Instead he becomes in course of time a sort of bully or bad man on his own hook, a criminal "swell," who does no manual labor, rarely commits a crime with his own hands, and lives by his brain.

Such a one was Micelli Palliozzi, arrested for the kidnapping of the Scimeca and Sabello children mentioned above--a dandy who did nothing but swagger around the Italian quarter.
Generally each capo maestra works for himself with his own handful of followers, who may or may not enjoy his confidence, and each gang has its own territory, held sacred by the others.

The leaders all know each other, but never trespass upon the others' preserves, and rarely attempt to blackmail or terrorize any one but Italians.

They gather around them associates from their own part of Italy, or the sons of men whom they have known at home.

Thus for a long time Costabili was leader of the Calabrian Camorra in New York, and held undisputed sway of the territory south of Houston Street as far as Canal Street and from Broadway to the East River.