A (literally 'head of ten',Schneider, ''Reversible Destiny'', p. 83 also called

caporegime A ''caporegime'' or ''capodecina'', usually shortened to ''capo'' or informally referred to as "captain", "skipper" or "lieutenant", is a leadership position in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia). A ''capo'' is a "made m ...

in the

American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian-American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian-American criminal society and organized crime group. The terms Italian Mafia and Italian Mob apply to ...

) is the head of a , a branch within a

Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a secret society, criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of ...

family. In the larger families, a is selected by the head of the family and coordinates units of about ten people.Paoli, ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', p. 41 Mafia members are organized under the supervision of a who reports his activities to his superiors, who may be the consigliere or even the boss of the Mafia family himself. The term derives from ('ten'), suggesting that each would be in charge of ten men.Gambetta, ''The Sicilian Mafia'', p. 111 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 Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

.Gambetta, ''The Sicilian Mafia'', p. 294 The Mafioso Melchiorre Allegra spoke of a in his 1937 testimony. He said a family split into groups of ten men each when it became unmanageably large.Twentyfive pages of Allegra’s testimony were published in 1962 in the newspaper '' L'Ora'' by Mauro De Mauro. See
Testimony of Melchiorre Allegra
, ExLEGI website

References

*Gambetta, Diego (1993).
The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection
', London: Harvard University Press, *Paoli, Letizia (2003). ''Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style'', New York: Oxford University Press

*Schneider, Jane T. & Peter T. Schneider (2003).
Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia, and the Struggle for Palermo
', Berkeley: University of California Press {{Mafia Organized crime members by role Organized crime terminology