Originally posted by Raymondo Corleone:
I think it is entirely possible, given the nature of their business, that "The Five Families" is their way of saying "the New York mafia", but without direct reference. I believe that may be the case, in the same way that they never use the word "Mafia" or even directly refer to themselves as an organisation at all.
Thats right. The term "Five Families" is used as a euphemism for the "Mafia". However, even in this fictional reference something is based on "fact", and that is there were five Families (apart from the Corleones).
Mario Puzo is quite clear about this - he often wrote that the Corleones were waging war against the five Families and was quite specific in his detailing how the New York dons were the last to arrive at the sitdown setup by Barzini. Puzo wrote "The representatives of the Five Families of New York were the last to arrive and Tom Hagen was struck by how much more imposing, impressive, these five men were than the out-of-towners,"..... later he added, "Of the five New York Families opposing the Corleones his (Stracci's) was the least powerful".
The fifth Family was never named.
It was NOT the Corleones.
