View source for Consigliere

{{Short description|Advisor to a mafia boss}}
{{for|the Venetian ''consigliere''|Minor Council}}
'''Consigliere''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|ɒ|n|s|ɪ|l|i|ˈ|ɛər|i}} {{respell|KON|sil|ee|AIR|ee}},<ref>{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/consigliere |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521223850/https://www.lexico.com/definition/consigliere |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 21, 2020 |title=consigliere |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> {{IPA|it|konsiʎˈʎɛːre|lang}}; plural {{Lang|it|consiglieri}}{{--)}} is a position within the leadership structure of the [[Sicilian Mafia|Sicilian]], [['Ndrangheta|Calabrian]], and [[Italian-American Mafia]]. The word was popularized in English by the novel ''[[The Godfather (novel)|The Godfather]]'' (1969) and [[The Godfather|its film adaptation]]. In the novel, a consigliere is an advisor or counselor to the [[crime boss|boss]], with the additional responsibility of representing the boss in important meetings both within the boss's [[crime family]] and with other crime families.<ref name="Capeci"/>

The consigliere is a close, trusted friend and confidant, the mob's version of an elder statesman. They are an advisor to the boss in a Mafia crime family, and sometimes their "right-hand man". By the very nature of the job, a consigliere is one of the few in the family who can argue with the boss, and is often tasked with challenging the boss when needed, to ensure subsequent plans are foolproof.<ref name="Capeci">[https://books.google.com/books?id=t1u4Ci4yM2IC Capeci, Jerry. ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia'']. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. {{ISBN|0-02-864225-2}}, p. 9.</ref> In some depictions, he is devoid of ambition and dispenses disinterested advice. This passive image of the consigliere does not correspond with what little is known of real-life consiglieri.{{fact|date=July 2023}}

The boss, [[underboss]], and consigliere constitute the top three positions and a three-man ruling panel, or "administration".<ref>{{cite web |title=Criminal RICO indictment against Genovese Crime Family |work=ipsn.org |url=http://www.ipsn.org/indictments/bellomo/indictment_criminal_genovese_family-2006-2-23.htm |access-date=23 January 2017 |archive-date=2020-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722103906/http://www.ipsn.org/indictments/bellomo/indictment_criminal_genovese_family-2006-2-23.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Garcia, Joaquin "Jack" and Michael Levin, (2008) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=L1jTPQAACAAJ Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family]'', p. 133. {{ISBN|1-4165-5163-8}}.</ref>

==Etymology==
[[File:Mafia family structure tree.en.svg|thumb|400px|The structure of a Mafia crime family]]
In Italian, ''consigliere'' means "advisor" or "counselor" and is still a common title for members of city councils in Italy and Switzerland. It is derived from the [[Latin]] {{Lang|la|consiliarius}} (advisor) and {{Lang|la|consilium}} (advice). The terminology of the American Mafia is taken from that of the Sicilian Mafia, and suggests that an analogy is intended to imitate the court of a [[Italian city-states|medieval Italian principality]]. For example, [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] was led by a ''[[Doge (title)|doge]]'' ("duke") and a ''consigliere ducale'' (advisor to the doge).<ref name="Capeci"/>

An underboss will normally move up to boss when the position becomes vacant, so his position is equivalent to that of an [[Heir to the Throne|heir to the throne]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} Consigliere, meanwhile, is analogous to a [[chief minister]] or [[chancellor]]. In the novel ''The Godfather'', the word is spelled ''consigliori''. In the films, it is clearly pronounced ''consigliere''. [[Joe Bonanno]] explains in his book ''A Man of Honor'' that a consigliere is more the voice or representative of the soldiers of the family, and that he may help to mediate in or resolve disputes on behalf of the lower echelons of the family.<ref name="Capeci"/>

==American Mafia==
[[Joe Valachi]] mentions a mysterious "Sandino" arbitrating disputes as the [[Genovese family]] consigliere in the 1940s.<ref name="Maas">Maas, Peter, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=dzAZAAAAIAAJ&q=Sandino The Valachi papers]'', p. 158. ("Sandino was a greaseball, but he had a wise head.")</ref> Consiglieri in more recent times have tended to take a more active role in family affairs. In 1971, [[Colombo family]] consigliere Joseph Yacovelli directed a murder campaign against renegade Colombo family soldier [[Joe Gallo|Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo]].<ref name="Capeci"/> Two decades later, another Colombo consigliere, [[Carmine Sessa]], led a hit team that attempted to assassinate the acting boss, [[Victor Orena]].<ref name="Capeci"/> 

[[Frank Bompensiero]] was appointed consigliere of the [[Los Angeles crime family]] in 1976, only to be murdered in a public [[Telephone booth|phone booth]] in February 1977.<ref name="Capeci"/> His boss had promoted Bompensiero so as to induce him to let his guard down.<ref name="Capeci"/> [[Electronic surveillance]] in 1979 recorded New England Mafia boss [[Raymond L.S. Patriarca]] talking about appointing his consigliere, so the position need not be chosen as a result of a consensus-seeking process.<ref name="Capeci"/> 

When New Jersey consigliere Stefano "Steve the Truck Driver" Vitabile discovered in 1992 that his family's underboss, [[John D'Amato|John "Johnny Boy" D'Amato]], was [[Bisexuality|bisexual]], he ordered him killed.<ref>Mannion, James, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=hEegHO9kST8C 101 things you didn't know about the Mafia]'', p. 91.</ref> Paul Gulino, a drug dealer and associate of the [[Bonanno crime family]], was murdered in 1993 after he allegedly "put hands" on his family's consigliere [[Anthony Spero]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Rick Porrello's AmericanMafia.com - Mob Hits, Misses, Disappearances, and Deaths In America |work=AmericanMafia.com |url=http://www.americanmafia.com/Mob_Hits/1993_04_update.html |access-date=23 January 2017}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Wiktionary}}
* Capeci, Jerry. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=t1u4Ci4yM2IC The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia]''. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. {{ISBN|0-02-864225-2}}.

{{American Mafia}}
{{Mafia}}

[[Category:Organized crime members by role]]
[[Category:Consiglieri| ]]
[[Category:American Mafia]]
[[Category:Sicilian Mafia]]