the DeCavalcante family

First of all,hello to everyone here!I stumbled on this board by accident but i spent a couple of hours reading it and i got the impresion that its full of knowledgeable(sp?) members...

So,given that,i feel like this is the right place to satisfy my curiosity about the DeCavalcante family.

I'd be very grateful if any of the following questions can be answered:

How many members/associates are there?

Where does it rank among other families?Is it considered small time?

Does it(or did it ever) hold a seat in the Mafia Commission?

Did they ever have any conflicts with other families?

Are "The Sopranos" based on them?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the baords, TD.

Give a few hours until some of our resident Mob experts login and I'm sure you'll get some of your questions answered.

Welcome to the site.

I believe that the Sopranos was roughly based around the DeCavalcante Family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeCavalcante_crime_family

This is the wikipedia entry about them that answers several of your questions.

Actually, some of the members of the DeCavalcante family were sent to prison based off of wire taps that had the family members comparing themselves to characters on The Sopranos!

You can find a pretty comprehensive government report on them here:

http://www.mafianj.com/sci89/decavalcante.shtml

Lots of people have speculated that the DeCavalcante Family was the basis for "Sopranos," but I never saw much resemblance other than the fact that Sopranos were based in NJ and had uneasy ties to NY families. I always thought Tony was pretty small-time compared with The Plumber.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Lwiwcej68

UK documentary about the Jersey mob.

Most official estimates put the DeCavalcantes at 40-50 made members. The Family also has a relatively low associate ratio, of about 1 to 1. In other words, they have about 50 associates.



Compared to the five New York Families they are certainly small time. The New Jersey faction of the Genovese Family is larger and more powerful than the entire DeCavalcante Family. The DeCavalcantes would be more comparable to New England, Philadelphia, and Detroit.



No, they never had an official seat but, like other East Coast Families, were represented on the Commission by the Genovese Family.



Not really. From decades past to the present day, the DeCavalcantes have always worked with the New York Families for mutual profit. Especially in the New Jersey construction industry.



The "Soprano Family" is based on the DeCavalcante Family, both being the only indigenous LCN Family in New Jersey. But much of Sopranos creator David Chase's original inspiration came from members of other Families, especially the Genovese, who operated in New Jersey when he was growing up. As the show progressed, the writers borrowed from both the New York and New Jersey underworlds for plot material.

Thanks for the answers guys,much appreciated!