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{{Short description|Phrase used to indicate an extremely powerful Mafia boss}}
{{About|the organized crime position|the 2007 Italian TV series and the 2001 American TV movie, respectively|Il Capo dei Capi|and|Boss of Bosses|other uses|Capo (disambiguation)}}
{{Italic title}}
'''''Capo dei capi''''' ({{IPA
==
[[File:Calogero Vizzini.JPG|thumb|200px|Calogero Vizzini, Mafia boss of Villalba]]
[[File:Frank Costello - Kefauver Committee.jpg|thumb|right|220px|[[Frank Costello]] testifying before the [[Kefauver Commission|Kefauver Committee]].]]▼
[[file:foto segnaletica di Matteo Messina Denaro (2023).jpg|thumb|200px|Mugshot of [[Matteo Messina Denaro]] taken after his arrest in 2023]]
In the [[Sicilian Mafia]], the position does not exist. For instance, the old-style Mafia boss [[Calogero Vizzini]] was often portrayed in the media as the "boss of bosses" – although such a position does not exist according to later Mafia ''[[Pentito|pentiti]]'', such as [[Tommaso Buscetta]].<ref>Arlacchi, ''Addio Cosa nostra'', p. 106</ref> They also denied Vizzini ever was the ruling boss of the Mafia in Sicily. According to Mafia historian [[Salvatore Lupo]] "the emphasis of the media on the definition of 'capo dei capi' is without any foundation".<ref>{{in lang|it}} [http://www.narcomafie.it/2006/04/10/larresto-di-bernardo-provenzano/ Zu Binnu? Non è il superboss] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120905213413/http://www.narcomafie.it/2006/04/10/larresto-di-bernardo-provenzano/ |date=2012-09-05 }}, Intervista a Salvatore Lupo di Marco Nebiolo, Narcomafie, April 2006</ref>▼
The title was applied by mobsters to [[Giuseppe Morello]] around 1900, according to [[Nick Gentile]].<ref name=critchley46>Critchley, ''The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931'', p.46</ref> Bosses [[Joe Masseria]] (1928–1931) and [[Salvatore Maranzano]] (1931) used the title as part of their efforts to centralize control of the Mafia under themselves. When Maranzano won the [[Castellammarese War]], he set himself up as ''boss of all bosses'', created the [[Five Families]] and ordered every Mafia family to pay him tribute. This provoked a rebellious reaction which led to him being murdered in September 1931, on the orders of [[Lucky Luciano]].<ref name="Dec. 7, 1998">[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989779,00.html "Lucky Luciano: Criminal Mastermind"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. December 7, 1998.</ref> Although there would have been few objections had Luciano declared himself ''capo di tutti i capi'', he abolished the title, believing the position created trouble between the families and made himself a target for another ambitious challenger.<ref name=capital>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ivN7BAAAQBAJ&q=lucky+luciano+church+prison+the+Victoria%2C+the+ship+of+Ferdinand+Magella&pg=PA51|title=Capital of the World: A Portrait of New York City in the Roaring Twenties|author=David Wallace|year=2012|isbn=9780762768196}}</ref> Instead, Luciano established [[The Commission (American Mafia)|the Commission]] to lead the Mafia, with a goal of quietly maintaining his own power over all the families, while preventing future [[gang]] wars; the bosses approved the idea of the Commission.<ref name="Capeci guide">[[Jerry Capeci|Capeci, Jerry]]. ''The complete idiot's guide to the Mafia'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=GhfExAeLSBAC&pg=PA43&dq=mafia+the+commission&hl=en&ei=BSSWTbuuNMzdgQfjxNTXCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFoQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=commission&f=false "The Mafia's Commission" (pp. 31–46)]</ref> The Commission would consist of a "[[board of directors]]" to oversee all Mafia activities in the United States and serve to mediate conflicts between families.<ref name="Capeci guide"/><ref name=origins>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/20/nyregion/the-commission-s-origins.html|title=The Commission's Origins|date=1986|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=22 February 2017}}</ref>▼
Nevertheless, the title has frequently been given to powerful Mafia bosses to this day. During the 1980s and 1990s the bosses of the [[Corleonesi]] clan [[Salvatore Riina]] and [[Bernardo Provenzano]] were bestowed with the title by the media.▼
