "chairman" of the Commission--even though Capone wasn't a Sicilian and his Outfit not a Mafia family--because he wanted to keep the powerful but renegade Chicagoans "in the fold" and "at the table." He named Bonanno as "secretary" because Bonanno, despite his youth, was an old-fashioned guy who was stand-offish and had little use for non-Sicilians like Lansky, Siegel, Capone and Dutch Shultz. The "honor" that Luciano accorded him by naming him "secretary" of the Commission was designed to keep him in the fold and get him to buy into Commission practices and rulings. Clever fellow, Luciano!

Great points all, TB.
I'd just like to add that not only did Joe Bonanno have no use for non Sicilians, he had little use for those born outside of his town, Castellammare del Golfo.

Thank you Turnbull. There are so many different accounts of this, that one can easily get confused. But you always seem to have the correct and most supported account.

I believe that in one of the books written about this ( offhand I cannot remember which one) it claimed that Capone declined the offer to be the "Chairman" of the board and in return nominated Luciano. Do you recall ever reading this version of the story?


Don Cardi

Not offhand, DC, but it could be. As you note, there are always many and conflicting accounts of things that did (and didn't) happen. "Chairman" and "Secretary" were meaningless anyway, since Luciano was running the show, and everyone knew it.
Can you picture Bonanno as "secretary" of the Commission--taking down notes of the meetings in shorthand, typing them up, distributing them to members, leaving a record of the proceedings for law enforcement...

True, pb. The guy was really insular and close-minded. So the result was that Gaspar diGregorio, his underboss and best man at his wedding, betrayed him.
There's a great story about Gaspar that Bonanno put in his autobio:
Bonanno left the US for a "vacation" in Italy in 1957 (really a meeting with Luciano and his cohorts to put together a big drug deal). His driver's license needed to be renewed, so before he left, Bonanno gave it to DiGregorio to take care of. Gaspar put it in his wallet and promptly forgot about it.
The famous, aborted Apalachin meeting occurred after Bonanno returned. Bonanno didn't attend, but he sent DiGregorio to represent him. Gaspar was among those busted by the cops. They confiscated his wallet, found Bonanno's driver's license in it--and identified Gaspar as Bonanno. So, after years of carefully trying to hide his identity as a Mafia boss, Bonanno was exposed, wrongly, as an Apalachin attendee thanks to diGregorio's dumbness. Gaspar must have been the model for the joke about the Mafia guy who was drummed out of La Cosa Nostra for stupidity: they sent him to blow up a car--he burned his lips on the tailpipe.

.............fetching Meyer's coffee!


As you said, there are so many different versions of the truth.

One book that I sort of hold as almost Mob gospel is a book that you and I have both talked about many times in the past...

The Five Families.



Don Cardi

Yes indeed!
I'm reading a pretty interesting book now: "The Brotherhoods" by Guy Lawson and William Oldham. It's about the two cops who were convicted in 2005 of killing for Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso, the Luchese boss. The book goes into immense, agonizing detail about the backgrounds of everyone even remotely connected to the cops and the Mob. But if you hang in, you get some fascinating stories.
As for "fetching Meyer's coffee" :
..."uh, Joe, be sure to give me Sweet 'n Low--no sugar..."

Very true TB. To go further in proving DiGregorio's ineptness, the commission eventually pulled him as boss at the height of the "Banana War" in favor of Paul Sciacca, for botching a hit on a young Bill Bonanno.
What's amazing is that, considering that he fell out of favor with both the Bonannos and the commission, he was allowed to live out his days, for all intents and purposes retired, and die from cancer in 1970.

My Dad was Napolitan and spoke Italian. I asked him one time about capo di tutti capo and he said he had never heard of it and it didn't sound right. He said each word means what it means, but it sounds made up. I think it may be an urban legend.