Five Families

Charles "Lucky" Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime and is responsible for splitting New York into different criminal gangs.

The Five Families are the five major New York City organized crime families of the Italian American Mafia.

The term was first used in 1931, when Salvatore Maranzano formally organized the previously warring gangs into what are now known as the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese crime families, each with demarcated territory, organizationally structured in a now-familiar hierarchy, and having them reporting up to the same overarching governing entity. Initially Maranzano intended each family's boss to report to him as the capo di tutti capi (boss of all bosses), but this led to his assassination and by September the role was replaced by The Commission, which continues to govern American Mafia activities in the United States and Canada.

History

The crime families originated out of New York City Sicilian Mafia gangs. Salvatore Maranzano formally organized them in the summer of 1931, after the April 15 murder of Giuseppe Masseria, in what has become known as the Castellammarese War. Maranzano introduced the now-familiar Mafia hierarchy: boss (capofamiglia), underboss (sotto capo), advisor (consigliere), captain (caporegime), soldier (soldato), and associate; and declared himself capo di tutti capi (boss of all bosses).

By declaring himself boss of all bosses, Maranzano was reneging on the deal he had made with Lucky Luciano. In that deal, it was agreed that after Luciano helped murder Masseria, the two bosses would be equals. For reneging, Maranzano was murdered on September 10, 1931, on Luciano's orders. The boss of all bosses position was then eliminated, in favor of The Commission. The Commission would consist of the head of each of the Five Families, plus the heads of the Buffalo crime family and the Chicago Outfit. The council would serve as the governing body of the American Mafia, settling disputes, including demarcating territory among the previously warring factions and would govern all activities in the United States and Canada.

Names and Bosses

By 1963, when they were publicly disclosed in the Valachi hearings, the family names had changed and were based on their bosses at the time, Joseph Bonanno, Carlo Gambino, Vito Genovese, Tommy Lucchese and Joseph Profaci. Other than the Profaci family, which was renamed the Colombo family, the names have remained unchanged. [1][2]

Original Family Name Founded by Current Family Name Founded by Current Boss Acting Boss
Maranzano Salvatore Maranzano Bonanno Joe Bonanno Michael "the Nose" Mancuso [3] Thomas DiFiore
Profaci Joe Profaci Colombo Joseph Colombo Carmine Persico [4] Alphonse Persico
Mangano Vincent Mangano Gambino Carlo Gambino Frank Cali None
Luciano Lucky Luciano Genovese Vito Genovese Liborio Bellomo None
Gagliano Tommy Gagliano Lucchese Tommy Lucchese Victor Amuso Steven Crea

Mafia boss succession

Maranzano/Bonanno family

Profaci/Colombo family

Mangano/Gambino family

Luciano/Genovese family

Gagliano/Lucchese family

Territories

The crime families historically operated throughout the New York Metropolitan area, but mainly within New York City's boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island. In the state of New York the gangs have increased their criminal rackets in Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk) and the counties of Westchester, Rockland, and Albany. They also maintain a strong presence in the state of New Jersey.[6] The Five Families are also active in South Florida, Connecticut, Las Vegas, and Massachusetts.

Factual and fictional details of the history of the crime families have been used in a vast array of media, such as:

Films

Games

Literature

Television

See also

References

  1. ↑ Capeci, Jerry (2004). The Complete Idiot's Guide To The Mafia (2nd ed.). New York: Alpha Books. pp. 48–49. ISBN 1-59257-305-3.
  2. ↑ Raab, p. 186
  3. ↑ "Jerry Capeci: Mob Murder In Montreal Could Trigger Bloodshed In New York". Huffingtonpost.com. 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  4. ↑ COLOMBO ORGANIZED CRIME group ACTING BOSS, UNDERBOSS, AND TEN OTHER MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES INDICTED (archived from the original Archived December 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. on 2010-05-27), U.S. Department of Justice, June 4, 2008.
  5. ↑ Raab, Selwyn. (2006). criminal organized crime groups: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press. pp. 732–734. ISBN 978-0-312-36181-5.
  6. 1 2 The Changing Face of Organized Crime in New Jersey (A Status Report) (PDF). May 2004. pp. 105–114.
  7. ↑ "New Charges for Mob group as U.S. Indictment Names 20". The New York Times. April 20, 2001.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.