i read some books about cosa nostra. it stated that a mob boss never order a hit directly. someone under his rank pass this order to the executioner. my question is: some movies like the godfather, and i believe in real life too (i heard the story somewhere), the don order a hit directly to the executioner without his middleman.

i'm confused. can anyone explain this to me? which one is true? or both are common practices in the world of cosa nostra?

Most hits i.e. ones to have the associate(s) make their bones, the Boss orders, however if I'm not mistaken it's given to him by his Captain.

Most mob hits work that way, Bosses now at least don't spend much time around their soldiers the ones who typically carry out the acts.

Usually from the capo, but I bet 15-20 years ago, and longer, it could come directly from the boss depending on who was doing the work.

I'm sure Gotti would not have had a problem telling someone.

Wasn't there a story about Chin meeting some guy in a bathroom with the water (shower) running to give an order...??

Or you can just openly give direct orders for hits and reveal in the details like John Stanfa. Another good tip is to recruit and induct polak junkies with no mob ties and give them orders to whack guys.

so basically it depends on the boss himself whether he'd like to give direct order or through his capo, right? thanks for replying guys.

also i read somewhere that it's normal for the boss to order a hit directly to executioner in certain circumstances. for example: a special hit to eliminate a top brass (targets like don, capo, consigliere). correct me if i'm wrong.

I never got why they couldn't write an order on a piece of paper and then shred or flush it instead of making buffer noise incase of wiretaps?

I can tell you in the breif time that Lupo was the acting boss of Buffalo, he personally ordered several hits, as did Tony Ducks shortly after the Lufthansa heist. It was he, not Jimmy Burke who ordered all ties be cut.

If you need to discuss details of when and where, going back and forth on a piece of paper can be time consuming and frustrating. But it can be useful in many situations.

And when you think about it they really wouldn't have had to shred the paper unless they thought that FBI was REALLY desperate.

Some bosses call PizzaHit, but other bosses say it's not authentic.

I would think that they have used paper many times.

And many times the word did not even had to be said ,If the problem was going on and the boss and the skipper were just looking at each other a simple nod would do (never even speak a word)

Then you have the boss that would say it right in a room of skippers and or soldiers, In some of the small family's you had soldiers that could be skippers in a large family .

There had been thousands(that no one knows anything) of hits through the times so i am sure it all has been done.

Then you have the hand shaped like a gun and not a word said.

lol Stanfa was clearly not the sharpest guy

According to Chin's daughter in her book, he used this method all the time. She mentions him & his guys writing things down then tearing up the paper and flushing or burning it.

That meeting was with informant Peter Savino. He turned on the faucets to drown out the conversation just in case of a bug. Gotti used to do walk talks on Mulberry where the traffic noise would drown out the conversations. He also held meetings at the Ravenite and played loud music. He got sloppy and started using the comfort of the apartment above.

Stanfa, James Licavoli after Danny Green became such a problem for Cleveland. Capone, for a time any of the Chicago bosses.