Along with chase saying that he used the boot and his son as inspiration I am currently watching season 1 episode 8 when meadow smugly lists the five families to annoy tony at the dinner table. She says all 4 apart from the Genovese family.

Although there are similarities with decavs and Lucchese I think the argument is strongest due to the above..

I agree the Sopranos came from Avellino like many guys from the Genovese family and the feuds with Johnny Sack were also based on real life feuds between the Boiardos and New York’s ruling Genovese family.

Never knew there were genvoeses from avellino Hollander. Was the boot from there?

Also what feuds did they have with the admin?

I think so, Those guys in northern New Jersey were mostly Italians from the same province, Avellino.
Vito Genovese was also born near Avellino.

Interesting thanks Hollander

Meadow mentions Luciano, which was the Genovese family.

I was always pretty sure that the power of Tony and his crew along with his gumption to challenge NY families was based more on NY crews in New Jersey than the DeCavs.

One of many reasons I found seasons 1 and 2 to be the best was because it was Jersey vs. Jersey, which was far more realistic than a Jersey boss taking on NY, which borders science fiction.

I think it was just Chase wanting to show to the world that the mob wasn’t just in NYC. What a lot of regular Americans don’t seem to realize is that every major organized crime family had a presence in NJ and still does. Even a lot of the small families from different parts of the country had at least 1 guy or small group of guys based in NJ.

Not sure if you’re only referencing certain Genovese guys being from Avellino, but in north jersey in general, Italians from all over southern Italy in general migrated there. Just like New York.

Junior has a line about most people in his Jersey town migrating from Avelino. I think in the episode where he's going to funerals of people he barely knows to get out of house arrest.

This show does seem to emphasize a Neapolitan influence in Jersey. I don't know of one character that identifies as Sicilian. Paulie mentions Sicilians during pillow talk with his Italian hooker but that's about it. Tony reveals Silvio is Calabrese in the scene where he's yelling at him about Italian pride and Gary Cooper.

Yep. A lot of neapolitans. But you’re right they never really revealed where exactly in Italy everyone’s ancestors were from. That was just their inner circle. There are a lot of Sicilians, calabrese etc. in New Jersey. I actually liked that the show kind of strayed away from the predictable and overdone “Sicilian American gangsters” topic. We always saw it in movies and shows but the mafia was made up of much more types of southern Italians than just Sicilians.

The Godfather set the standard, then Hollywood lore just adopted the theme. It became common for writers to just refer to Italian gangsters as "Sicilians". Scorsese mostly avoided it. Just a quick line where Henry Hill talks about his mother and then later about being made. The Sopranos went the opposite direction and made a point of Tony's Neapolitan background, which I agree was a refreshing take for movies or television.

For whatever reason, a lot of people believed Genovese was Sicilian. He was Neapolitan obviously. But southern Italians are generally grouped together. I see it especially with Neapolitans, Sicilians and Calabrese. Calabria and Sicily are extremely similar though. Naples shares similarities as well but there are also some clear differences. That is what real Italians from italy within my family have told me

The author of the new Costello book, Anthony M. DeStefano, claims Genovese is Sicilian. He leaves no footnotes or reference to refute all of the other claims that Vito was Neapolitan, so maybe he sees it the way you referred to, that it's all southern Italy, anyway, no point in splitting hairs.

In the Scorsese documentary "Italianamerican", where he interviews his parents (who've appeared in a lot of his movies), I believe his father says something bout how in Sicily it's all about what village you're from. Sicilians don't even care if you're Sicilian. If you're not from their village, they're suspicious of you, or something like that. It was a few years ago that I watched it, but he seemed to say something to this effect. The Scorseses emigrated a long time ago, though. A lot had to have changed in Sicily since the end of World War 2 and Mussolini, although the mafia and their provincial standards obviously remained influential.

I think I’ve heard that before. It’s like any other place really. I’m from New Jersey originally and people always group New Jersey with New York.

It’s also ironic that the mastermind behind The Godfather was Neapolitan. Mario Puzo of course.

Puzo was Neapolitan? That's surprising. When he talked about Sinatra confronting him he mocked Sinatra for being "northern" (which is kind off base considering Sinatra's father was Sicilian). Anyhow, he said something about he he was surprised to see a northern Italian be so masculine and aggressive. Also in his writing he always seemed to lionize and romanticize Sicilian culture.

I think somewhere in the Naples area. I’m guessing that maybe he saw parallels between Neapolitan subculture and Sicilian subculture. But don’t forget, they were American in The Godfather so I guess it didn’t really make too much of a difference want region they were from. James Caan actually said that in The Godfather documentary. “We were playing Americans at the end of the day. Americans who happened to be Italian”

Just looked it up. Puzo’s parents were from Avellino, Italy. Close to Naples.

Soprano country.

i think it's all fiction about the dimeo family...
they are not decavs and for sure not NY imo...

A couple of Philly cops laid out a pretty good case as to how they were based on Jersey Luccheses and Philadelphia guys. Frank Renzulli wrote a lot of episodes in seasons 1 and 2, he's the guy Chazz Palminteri stole the Bronx Tale story from. Renzulli's from Boston. David Chase himself said a lot of the Soprano characters were based on the Boiardo crew. Jackie Aprile's stomach cancer and the rivalry between Tony and Junior in season 1 over becoming boss was similar to the 90s Decav situation. Decavs were on wire tap discussing how the characters were based on them.

I agree