Welcome to the boards, Albert Neri.

There have been many discussions on the real life counterparts to "Godfather" characters. You can view some of these discussions by doing a search (type in "real life" in the search box under the "Trilogy" section).

One of the "models" (from real life) that I've never seen mentioned before here on the boards is the death surrounding Joe Magliocco, the boss of the Profaci/Colombo Family. Joe Magliocco died of a heart attack in December, 1963, in a West Islip, NY hospital. The Suffolk County Deputy Medical Examiner certified it a heart attack. Ten days later the body was exumed because two wiseguys talked about Magliocco being poisoned by rival Joe Bonanno (in an FBI taped conversation). The story is reminiscient of Clemenza dying in Part II.