Valachi described Cosa Nostra units of about thirty men called regimes

Evidence

Joseph Valachi, an American mafioso arrested in the United States, was interrogated by the U.S. Senate Commission chaired by Senator McClellan in 1963; the terminology he used in describing the American Cosa Nostra echoes that of the Italian pentiti. This particular term, however, as understood by American ears, or Valachi’s, is transcribed as ‘caporegime’” (CPM: 4-xiii, 13, 81). Valachi reported that his “regime consists of thirty [men]” (p. 82). — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 897

Categorization

• DEFINE: Caporegime = the Sicilian decina’s American counterpart, a unit of roughly thirty men.