The Commission consisted of the bosses of the Five Families in New York City, the [[Buffalo crime family]] and the [[Chicago Outfit]].<ref name=critchley232>Critchley, ''The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931'', p. 232</ref> Since then, while media sources have often sought to award the title of "boss of all bosses" to the most powerful boss, the Mafia has not itself recognized the position to exist.▼
In April 2006, the Italian government arrested Bernardo Provenzano in a small farmhouse near the town of [[Corleone]]. His successor is reported to be either [[Matteo Messina Denaro]] or [[Salvatore Lo Piccolo]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Moore|first=Malcolm|date=2006-04-25|title=Arrested Mafia boss names his successor|journal=Daily Telegraph|language=en-GB|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/1516726/Arrested-Mafia-boss-names-his-successor.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/1516726/Arrested-Mafia-boss-names-his-successor.html |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2020-05-07|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Mafia : due successori per Provenzano, Salvatore Lo Piccolo e Matteo Messina Denaro|url=http://www.sicile.net/inc/schedaxstampa.asp?id=256&lang=en|website=www.sicile.net|access-date=2020-05-07|archive-date=2006-05-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515062958/http://www.sicile.net/inc/schedaxstampa.asp?id=256&lang=en|url-status=dead}}</ref> This presupposes that Provenzano has the power to nominate a successor, which is not unanimously accepted among Mafia observers. "The Mafia today is more of a federation and less of an authoritarian state", according to anti-Mafia prosecutor Antonio Ingroia of the {{ill|Direzione distrettuale antimafia|it}} of Palermo, referring to the previous period of authoritarian rule under [[Salvatore Riina]].<ref name="Ingroia">[http://www.redorbit.com/news/international/467681/the_mafia_after_provenzanopeace_or_allout_war/index.html The Mafia after Provenzano - peace or all-out war?], Reuters, April 12, 2006.</ref>▼
Among other bosses media sources have presumed to hold the title include Luciano himself, [[Frank Costello]] and [[Vito Genovese]]. Some have claimed the title for the head of the [[Gambino crime family]], as purportedly the most powerful of the Five Families, which have included [[Carlo Gambino]] and his successors [[Paul Castellano]], and [[John Gotti]].<ref name=raab201>[[Selwyn Raab|Raab]], ''Five Families'', p. 201.</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Raab|first=Selwyn|title=With Gotti Away, the Genoveses Succeed the Leaderless Gambinos|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/03/nyregion/with-gotti-away-the-genoveses-succeed-the-leaderless-gambinos.html?scp=6&sq=Carmine%20Persico&st=cse|date= September 3, 1995|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=June 29, 2013}}</ref>▼
Provenzano "established a kind of directorate of about four to seven people who met very infrequently, only when necessary, when there were strategic decisions to make". According to Ingroia "in an organization like the Mafia, a boss has to be one step above the others otherwise it all falls apart. It all depends on if he can manage consensus and if the others agree or rebel." Provenzano "guaranteed a measure of stability because he had the authority to quash internal disputes".<ref name="Ingroia" />▼
The term has since fallen out of use in the media, but remains popular in fictional accounts. Bonanno family boss [[Joseph Massino]] was recognized by four of the five families as chairman of the Commission from 2000 to 2004;<ref name="time magazine">Corliss, Richard & Crittle, Simon (March 29, 2004). [https://web.archive.org/web/20050803075523/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993685,00.html "The Last Don"]. ''Time''. Retrieved June 21, 2008.</ref> during this time he was the only full-fledged boss in New York not in prison.▼
