Glossary entry
Capo
KAH-poh
Definition
KAH-poh
Short for caporegime. A captain who runs a crew of soldiers, answers to the underboss or boss, and passes a share of his crew's earnings upward.
“Every capo was expected to send money up each month, whether or not the month had been good.”
The capo is where the organisation becomes a working business. Bosses set policy and settle disputes; capos run the actual rackets through five to twenty soldiers and a larger number of associates.
The structure also insulated the top. A soldier typically dealt only with his own capo, which meant that arresting the soldier rarely produced evidence against anyone above him — the arrangement that made these organisations so difficult to prosecute before the racketeering statutes of 1970.