What is a capodecine, and what is the relationship with a caporegime?

Caporegime appoints a capodecine to be in charge of x amount(10-15) of soldiers. I guess it's a gobetween for the caporegime and soldiers.

Sorry, I think I was a little vague in my question, thanks for the reply though.

I read in a book that capodecines were around in the very early sicilain mafia, captains of the various cosca around the island: I assumed they were sort of old-school equivalents of the caporegimes, but captains of specifically 10.
Then, I read on this website I think, that capodecines fall under the command of caporegimes somehow, and DMC has just stated that they could be a kinda go-between for soldiers and caporegimes.
So, are both these explanations correct, and if so how did this transition occur? If not, is either correct?

There are various titles and designations associated with the Mafia that have their origins back at least a century. Some may, in fact, go back to the Roman Empire. There are differing versions of the origins, use, and meaning of these terms just as there is of the Mafia itself. Mafia families are not necessarily organized exactly the same way. A larger family like Gambinos may have a need for more subunits than the relatively small Sopranos. Essentially though, families are organized just like most organization -hierarchially. This facilitates workflow, communication, and insulation against attack. A capo (boss) can be on any level that the family decides to place him on. He could boss one person or a thousand. Reporting responsibilities tend to be standard, but they can vary. For example, in the movie Gotti, Carlo Gambino gave an order directly to John Gotti who, at the time, was not technically even a capo by that families definition of a capo.

Is this book Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia?

I read this also and was interested in the relationship between capodecina and caporegimes. Ten men doesn't seem like very many for a whole regime (or maybe it was plenty for the old rustic mafioso).

My guess (from reading that book and watching the odd TV programme about the mob) is that the old Sicilians had crews of ten with captains (capodecina) operating under a boss and this worked in rustic Sicily. But in New York and New Jersey and Chicago etc, the manpower and size of operation was much larger, so there were larger regimes headed by caporegimes, and these regimes were themselves broken into smaller crews headed by crew-captains. So the crew-captains would be answerable to the caporegimes.

So this would make the main discintion between the capodecina and the caporegimes: The capodecina were directly in charge of a small group of (ten) buttonmen concerned with one small area or operation, whereas caporegimes controlled a larger group of made men divided into crews (headed by crew-captains, the more senior made men), and would therefore be concerned with a larger number of operations or areas.

Is this book Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia?

[/b][/quote]Yes it was! An incredibly well written book too, though there were so many names and places that it's gonna take a second read at a later date for me to take it all in properly.
I'm reading American Mafia by Thomas Repetto at the moment, and although it is quite good, he is nowhere near as good a writer as John Dickie (from Cosa Nostra).
Thanks for your answer.

Agreed! I'm still only about half way through - it's not exactly light reading, but extremely well written as you say, especially the discussions of what "the Mafia" actually means at a conceptual level.

Maybe someone more well informed could clarify the capodecina / caporegime distinction?

Don't take the meanings too literally. Those are ancient terms with respect to the Mafia and probably haven't been used for decades. They're the same meaning but one translates roughly as Captain of ten and the other as Captain of a regime. The ten is a rough number and is never stuck to because a capo could really have 60 people, maybe more, beneath him. A capo will his Wiseguys (or Soldiers) who'll have to report to him and these Soldiers will have much more associates beneath him. A Soldier could have loads of associates with him and as long as they've been checked in with the Capo they can never be stolen, some could even be proposed members themselves. There's no set number to how many a Capo has beneath him. You'll never find the words Capodecina or Caporegime uttered on a wiretap nowadays.