With the deaths of Bernardo Provenzano in 2016 and Salvatore Riina in 2017, [[Matteo Messina Denaro]] was seen as the unchallenged capo dei capi within the Mafia. Combining this status of "boss of all bosses" with his three decades on the run, Messina Denaro became a character of great curiosity in the media. However, he was captured in early 2023 and ended up dying behind bars that same year.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-16 |title=Chi è Matteo Messina Denaro, il superboss di mafia arrestato dopo una latitanza lunga 30 anni |url=https://www.fanpage.it/attualita/chi-e-matteo-messina-denaro-il-superboss-di-mafia-arrestato-dopo-una-latitanza-lunga-30-anni/ |access-date=2023-12-08 |website=Fanpage |language=it}}</ref>
==Sicilian Mafia==▼
▲In the [[Sicilian Mafia]] the position does not exist. For instance, the old-style Mafia boss [[Calogero Vizzini]] was often portrayed in the media as the "boss of bosses" – although such a position does not exist according to later Mafia ''[[Pentito|pentiti]]'', such as [[Tommaso Buscetta]].<ref>Arlacchi, ''Addio Cosa nostra'', p. 106</ref> They also denied Vizzini ever was the ruling boss of the Mafia in Sicily. According to Mafia historian [[Salvatore Lupo]] "the emphasis of the media on the definition of 'capo dei capi' is without any foundation".<ref>{{in lang|it}} [http://www.narcomafie.it/2006/04/10/larresto-di-bernardo-provenzano/ Zu Binnu? Non è il superboss] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120905213413/http://www.narcomafie.it/2006/04/10/larresto-di-bernardo-provenzano/ |date=2012-09-05 }}, Intervista a Salvatore Lupo di Marco Nebiolo, Narcomafie, April 2006</ref>
After Messina Denaro's death, no other Mafia boss was known as the "capo dei capi".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chi sarà il nuovo capo della mafia dopo l'arresto di Matteo Messina Denaro? |url=https://www.today.it/cronaca/nuovo-boss-capo-mafia-dopo-matteo-messina-denaro.html |access-date=2023-12-08 |website=Today |language=it}}</ref>
▲Nevertheless, the title has frequently been given to powerful Mafia bosses to this day. During the 1980s and 1990s the bosses of the [[Corleonesi]] clan [[Salvatore Riina]] and [[Bernardo Provenzano]] were bestowed with the title by the media.
In Italy, a fictional six-part television miniseries called ''[[Il Capo dei Capi]]'' relates the story of Salvatore Riina.<ref name=nyt181107>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/technology/18iht-mafia19.1.8374072.html "A Mafia saga keeps Italians tuned in"]. ''The New York Times''. November 18, 2007.</ref>▼
▲In April 2006, the Italian government arrested Bernardo Provenzano in a small farmhouse near the town of [[Corleone]]. His successor is reported to be either [[Matteo Messina Denaro]] or [[Salvatore Lo Piccolo]]. This presupposes that Provenzano has the power to nominate a successor, which is not unanimously accepted among Mafia observers. "The Mafia today is more of a federation and less of an authoritarian state", according to anti-Mafia prosecutor Antonio Ingroia of the {{ill|Direzione distrettuale antimafia|it}} of Palermo, referring to the previous period of authoritarian rule under [[Salvatore Riina]].<ref name="Ingroia">[http://www.redorbit.com/news/international/467681/the_mafia_after_provenzanopeace_or_allout_war/index.html The Mafia after Provenzano - peace or all-out war?], Reuters, April 12, 2006.</ref>
▲Provenzano "established a kind of directorate of about four to seven people who met very infrequently, only when necessary, when there were strategic decisions to make". According to Ingroia "in an organization like the Mafia, a boss has to be one step above the others otherwise it all falls apart. It all depends on if he can manage consensus and if the others agree or rebel." Provenzano "guaranteed a measure of stability because he had the authority to quash internal disputes".<ref name="Ingroia" />
▲[[File:Frank Costello - Kefauver Committee.jpg|thumb|right|220px|[[Frank Costello]] testifying before the [[Kefauver Commission|Kefauver Committee]]
