consigliere

Consigliere ( KON-sil-ee-AIR-ee, Italian: [konsiʎˈʎɛːre]; plural consiglieri) is a position within the administrative structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word "consigliere" was popularized in English by the novel The Godfather (1969) and by its film adaptation (1972). In the novel, a consigliere is an advisor or counselor to the boss, with the additional responsibility of representing the boss in important meetings both within the boss's crime family and with other crime families. The consigliere is a close, trusted friend and confidant, the mob's version of an elder statesman. A consigliere functions as an advisor to the boss in a Mafia crime family, and sometimes as their "right-hand man". By the very nature of the job, a consigliere is one of the few i...