Originally posted by Toni_corleone:
Just to clear it up the five families is based off the real five families of New York so yes the Corleones are one of the five families since there are only five Mob families opperating in New York.
So that clears the question up, huh?
That point has been raised before, of course.
The Godfather is a work of fiction, set in the context of Mafia activities in New York City during the 'real life' time period that roughly parallels the time period covered by the book.
I believe that Puzo
deliberatly created the Corleones as the 6th family so as
not to invite speculation as to which of the
actual NYC families they were meant to represent.
As has been stated here many times in the past, the personality characteristics, traits, and methods of Don Vito Corleone seem to be an amalgamation of the other five NYC crime family heads at the time.
Creating the Corleones as a fictional sixth family - in keeping with the fact that the book is a work of fiction - was deliberate.
