Five Families, moniker given to the five major Italian American Mafia families in New York City: Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese. The families and their inner workings were publicly revealed in 1963, when a Mafia soldier testified at a congressional hearing.
The Five Families. There are five families recognized as part of the New York Mafia empire of organized crime. They are the Gambino family, the Genovese family, the Lucchese family, the Colombo family, and the Bonanno family. Each family has its own storied history and stems from the Italian island of Sicily.
The DeCavalcante crime family is partly the inspiration for the fictional DiMeo crime family of the HBO television series The Sopranos.
Giovanni Soprano married a certain Livia Pollio and they, in turn, had three children: Barbara, Janice, and the man himself, Anthony “Tony” Soprano. Tony has two children, Meadow Mariangela Soprano and A.J. Soprano, with his wife Carmela Soprano (née DeAngelis).
Founded in the 1950s by Ercoli DiMeo, the DiMeo crime family is the dominant organized crime outfit in The Sopranos. Despite being constantly targeted by the rival Lupertazzi crime family and the FBI, the DiMeo crime family remains stable for most of the series.
Quotes. Phil Leotardo : Historically, Carmine always said the Sopranos are nothing more than a glorified crew. Plain and simple. We decapitate and we do business with whatever's left.
The Lucchese Family is one of the notorious “five families” of the Italian-American Mafia, each with its own territory, set up to control criminal activities in New York City. Gioia became a “made man” during one of the most violent periods in the Lucchese family's history.
There are five main New York City Mafia families, known as the Five Families: the Gambino, Lucchese, Genovese, Bonanno, and Colombo families. The Italian American Mafia has long dominated organized crime in the United States.
The legendary “five families” still exist, experts said, and still operate in the same realms of organized crime: extortion, loan-sharking, racketeering, gambling.
The Calabrian Mafia or 'Ndrangheta (/(ən)dræŋˈɡɛtə/, Italian: [nˈdraŋɡeta], Calabrian: [(ɳ)ˈɖɽaɲɟɪta]) is a prominent Italian Mafia-type organized crime syndicate based in the peninsular region of Calabria and dating back to the 18th century. It is considered the most powerful organized crime group in the world.
1) Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli)
Christopher Moltisanti may be the most loathsome lead character in TV history. Unlike Tony's love of animals or Paulie's humanizing foolishness, Cristopher has zero redeemable features.
Christopher Moltisanti is Tony's nephew and Carmela's first cousin. His father Dickie Moltisanti was something of a mentor to the youthful Tony. So when the senior Moltisanti was shot to death, Tony, in turn, took Christopher under his wing.
Richie returned from prison to a very different family, with Tony Soprano as the boss, whom Richie had known since before Tony had become a made man. Richie feels he is entitled to more control and a higher ranking position in the family for having paid his dues in prison.
After an incident of domestic violence in which Richie punches her in the face, Janice shoots and kills Richie and calls on her brother to dispose of the body. She then moves back to Seattle and becomes briefly engaged to a 19-year-old.
After Tony's death in The Sopranos, perhaps Silvio regained consciousness. After several months of rehabilitation, he took responsibility for the entire family. Silvio claims he was discussed as a candidate for boss after Jackie died, and he did become acting boss at the beginning of Season 6 after Tony was shot.
Silvio Manfred Dante is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos, portrayed by Steven Van Zandt. He is the consigliere and right-hand man to Tony Soprano in the DiMeo crime family. John Magaro portrays a young Silvio Dante in the 2021 prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark.
Relatively long and stable reigns (interspersed with prison sentences and acting bosses) characterized the leadership of the family following his death. The Genovese family is still active in the 21st century, reportedly engaged in such white-collar crimes as extortion, loan sharking, and gambling.
Longtime Colombo under-boss John “Sonny” Franzese is the living embodiment of the ultimate mob rule — bragging in an interview about refusing to rat despite it making him the oldest federal prisoner at the age of 100.
Charles "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian-American mobster, considered the founder and father of organized crime in America and the most powerful Mafia boss of all time.
Tony instead deferred to Junior, giving him the title as Boss. This was effectively in name only, as Tony still controlled the capos in the family and was the main conduit to the Lupertazzi crime family, represented by its underboss "Johnny Sack."
Tony Soprano
It feels like cheating to choose the protagonist and namesake of "The Sopranos" as its best character, but there's no way around it. Tony Soprano is not just the show's best character, he's one of the greatest characters in television history.
Phil Leotardo
Having served 20 years behind bars after being nabbed in the Mafia Crackdown of the '80s, he considers himself the ultimate mobster. Instead of forging good relationships, Phil keeps going after Tony and his men. He hunts down Blundetto, forcing Tony to take action himself.