In popular fiction he became so famous that now everybody knows Don Vito Corleone from the movie/ novel Godfather as the boss of the Corleone crime family who made offers that nobody could refuse...! Even though technically it was a fictional name and a fictional story , writer Mario Puzo created the epic crime novel drawing heavy influences from five real life mafia families of America. Read on to know more about these notoriously infamous crime families for whom Hollywood made movies and the writers wrote countless ballads..!


1) Genovese family

The Genovese family is seen as the dominant and most powerful force in the New York mafia, and has been nicknamed the "Rolls-Royce" of organised crime.
With interests across New York City as well as New Jersey, Las Vegas and parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, the family's main areas of operation are illegal gambling and racketeering.
Named after former boss Vito Genovese, the family is thought to have had no fixed leader since the 2005 death of Vincent Gigante, known as "the Oddfather" because he faked insanity by wandering the streets in a bath robe.


2) Gambino family

The Gambino crime family is thought to operate from New York to California, and was once held to be the most powerful mafia family in America.
With reported involvement in activities as diverse as loansharking, extortion and prostitution, the modern family is named after Carlo Gambino, who is believed to have orchestrated the murder of Albert Anastasia to take control of the family in 1957.

3) Lucchese family

Named after 1950s boss Tommy "Three-Finger Brown" Lucchese, who united with the Gambino family to gain a monopoly over mob activities in New York City, the family was once one of the most powerful crime gangs in America.
But it was torn apart after boss Anthony "Two Ducks" Corallo was arrested in 1986, naming Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony Casso to take his place.

4)Colombo family

The newest of the Five Families, the Colombo crime family was originally founded in 1928 but underwent three internal wars during the 20th century.
Named after Joseph "Joe C" Columbo, who united the family after the first war in the 1960s, two further power struggles resulted in the deaths of several members and irreparable differences which led on to several criminal convictions through informants.

5)Bonanno family

The Bonanno family, named after founder Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, was the first to be thrown off the Commission, a gathering of family bosses aimed at maintaining relationships within the mafia, amid allegations of involvement in heroin dealing and infighting between close family members.
The family suffered a major indignity in 1981 when it emerged that an undercover FBI agent using the alias Donnie Brasco had been gathering information on the family from the inside for six years. Later Donnie Brasco  was made as a blockbuster movie where Johnny Depp and Al Pacino played the lead characters.

(AW-Jyotishman)