The Everything Mafia Book (49 page)

Robert DeCicco and Rudolph Izzi—June 6 and 7, 2007
Gambino soldier Robert DeCicco was shot on a Bay Ridge street while emerging from a pharmacy. He survived. Genovese associate Rudolph “Rudy Cue Ball” Izzi was not so lucky. He took one shot behind his ear. Both hits took place the week before the final episode of
The Sopranos
.

APPENDIX B
Mafia Lingo

action:
Gambling that is done through a bookie or other illegal means. The Mafia always demands “a piece of the action.”

administration:
In the corporate hierarchy, this is the top echelon of a Mafia family. It includes the boss, underboss, and consigliere. Like the top officers in any legitimate corporation, these are the men who make the decisions, though in the underworld, termination has more finality than a pink slip.

agita:
The Italian expression for a tummy ache. It is also used to convey a general state of free-floating anxiety.

airing:
If a Mafioso says this to you he is not inviting you to join him to savor the gentle evening breeze. It means that he is going to kill you.

alkali:
Whiskey, especially of the bootleg variety. It is slang for the word alcohol.

alky cooker:
Prohibition language for a still, a makeshift distillery to make moonshine alcohol.

alky racket:
Prohibition expression for the bootleg business. Alky is a slang expression for “alcohol” and sometimes for an alcoholic.

American way:
This is not a patriotic slogan; it is the Mafia’s phrase for the peaceful coexistence of rival crime families.

amico:
A friend or associate of a crime family who is not a member of the family.

amico nostro:
The Italian phrase for “friend of ours.” It is how a member of a crime family introduces a stranger who is also a made man.

Apache Indian job:
Attack by firebomb that kills the victim and destroys the building he was in with such efficiency that identification of the body is difficult.

area man:
An organized crime official who has jurisdiction over a particular area within a crime family’s turf.

The Arm:
The name for the Buffalo crime family.

assassin’s special:
The preferred weapon of choice for many a Mafia hit man: A .22-caliber handgun with a silencer.

associate:
The Mafia equivalent of an office temp. He works for a crime family but is not a wise guy or a made man.

attaché casing:
Making the rounds and collecting bribes of such volume that they have to be lugged home to the don in a briefcase.

away:
When a Mafioso is doing jail time, he is simply said to be “away.” Another euphemism is the ironic “away at college.”

babania:
The drug traffic, especially heroin.

baby sitter:
A police or federal bodyguard for a “rat” who is under witness protection.

bag man:
A low-level hood who is sent on errands. He is usually either picking up or delivering money.

banana race:
A horserace that has a “sure thing” winner. In other words, the race has been fixed.

B-and-A racket:
A beer and alcohol racket; it is another expression for Prohibition.

Bangkok Connection:
The path that illegal drugs travel from Southeast Asia to the United States. The narcotics industry, long

eschewed by the Mafia, eventually became one of its biggest moneymaking rackets.

barracuda:
A politically incorrect expression for an unattractive woman.

barrel murder:
When a murder victim is stuffed into a barrel and left there to decompose, or sometimes weighted down and dumped in the river or at sea.

beauty doctor:
A steel-tipped club. This particularly nasty weapon is designed to maim and mutilate the victim.

beef:
A disagreement with or grievance against someone.

big earner:
The Mafia equivalent of Salesman of the Year. A member of a crime family whose activities make a lot of money for the team.

big papa:
A slang word for the Thompson machine gun, the weapon of choice for many mobsters in the 1930s.

the books:
The “roll” of the family. When the books are closed, no new members are officially inducted. When there is an opening to join a family, the books are open.

boosters:
Small-time street thieves.

borgata:
Another name for a Mafia crime family.

boss:
Another name for the head of a Mafia family. See also don.

Boss of Bosses (Capo di tutti Capi in Italian):
The Mafia don who was the de facto head of the Commission. Outsiders assume that the Alpha Mafioso among the heads of the five families is the Boss of Bosses, but internally the term is not used, since the other four family heads would disagree with the fifth don’s claim to the title.

broken:
This Mafia term has the same meaning that it has in the military: to be demoted in rank for an offense against “the family.”

brugad:
Another name for a crime family. See also borgata.

buckwheats:
A particularly nasty murder where the victim is tortured at length before being put out of his misery.

This was used in revenge killings of men who had done something especially bad in the eyes of the Mafia.

buon’anima:
This Italian phrase is translated as “rest his soul.” It is obviously uttered in reference to one of the dearly departed—or with mordant irony about someone who has just been whacked.

burn:
To blow someone off, disrespect them, or a more serious snub.

bust out:
Bankruptcy the hard way. Not through abusing credit cards, but through theft and corruption by the mob. It was used as a method to destroy an enemy’s livelihood.

buttlegging:
It refers to another form of bootlegging—the buying and selling of untaxed cigarettes.

button:
Another name for a Mafioso who has become a made man.

cafone:
A disreputable character, or as Shakespeare would say, “a slight, unmeritable man.”

canary:
A “stool pigeon.” Someone who “sings” to the law, betraying fellow members of the Mafia.

cane corn:
A type of bootleg alcohol made from corn and cane sugar.

capo:
The Italian word for “captain.” A middle-management Mafioso, usually in charge of a crew or two.

