Capodecina

A capodecina (literally 'head of ten', also called caporegime in the American Mafia) is the head of a decina, a branch within a Sicilian Mafia family. In the larger families, a capodecina is selected by the head of the family and coordinates units of about ten people.

Mafia members are organized under the supervision of a capodecina who reports to the capomandamento, the head of the Mafia family or cosca. The term derives from dieci ('ten'), suggesting that each would be in charge of ten men. The term was mentioned as early as the 1880s in Sicily to describe the organisation of the Fratellanza, a Mafia-type organisation in Agrigento, in the south of Sicily.

The Mafioso Melchiorre Allegra spoke of a capo della decina in his 1937 testimony. He said a family split into groups of ten men each when it became unmanageably large.

References

• Gambetta, Diego (1993).The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection, London: Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-80742-1
• Paoli, Letizia (2003). Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style, New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-515724-9 (Review)
• Schneider, Jane T. & Peter T. Schneider (2003). Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia, and the Struggle for Palermo, Berkeley: University of California Press ISBN 0-520-23609-2

1. Caporegime
2. The Bad Guy (TV series)
3. Crime boss
4. John Gambino
5. Glossary of Mafia-related words
6. Vincenzo Cotroni
7. Capo
8. Nicolo Rizzuto
9. Tommaso Buscetta
10. Paolo Violi
11. Sicilian Mafia
12. List of Latin words with English derivatives
13. Bonanno crime family
14. Cotroni crime family
15. 1910s in organized crime
16. Il Capo dei Capi
17. Pino Puglisi
18. Luppino crime family
19. Rizzuto crime family
20. Rosario Livatino