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Consigliere ( , ; plural consiglieri is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian Mafia, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel The Godfather (1969) and The Godfather. In the novel, a consigliere is an advisor or counselor to the crime boss, with the additional responsibility of representing the boss in important meetings both within the boss's crime family and with other crime families.
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. Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. , p. 9. 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.
The boss, underboss, and consigliere constitute the top three positions and a three-man ruling panel, or "administration".Garcia, Joaquin "Jack" and Michael Levin, (2008) Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family, p. 133. .
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. 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.
Frank Bompensiero was appointed consigliere of the Los Angeles crime family in 1976, only to be murdered in a public Telephone booth in February 1977. His boss had promoted Bompensiero so as to induce him to let his guard down. 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.
When New Jersey consigliere Stefano "Steve the Truck Driver" Vitabile discovered in 1992 that his family's underboss, John "Johnny Boy" D'Amato, was Bisexuality, he ordered him killed.Mannion, James, 101 things you didn't know about the Mafia, p. 91. 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.
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