Consigliere 1

Consigliere
Consigliere (Italian consigliere "counselor", pronounced [konsiʎˈʎɛːɾe]) is a position in the American Mafia. The
word was popularized by Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather (1969), and its film adaptation. In the novel, a
consigliere is an adviser or counselor to a mafia boss, with the additional responsibility of representing the don in
important meetings both within the don'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. 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.[1]
A real-life Mafia consigliere is generally the number three person in a crime family, after don (boss) and
underboss.[2] A crime family normally has only one consigliere at a time, but bosses have on occasion appointed
more than one. The boss, underboss, and consigliere constitute a three-man ruling panel, or "Administration."[3]

Etymology
In Italian, consigliere means "adviser" or "counselor." It is derived from Latin consiliarius (advisor) and consilium
(advice). The terminology of the U.S. Mafia is taken from that of the Sicilian Mafia and suggests that an analogy is
intended to imitate the court of a medieval Italian principality. For example, Venice was led by a doge (duke) and a
consigliere ducale (advisor to the doge). An underboss will normally move up to boss when the position becomes
vacant, so his position is equivalent to that of heir to the throne. Consigliere, meanwhile, is analogous to chief
minister or chancellor. (Oddly, in the novel The Godfather, the word is spelled consigliori; in the films, it is clearly
pronounced consigliere.) In Joe Bonanno's book (A Man Of Honor) he explains that a consigliere is more of the
voice or rep for the soldiers of the family, and may help solve and mediate disputes for the lower echelon of the
family.

Examples from U.S. mob

Joe Valachi mentions a mysterious
"Sandino" arbitrating disputes as the
Genovese family consigliere in the 1940s.[4]
But in more recent times, consiglieri 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
Structure of mafia crime family
family soldier Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo.[1]
Two decades later, another Colombo
consigliere, Carmine Sessa, led a hit team that attempted to assassinate the acting boss, Victor Orena.[1] In 1976,
Frank Bompensiero was appointed consigliere of the Los Angeles crime family, only to be murdered in a public
phone booth in February 1977.[1] Bompensiero's boss promoted him so that it would cause him to let his guard
down.[1] Electronic surveillance in 1979 recorded New England Mafia Boss Raymond Patriarca Jr. talking about
appointing his consigliere, so the position need not be chosen as a result of a consensus-seeking process.[1] When
New Jersey Consigliere Stefano "Steve the Truck Driver" Vitabile found out in 1992 that his family's underboss,
John "Johnny Boy" D'Amato, was bisexual, he ordered him killed.[5] In 1993, Paul Gulino, a drug dealer and
associate of the Bonanno crime family, was murdered after he allegedly "put hands" on his family's consigliere.[6]

James Ida, the current Genovese consigliere, has been serving a life sentence since 1996. Dominick Cirillo is the
family's acting consigliere. Joseph Corozzo is the current Gambino consigliere, while Anthony Rabito is consigliere
Consigliere 2

for the Bonanno crime family. As these examples illustrate, consiglieri nowadays are generally former soldiers and
capos, not outside advisers.

Popular culture
• In the movies The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, the consigliere to Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando),
and later Don Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), is Tom Hagen (played by Robert Duvall). Hagen is the adopted son
of Don Vito Corleone, and a lawyer for the family. At the end of The Godfather, Don Vito's successor and son,
Michael Corleone, demotes Hagen within the organization, saying "things are going to get rough, and I need a
wartime consiglieri." (In an earlier scene, Sonny Corleone, Michael's older brother and acting Don after Vito
Corleone's attempted assassination, similarly criticizes Hagen.) Vito Corleone, Michael's father, replaces Hagen at
Michael's side until his death.
• In The Godfather Part II, Hagen regains his earlier role, as Michael consolidates his power.
• In the television series The Sopranos Silvio Dante is the consigliere to Tony Soprano. His role is very much like
the reputed second in command, even taking over briefly as acting boss of the Soprano crime family in Season 6
Part I.
• In the video game Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, the consigliere of the Salieri crime family to Don Salieri is
Frank Colleti.
• In the HBO TV series In Treatment, one of Paul Weston's patients decided he wanted to be a Consigliere after
watching The Godfather.
• In the TV series Eastwick season 1 episode 8, Lindsay Price's character Joanna Frankel uses the word consigliere
to describe a wingman.
• In the movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, White Goodman introduces his personal assistant, Me'Shell, as
his consigliere.
• In the TV series The West Wing season 2 episode 11 The Leadership Breakfast, John Spencer's character Leo
McGarry refers to himself as a "wartime consigliere."
• In an episode of The Good Wife, a campaign manager is described as a "wartime consigliere."
• In the movie Keeping the Faith, Ed Norton Jr's character Brian Finn, a Catholic priest, refers to himself as God's
consigliere.

Further reading
• Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia [7]. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN
0-02-864225-2

References
[1] Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=t1u4Ci4yM2IC& q=). Indianapolis: Alpha
Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2, p. 9.
[2] Garcia, Joaquin "Jack" and Michael Levin, (2008) Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family (http:/ /
books. google. com/ books?id=L1jTPQAACAAJ& dq=), p. 133. ISBN 1416551638.
[3] " Genovese Indicitment (http:/ / www. ipsn. org/ indictments/ bellomo/ indictment_criminal_genovese_family-2006-2-23. htm)"
[4] Maas, Peter, The Valachi papers (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=dzAZAAAAIAAJ& q=Sandino& pgis=1#search_anchor), p. 158.
("Sandino was a greaseball, but he had a wise head.")
[5] Mannion, James, 101 things you didn't know about the Mafia (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=hEegHO9kST8C& printsec=), p. 91.
[6] " A Look At Mob Hits, Misses, Disappearances, and Deaths In America (http:/ / www. americanmafia. com/ Mob_Hits/ 1993_04_update.
html)"
[7] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=t1u4Ci4yM2IC& q=
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