▲The title was applied by mobsters to [[Giuseppe Morello]] around 1900, according to [[Nick Gentile]].<ref name=critchley46>Critchley, ''The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931'', p.46</ref> Bosses [[Joe Masseria]] (1928–1931) and [[Salvatore Maranzano]] (1931) used the title as part of their efforts to centralize control of the Mafia under themselves. When Maranzano won the [[Castellammarese War]], he set himself up as ''boss of all bosses'', created the [[Five Families]] and ordered every Mafia family to pay him tribute. This provoked a rebellious reaction which led to him being murdered in September 1931, on the orders of [[Lucky Luciano]].<ref name="Dec. 7, 1998">[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989779,00.html "Lucky Luciano: Criminal Mastermind"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. December 7, 1998.</ref> Although there would have been few objections had Luciano declared himself ''capo di tutti i capi'', he abolished the title, believing the position created trouble between the families and would have made
▲In Italy, a fictional six-part television miniseries called ''[[Il Capo dei Capi]]'' relates the story of Salvatore Riina.<ref name=nyt181107>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/technology/18iht-mafia19.1.8374072.html "A Mafia saga keeps Italians tuned in"]. ''The New York Times''. November 18, 2007.</ref>
▲The Commission consisted of the bosses of the Five Families in New York City, the [[Buffalo crime family]] and the [[Chicago Outfit]].<ref name=critchley232>Critchley, ''The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931'', p. 232</ref> Since then, while media sources have often sought to award the title of "boss of all bosses" to the most powerful boss, the Mafia has not itself recognized the position to exist.
▲Among other bosses media sources have presumed to hold the title include Luciano himself, [[Frank Costello]] and [[Vito Genovese]].
▲The term has since fallen out of use in the media
=='Ndrangheta==
In the [['Ndrangheta]], a Mafia-type organisation in [[Calabria]], the [[capocrimine]] is the elected boss of the ''[[crimine]]'', an annual meeting of the 'Ndrangheta ''[[Locale ('Ndrangheta)|locali]]'' near the [[Sanctuary of Our Lady of Polsi]] in the municipality of [[San Luca]] during the September Feast.<ref name=paoli59>Paoli, ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', p. 59</ref> Far from being the "boss of bosses", the ''capo crimine'' actually has comparatively little authority to interfere in family feuds or to control the level of interfamily violence.<ref name=varese>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3757/is_200606/ai_n17176956/print How Mafias Migrate: The Case of the 'Ndrangheta in Northern Italy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081231201047/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3757/is_200606/ai_n17176956/print |date=2008-12-31 }}, by Federico Varese, Law & Society Review, June 2006</ref>
==See also==
* "Il capo dei capi"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Il capo dei capi |url=https://mediasetinfinity.mediaset.it/fiction/ilcapodeicapi_SE000000001930 |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=Mediaset Infinity}}</ref> film series about Toto' Riina ("Corleone"<ref>{{Citation |title=Il Capo dei Capi Trailer Oficial |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlb1K9QK3is |access-date=2024-02-22 |language=en}}</ref> english version with subtitles).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Corleone: The Complete Series : Claudio Gioè, Daniele Liotti, Salvatore Lazzaro, Simona Cavallari, Gaetano Aronica, Francesco Di Lorenzo: Amazon.se: Movies & TV |url=https://www.amazon.se/-/en/Claudio-Gio%C3%A8/dp/B075J4G6W6 |archive-date= |access-date=2024-02-22 |website=www.amazon.se}}</ref>
* ''[[The Godfather (film series)|The Godfather]]'', film series about the subject
==References==
{{Reflist}}
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*{{in lang|it}} Arlacchi, Pino (1994). ''Addio Cosa nostra: La vita di Tommaso Buscetta'', Milan: Rizzoli, {{ISBN|88-17-84299-0}}
*Critchley, David (2009). ''The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931'', New York: Routledge, {{ISBN|0-203-88907-X}}
*De Stefano, George, (2007). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=2482tWkpfpQC
*Paoli, Letizia (2003). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qX5NfHTWzS0C
*[[Selwyn Raab|Raab, Selwyn]] (2005). ''Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires'', New York: Thomas Dunne Books, {{ISBN|0-312-30094-8}}
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