Curious to know that throughout the history of LCN, has there been many caporegime's basically in name only without a crew under them; the only guy I can think of off the top of my head is Robert DiBernardo (DB) - essentially given to him by Gotti because of his major earning capabilities in the porn rackets.

New here but have lurked for awhile, enjoy the forums.

Thomas Gambino run the garbage racket for the gambinos.

He had a crew.

Yeah he was given the Connecticut crew after thomas debrizzi was murdered

Sorry for the mistake.

Nicky Bianco a patriarca guy sent to the Colombo family bumped to a capo in NYC but no soldiers.

Santo Idone was a capo in the Bruno-Scarfo Crime Family in Philly. He had a couple of close associates that reported to him but not a formal crew.

"Unlike many Mafia capos, Idone did not use a crew of Mafia soldiers, the rank under capo, to run his illegal businesses, according to court testimony. Instead, he used mainly mob associates, who had not yet been initiated into the Mafia."

http://articles.philly.com/1990-02-01/news/25882787_1_mafia-members-mafia-trial-video-poker-machines

How about Scarfo Jr?



Welcome to the forum, Irishkaos.

Joseph scalett and little Romeo were both made guys in his crew ...Santo idone

How's that supposed to work? If you're a capo without guys? What are the perks? Lol.

Good article, never really knew that much in depth about Idone - that he was basically the guy in Delco for so long. Makes me wonder who took over Delco when he was convicted in 90. If there was a gap/guy in between the time Idone went away and when Borgesi had his thing there.

Angelo Ruggiero? Wasn't there a point Gotti removed soldiers from his crew and he was Capo in-name only?

I believe it has financial advantages, I've read that soldiers kick up a higher percentage of their earnings than capos..

From what I've read, he had a crew in name. Anthony Megale was always the power and the guy to go to, even when Tommy Gambino was recognized "officially" and chart wise as the captain.

didnt tommy gambino inherit thomas dibrizzi's crew? or did i have that wrong, and dibrizzi was a gambino crew member.

gaggi seemed like a capo with no crew. besides demeo it didnt look like he reslly have a crew at all

Joe Adonis of the Genovese family.
Carmelo Sciortino of San Jose family.
Salvatore Misuraca Jr of the Detroit family.

Yeah, but if you're a captain without any soldiers, how the fuck are you supposed to profit from that? That's my question.

my view:

You profit by enjoying a private and lucrative relationship with the boss where the boss trusts you more and there is less potential for office politics and rivalry to rear up. Otherwise, the relationship is really engineered to benefit and protect the boss. The real question should be: How does it benefit a boss to have capos with no crews reporting to them? There are many benefits I would imagine, principal among which is control and financial benefit. Such a capo pays tribute directly to his boss. There is no middle man taking his cut. So the boss of such a capo is not sharing his tribute with middlemen.

Also, such a capo is more dangerous to others contemplating a coup against the boss. Having no crew means the only person the capo must fear is his boss, and this increases loyalty. If the capo is a prolific enforcer, the relationship is made even stronger. A capo with no crew who answers to a boss is really a member of the boss' private crew. That makes the boss more formidable.

Correct me if I'm wrong but John Roselli when he was a member of the LA Family was considered a Capo but didn't have guys kickup to him

Chris Molitisanti.

Nah, Louie Ricco was the power down there.

Didn't he have an actual crew in the Bronx, at some point? Never heard much about him in relation to Conneticut.

Yeah he had his crew in the Bronx, but it stretched to CT, he was without doubt the power in CT.

frank salemmi gets out in 1987 after like 15yrs ray patriarca jr makes him in june bumps him to a capo positon in boston with no soldiers and that started alot of probalems with russo and vinny f. or thats the way frank told it to the committee when he fliped and pinnd al the shit on that crooked fbi guy,

It is extremely rare to have a capo with no crew. In some cases, they have no soldiers under them, but if that is the case then you can be pretty much sure they have associates, active street guys who are kicking up, usually one or two guys who have already been proposed. Michael Franzese belongs in this category.