How realistic was the Corleone family?

I watched A&E's biography of the Gambino Family on Sunday night and one of the things that stuck out to me was when they mentioned that at its height under Carlo Gambino they had about two dozen crews. I take it that a crew is the same thing as a regime. If that's the case is it unrealistic that the Corleone Family, which was as fictionally powerful, if not more so, than the Gambino Family was in real life, had only two or three regimes?

I always wondered why the Corleones only had 2 capos, in probably one of the most powerful crime famlies in the country.
The only thing I can think of is that Puzo wrote the book in 1969 and back then they did not have as much info on the mafia as they do today.

I saw that A&E show on the Gambinos. "Crew" is not synonymous with "regime." Gambino had two capos--Paul Castellano, in charge of "white collar" operatons; and Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce, who headed "blue collar" work. Each had multiple crews under him. The show often referred to Gotti, on his way up, as a crew chief under Dellacroce.
Each of the Corleone capos could have had many crews under him. Tessio had enough men to have 50 of them guard the mall after the Don died.

thanks TB...That's EXACTLY what I thought about the Corleone regimes but I hadn't figured out a way to explain what I was thinking.

We must be sure that Clemenza and Tessio had regimes under them. Some lines in GF1 make it clear.

There are certainly some very real people in all of the GFs. I guess the corleons themselfs are a lot of people whom Puzo couldn't ID to easily plus the GODFATHER is a work of fiction after all! I would not like it to be no other way.
However let see what little me could get:

I was told that Johnny Fortain was Frank Sinara
Moe Green is Bagsi Segal
Hyman Roth is Meir Lenski
The Corleons business in Havana were probebly true...

Turnbull? they were Underbosses. Both Paul and Neil. Weren't they? I mean that's what I read. and Crew Ciefs are the same thing as Caporegimes (Or Captains)

Crews are small working groups that work on specific jobs. A caporegime heads a regime that contains soldiers, who may be called upon to do different jobs at any given time. They form themselves into crews to carry out those jobs. Some jobs are carried out at the behest of their caporegime, or with his blessing. Crew heads can pull jobs on their own, as long as they stay within the pre-arranged groundrules, one of which is to pay a tribute to the caporegime out of the proceeds of any independent endeavor.

Remember that in GF One, Sonny tells Tom Hagen that the family has 100 buttonmen on the streets 24-7, so if Solozzo shows even a hair in his ass he gets whacked. What happened was that the caporegimes pooled all their crews together for the war against the Tattaglias and Solozzo, under Sonny's orders.

The Caporegimes called most of their crews in the war with Sollozzo. Not all. I mean there are Button men who have to look over the businesses that are owned by the Family. I'm pretty sure the Corleones have more that 150 Soldiers.

Just to clear it up...were they underbosses or capos?

Aniello (Mr. Neil) Dellacroce was THE Underboss (there is only one). Big Paul Castellano was a capo whose juice derived mainly from being cousin and brother-in-law to Don Carlo Gambino. Carlo named Paul as his successor on his deathbed, passing over Dellacroce. Although Mr. Neil was such a traditionalist that he accepted the Don's decision, it created a resentment which caused a rift in the family, and led ultimately to Paul's assassination. Dellacroce remained Paul's Underboss until he predeceased Paul. Castellano's failure to show up at Neil's wake hastened his demise, a short time later.

Well most Mafia families have one underboss. I read that the New Jersey Mob at one time had 3 Underbosses at once. Neil and Paul were both underbosses to Carlo Gambino

Carlo Gambino had 1 Underboss >> Dellacroce. Castellano was a capo. Dellacroce was passed over to become the next don when Gambino passed. Castellano went from capo to Don.

Let's see:

A crew is the first "gang" you join. You do jobs, you make your bones. If your good and pure Italian, the Family may open their books put you up for your button.

A button is/was a made member of the family. In the 1940's, it was easier to be made than in recent years (more suspcion now for obvious reasons). Made members were the soldiers. Remember when Sonny told Tom that 100 button men were on the streets 24/7 looking for Sollozzo. If you're a good soldier, you get promoted just like in the military. Eventually, hard work, dedication, earning potential and a lot of blood could earn you your own regime, making you a lieutenant or Capo.

A Capo ran his own regime of buttons and crews. They reported to the underboss and/or consigliere. Often times, the head capo got the title underboss, if for no other reason by default only. Don's paid more attention to their consigliere than their underboss (Fredo vs. Tom to Mike)

So, boys and girls, that's my Schoolhouse Rock version of "I'm just a bill", cosa nostra style.

NO!! Carlo had 2. Every info I read simply stated that Neil ran half the faction while Paul ran the other. Carlo had TWO!!!

