The word "kingpin" is correct and usable in written English.
It is most often used to refer to a figure of great power in a particular field (such as organized crime, or business). For example, "He was the kingpin of the drug trade in the city."
Chris Evans, the new editorial kingpin at the Telegraph titles, has kept a low profile while managing to rise to high office.
This particular tunnel was reportedly associated with the Sinaloa drug cartel headed by Mexico's most infamous and elusive kingpin, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Archivaldo Guzmán Loera.
Timothy Olyphant's drawlin', brawlin', Stetson-sportin' US marshal Raylan Givens has verbose criminal kingpin Boyd Crowder firmly in his sights, a showdown for which viewers have been gearing up for six years.
2. Prop Joe's drug co-op Prop Joe is the only drug kingpin who appears in all five series, largely due to his success in pulling his enemies into the co-op – although even that turns sour in the end.
Talking of lawbreaking, last week's episode ended with a very tense scene between drug kingpin Avon Barksdale and his No 2, Stringer Bell, where Bell revealed he'd had Barksdale's nephew D'Angelo killed.
That signalled to the politician's followers that they should cast their run-off vote for Mr Noda, rather than the puppet candidate of Ichiro Ozawa, the party's indicted (and suspended) kingpin.
Both admitted to doing dirty work (after leaving Mr DeLay's employ) for Jack Abramoff, a former lobbying kingpin now convicted on corruption charges himself.
At issue is the fact that the book lampoons Bal Thackeray, a Mumbai kingpin who founded the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party over four decades ago.
So freely are they still cheating that only Saudi Arabia, the kingpin of the cartel, has much spare capacity left.
FUNDING scandals linked to Ichiro Ozawa, kingpin of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), have hung over the party like a black cloud since even before it took power in September 2009.
So instead of touting a big drug seizure, or crowing when it puts a kingpin behind bars, it tracks the street price of heroin.
