The Mafia family tree: FBI flowchart reveals 127 'mobsters' arrested in biggest ever blitz on New York's crime empires
A remarkable FBI organisation chart which reveals the hierarchy of the main New York mafia families was revealed yesterday after federal agents made more than 100 arrests in the biggest organised crime crackdown in history. The colour-coded chart shows how the syndicates' organisation bears more of a resemblance to a corporate line-up than that of notorious crime families. The red bars highlight the leading figures that were arrested yesterday in New York, New Jersey and New England.
Among them are street boss Andrew Russo and acting underboss Benjamin Castellazzo from the Colombo family, and Bartolemeo Vernace and Joseph Corozzo from the Gambino family. The 'boss' is seen as the undisputed leader of the organisation with the underboss a powerful second-in-command. The green colour-coded panels depict those of the captains in the crime families. Also known by their Sicilian name of 'capos', captains are similar to a military captain who commands his soldiers. The Mafia are known for using colourful nicknames and among those accused are monikers such as 'Tony Bagels', 'Johnny Pizza', 'The Bull', 'Meatball', 'Jack The Whack' 'Junior Lollipops' 'Bobby Glasses', 'Vinny Carwash' and 'Lumpy'.