I'm afraid I must disagree with you, B.O.B. Castellano was NOT an Underboss. There is a lot of truth in what you say about Paul and Mr. Neil running different areas of the business, but they practically split into factions when Paul was named as Boss, skipping over Dellacroce, not before. Many people loyal to Neil, especially John Gotti, were highly upset that he didn't succeed Don Carlo, as he was rightfully in line to do so, as THE Underboss. This created a fault line under the foundations of the Gambino family. Neil magnanimously accepted Don Carlo's decision, however resentments in his faction built against Paul. Paul's greed, his hypocrisy and his self-imposed isolation from the rank-and-file added fuel to this fire. He was so ill-loved that only a few capos cared when he was assassinated.

You may be mistaking Gambino's decision (upon his death) to allow Dellacroce to oversee the Family's lucrative Manhattan operations while Castellano had rule over the rest. Gambino wanted the Family to become more legitimate, and knowing that Castellano had a better head for this type of business he appointed Paul as the boss to replace him. Don Carlo also knew there'd be some factions in the Family that wouldn't be happy with this decision, so he "gave" the Manhattan operations to Dellacroce in an effort to placate Neil.

It depends on which source of information you follow on who was the Gambino Family underboss. Its generally accepted that when Carlo had taken over (after Albert Anastasia was killed in 1957) the underboss was Joseph Biondo. In the mid 60's Biondo did something pretty foolish - he tried to cheat Gambino on some deals - and Biondo was forced to step down as underboss. Carlo then elevated Dellacroce to be his new underboss. Its been sometimes noted that Dellacroce was Anastasia's underboss, and if in fact he was, it was only for a very short time. (That title had been held by Frank Scalise, who was killed a few months before Anastasia).

I have a copy of the Gambino Family chart that the government used in the early 60's (much of the info supplied by Joe Valachi). Both Aniello Dellacroce and Paul Castellano are listed as "Capo". I've never seen any chart which listed Paul as "Underboss".

Hey Sc.

I know that Castellano and Delacrose were Capos during the 1960's. But I also know for a fact that they were both underbosses to carlo before the old Don passed on. I read about it in the Crime Library site. And I know I read it somewhere else.

SC? IF you can, would you be able to scan the Gambino Crime Family chart? Or do you have a link to a site where I can see it?

If you watch the HBO movie "Gotti" it shows the Gambino Family tree and dellocroce and castellano are underbosses to Carlo.

Anyone know where I can find that tree outside the film?

Carlo Gambino was a very clever man: As you probably know, Vito Genovese arranged with Gambino to assassinate Albert (the Mad Hatter) Anastasia, and to have Gambino take over as Don. In return, Gambino would be loyal to Genovese and support his move to legitimize drug traffic (the purpose of the famous 1957 Apalachin meeting was to legitimize Gambino, anoint Genovese as capo di tutti capi, and to ok drug trafficking). But Neil Dellacroce, who was loyal to Anasasia, vowed to avenge him. So Gambino sat him down and made him an offer he couldn't refuse: Neil would be underboss, and have near-autonomy over the family's "traditional" rackets (loan sharking, hijacking, gambling, etc.). Meanwhile, Gambino was encouraging his cousin and brother in law, Paul Castellano, to develop the family's "white collar" rackets (labor and construction racketeering, legitimate businesses such as wholesale meat and poultry, etc.). Castellano never held a big, official title because Gambino didn't want him to attract law enforcement attention that might have diverted his attempts to develop the "legit" side. But everyone in the family (and the hierarchy of other families) knew that Castellano was at least as high up in Gambino's estimation as Dellacroce.
As it happened, Gambino was on his deathbed while Dellacroce was in jail, finishing a term for tax evasion. The family needed at least an acting boss, and Castellano was it. Castellano's official anointment as head of the family waited a few weeks until Dellacroce got out of prison. He then had a famous sit-down with Dellacroce and promised him the same deal he'd had with Gambino: autonomy over the "blue collar" rackets. Dellacroce accepted.
As you can see, Gambino was lucky as well as clever. The Apalachin meeting was busted up before they were able to name Genovese capo di tutti capi and approve drug trafficking, but they did have time to anoint Gambino. Then Geneovese went away for 15 years on a drug rap, leaving the field clear for Gambino to be the top dog in NYC. And the fact that Gambino had to anoint his own successor while Dellacroce was in prison, worked to his advantage: had Dellacroce been free at the time, he might have fought Castellano for the position no matter what Don Carlo wanted. By the time he got out, Castellano was acting Don and had the blessing of the other families' Dons.