Capo di tutti Capi:
The Italian expression meaning “Boss of Bosses.”

caporegime:
A lieutenant in a crime family. Unlike the military, where a captain is the superior officer to a lieutenant, the caporegime outranks the capo.

captains of industry:
An early name for the Commission, or National Syndicate. Perhaps used as an ironic term by the Mafia, comparing themselves with the Carnegies, Vander-bilts, and other legitimate businessmen whom the Mafia believed to be, in their own way, as ruthless and corrupt as themselves.

carpet:
Another phrase for a meeting held between two or more Mafia families to settle disputes. Perhaps a variation of the slang expression “called on the carpet.”

case:
Checking out a site of a planned robbery or hit, as in “casing the joint.”

cement coffin:
This is when a murder victim is stuffed into a tub or barrel that is filled with cement and dumped in whatever body of water is most convenient.

cement overcoat:
Similar to cement coffin.

cement shoes:
In this instance, only the feet are encased in cement until it hardens, then the victim is buried at sea, sometimes while still alive.

chairman:
A consultant or adviser to the Commission.

chairman of the board:
Another term for don, boss, or head of a crime family. Also a nickname given to Old Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra.

chased:
To be outcast by the Mafia.

che bruta:
An Italian phrase that means “how ugly you are.”

che peccato:
An Italian phrase that means “what a pity, what a shame.”

chiacchierone:
An Italian phrase that means “chatterbox.”

chief corrupter:
The member of a crime family whose job it is to corrupt police, judges, elected officials, and others.

CI:
Law enforcement term for a confidential informant.

cleaning:
The efforts that a mobster takes to avoid being followed by any enemy or the law. It involves eluding a tail, or someone following the mobster in a car or on foot or by other means.

clip:
To kill someone.

clock:
To monitor someone’s activities; keeping an eye on a person. To hit someone in the face.

code of silence:
See Omerta.

Col tempo la foglia di gelso diventa seta:
An Italian phrase that means “Time and patience change the mulberry leaf to satin.”

comare:
A Mafia girlfriend. A term of endearment.

The Combination:
A 1930s name for the Mafia.

come heavy:
To arrive on the scene carrying a gun. If a Mafioso is told to “come heavy,” he knows that there is likely to be gunplay.

come in:
An audience with the don when he requests your presence. This is an invitation you can’t refuse.

The Commission:
The Mafia leadership made up of the bosses of the five New York families—Gambino, Genovese, Luc-chese, Colombo, and Bonanno.

compare:
A pal, chum, or a buddy in Mafia lingo.

connected:
A person who regularly does business with the Mafia but is not a member of a family.

consigliere:
The counselor or adviser to the don, often but not always an attorney.

contract:
a hit ordered on a specific person, usually accompanied by a monetary award.

Cosa Nostra:
The Italian phrase literally meaning “Our Thing,”

which is what the Mafia calls itself. The phrase came to national attention during the Valachi hearings.

crew:
A band of Mafia soldiers that reports to a capo.

Crews engage in all manner of mischief, including heists and hijacking. Some crews can also report to a soldier, or in some cases a well-connected associate.

cugine:
An ambitious and youthful Mafioso whose goal is to be “made.” Though he is valuable, he is also regarded with a wary eye by the elder gangsters, since he may also be a threat sometime down the line. See also Young Turks.

CW:
An FBI term that stands for “cooperating witness.”

deadbeat:
Someone who does not pay his debts or is habitually late.

deli:
Abbreviated version of the word delegate, as in union delegate.

dime:
The slang expression for $1,000.

district man:
A crime family officer whose turf covers a small section of a city or suburban area.

do a piece of work:
To kill someone.

dollar:
Another slang expression for $1,000.

double-decker coffin:
A coffin with a false bottom that accommodates two bodies. The paying customer is in the top tier, and

the victim of a mob hit whom the Mafia would like to secretly bury is hidden below. Joe Bonanno was one of the first mobsters to use this method of disposal.

drop a dime:
To rat someone out, or to call the police on a mobster.

drop man:
A low-level hood who picks up the bets from the numbers runner.

earner:
A moneymaker for a crime family. See also big earner.

eat alone:
To be a greedy gangster and keep the loot for yourself, not allowing others to “wet their beaks.”

elder statesman:
Another name for the boss of a crime family.

empty suit:
A Mafioso wannabe, a hanger-on who is regarded with contempt by the members of the family due to his incompetence.

enforcer:
A tough guy who uses violence to send a message from his Mafia superiors. See also muscle.

envelope:
Money paid for protection or bribery, handed over in an envelope.

executioner:
An unusually direct Mafia phrase meaning “hit man.”

facia bruta:
An Italian expression that means “ugly face.”

The feds:
The federal government, specifically its law enforcement wing. It has been the longtime bane of the Mafia’s existence.

fence:
A person who takes stolen merchandise and is able to sell it without attracting the attention of the authorities. Oftentimes a fence has a storefront or pawnshop to move items.