We all know The Godfather has its 5 fictional families of NY but if you had to compare those to the real 5 families, and match a fictional 1 up with a non fictional one as to say they are the most alike power wise. My guesses would be as so:

Genovese Family = Barzini Family
Gambino Family = Corleone Family
Bonanno Family = Tataglia Family
Luchese Family = Cuneo Family
Columbo Family = Stracci Family

Cuneo and Stracci cude go either way because they really never displayed power.

If the above is meant to imply that there were a total of five families, then many, myself included, would beg to differ.

For good recent discussions on the topic, see here:

http://www.thegodfathertrilogy.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=004457

or here

http://www.thegodfathertrilogy.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=003855


I believe that Puzo specifically intended the Corleones to be a fictional sixth family, so as not to invite comparisons between Vito and the real New York Dons of the time.

My theory is that since there actually were (and are) five NY families, by including the Corleones as one of them, Puzo felt that he would be inviting too much comparison and speculation as to which of the five the Corleone family was meant to represent. Since the Corleones were the main characters, I believe that would have been the case. No one would have cared, for example, who Cuneo or Stracci was supposed to be modeled after, but everyone would have been trying to figure out which family head Don Corleone was supposed to be.