Every profession has its buzz words,
and the mob is no different. If you want to understand what the
cugines, capos and consigliere in the borgata are talking about, this
glossary will give you a good start.
A friend of ours: mob shorthand for
introducing one made guy to another made guy. "A friend of mine" is
just another jamook on the street.
A trippa di zianata: "your aunt's tripe."
Action: a bet that a bookie "writes" and
for which you pay him his "vig."
Administration: the top-level
"management" of an organized crime Family—the boss, underboss, and
consigliere.
Agita: anxiety, edginess, an upset
stomach.
Anti-Trust Violations: what authorities
call the mob practice of carving out exclusive territories. Wiseguys
call them "mine."
Associate: one who works with mobsters,
but hasn't been asked to take the vow of Omertá; an almost confirmed,
or made guy.
The Books: a phrase indicating membership
in the Family. If there is a possibility for promotion, then the books
are open. If not, the books are closed.
Borgata: an organized crime Family.
Boss: the head of the Family who runs the
show. He decides who gets made and who gets whacked. The boss also
gets points from all Family business; also see don, chairman.
Buon' anima: salutation meaning rest his
soul.
Buttlegging: bootlegging untaxed
cigarettes.
Cafone: a peasant or lower-class.
Capo: the Family member who leads a crew;
short for capodecina.
Cazzis: see Stugots.
Che bruta: How ugly you are.
Che peccato: what a pity, what a shame.
Chiacchierone: chatterbox.
Clip: to murder; also whack, hit, pop,
burn, put a contract out.
Code of silence: not ratting on your
colleagues once you've been pinched—no longer a strong virtue in
organized crime families. Also see Omertá.
Col tempo la foglia di gelso diventa seta:
old Italian saying meaning, "Time and patience change the mulberry
leaf to satin."
Comare (also goomah, goomar, or gomatta):
slang for girlfriend or mistress. No self-respecting wiseguy is
without one.
Come heavy: to walk in carrying a loaded
gun. You shouldn't have lunch with a Russian drug dealer unless you
"come heavy."
Confirm: to be made; see made guy.
Consigliere: a trusted Family advisor,
who is always consulted before decisions are made. See Tom Hagen in
The Godfather.
Crank: speed; in particular, crystal meth.
Crew: the group of soldiers under the
capo's command.
Cugine: a young soldier striving to be
made.
CW: FBI shorthand for Co-operating
Witness.
Don: the head of the Family; see boss.
Eat alone: to keep for one's self; to be
greedy.
Executive Game: a special-event card game
for celebrities and other high-rollers.
Facia bruta: ugly face, something you
call someone you don't like.
Family: an organized crime clan, like the
Genoveses, the Gottis, or the Sopranos.
Fanook, or Finook: derived from "finucchiu"
or fennel, a derogatory term for homsexual or gay, i.e., people that
wiseguys feel nervous around. A "mezzofinook" is half gay, sissy, bi.
Forbidden Fruit: the lure of a wiseguy to
a nice Italian girl from the neighborhood.
G: a grand; a thousand dollars; also see
large.
Gabagool: (capo cuoll) something to eat.
Gira diment: going crazy.
Golden Age: The days before RICO.
Goomah (sometimes pronounced "goomar"): a
Mafia mistress; also comare.
Guests of the state or Guests of the government:
going to prison, doing time.
Hit: to murder; also see whack.
In the wind: after you leave the Witness
protection program you are "in the wind," meaning you're on your own
somewhere out there.
Jamook: idiot, loser, lamebrained, you
know, a jamook.
Juice: the interest paid to a loanshark
for the loan; also see vig.
Lam: To lay low, go into hiding.
Large: a thousand, a grand, a G.
LCN: FBI talk for La Casa Nostra, or
translated, "Our Thing."
Made guy: an indoctrinated member of the
Family. Essentially, you pledge your allegiance to the boss and the
family for life. To even qualify, your mother has to be Italian.
Madonn': Madonna, common expression
meaning holy smoke, holy cow, holy shit.
Mannagge: going to war with a rival clan
or family.
Message job: placing the bullet in
someone's body such that a specific message is sent to that person's
crew or family; see through the eye, and through the mouth.
Mezza morta: half-dead.
The Mob: a single organized crime family;
OR all organized crime families together.
Mobbed up: connected to the mob.
Mobster: one who is in the mob.
Mock execution: to whip someone into
shape by frightening the shit out of them.
Moe Green Special: Getting killed with a
shot in the eye, like the character, Moe Green, in The Godfather. One
form of "sending a message."
Mortadella: derived from the Italian
sausage, meaning a loser. As in "Guy's a fuckin' mortadella."
Mulignan (literal translation): eggplant.
Another word for African-Americans. Also called "mooleys."
Musciata: mushy.
OC: FBI talk for Organized Crime.
Omertá: the much-vaulted Mafia vow of
silence. In other words don't rat on your friends. Transgression is
punishable by death.
Oobatz: u'pazzu—crazy.
Outfit: a clan, or family within the
Mafia.
Paying tribute: giving the boss a cut of
the deal.
Piacere: "Pleasure to meet you."
Pinched: to get caught by the cops.
Points: percent of income; cut.
Poverett: poor person.
Predicates: an offense which the Justice
Department can choose to "fold into" a RICO statute. As in, "This
charge could be tough. It could have predicates."
The Program: The Witness Protection
Program.
Pucchiacha: cunt.
Pump and dump: standard practice for
unethical stockbrokers. First drive up the price of a small stock by
"encouraging" investors to buy it ("pump") and then sell you own
shares ("dump") for a tidy profit.
Puttana: whore.
Rat: one who snitches or squeals after
having been pinched.
RICO: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations Act. Passed in 1970 to aid the government in clamping
down on organized crime activities, its scope has since been broadened
to prosecute insider traders and anti-abortion protesters.
Schifosa: ugly woman.
Sfogliatelle: an Italian pastry.
Shakedown: to blackmail or try to get
money from someone; also to give someone a scare.
Shy: the interest charged on loans by
loansharks.
Shylock business: the business of
loansharking.
Soldier: the bottom-level member of an
organized crime Family, as in "foot soldiers."
Spring cleaning: cleaning up, hiding or
getting rid of evidence.
Strunz: strunzo—piece of shit.
Stugots: from stu cazzo or u' cazzu, the
testicles. Tony Soprano's boat is The Stugots.
Taste: a percentage of the take. Tony
gets a big taste from bookmaking or racketeering but only a little
taste from medical fraud.
Tax: to take a percentage of someone's
earnings.
This thing of ours: a mob family, or the
entire mob.
Through the eye: a message job through
the eye to say "We're watching you!"
Through the mouth: a message job through
the mouth to indicate that someone WAS a rat.
Tizzun: Neapolitan derogatory term for
black person.
Underboss: the second in command to the
boss.
Va fa napole: "Go to Naples" (i.e., "Go
to hell.").
Vig: the interest paid to a loanshark for
the loan. Abbreviation of vigorish; also see juice. Usually two points
or 2%.
Waste management business: euphemism for
organized crime.
Wearing it: showing off one's status in
the organization by dressing the part. "Wearing it" usually involves
an Italian suit, a pinky ring, a hankie in the breast pocket, gold
cufflinks, and other ornamentation. Silvio has his own inimitable way
of wearing it.
Whack: to murder; also clip, hit, pop,
burn, put a contract out.
Wiseguy: a made guy.
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