Thanks, Olivant. I agree the basis was probably mostly Bonanno, with some aspects of Costello, Gambino, and the "Americanized", business minded faction that typically put profits over Sicilian tradition. Someone here once said Puzo covered the Bonanno family for a NY paper. Don't remember who. I tried looking this up and couldn't find anything on it, although that doesn't mean it didn't happen. It can be difficult finding old, obscure newspaper articles. Puzo really has a zeal for the Sicilian faction of the American mob. You get the feel he wanted it to work that way. Maybe for a period of time for the Bonannos, it did.