padrone
/paˈdrəʊneɪ
/ /paˈdrəʊni/noun (plural padrones)
1A patron or master, in particular:
1.1A Mafia boss.
1.2US informal An employer, especially one who exploits immigrant workers.There is no question that in many instances padrones were able to exploit the relative ignorance of immigrant workers to capture a large share of the gains from mobilizing labor....
- He works the national borders between southern Europe and the three North American states, and the class and racial boundaries between resident populations, the immigrant workers, and the padrones.
- Each time another shipment of men arrives, one of his employees appears on the second-floor balcony, like a Mexican padrone, to welcome them in Spanish - and to warn them not to talk with farmworker advocates.
1.3(In Italy) the proprietor of a hotel.And so one night, having indulged a little too freely in a local wine called ‘The Tears of Christ,’ I confessed to the hotel padrone a furtive secret....
- You can enjoy a perfect Tuscan kitchen and the hospitality of the Padrone and his team in the heart of Vienna.
- The situation changed dramatically in July at the ceremony to formally turn over Palazzo Grassi to its new padrone.
Origin
Italian.