Six Families

The heads and representatives of the Six Families meet in 1997.

The Six Families refer to the main crime families in the New York area. To the underworld – if not the world at large – Dominic Dracon serves at Pater Familias to all Six Families . . . in practice.

History

For decades, they were known as the Five Families, with the Dracon Family considered the undisputed head family (and Dominic Dracon serving as Pater Familias to them all . . . for a time), until Tomas Brod's arrival in 1996 and the turf war he initiated that culminated in the arrests of Tony Dracon and Tomas Brod. ("Turf", "Tale Old as Time")

The current heads of the Six Families are Choi Yingpei, Tomas Brod, Dominic Dracon, Huracán Sanchez, Izaak Slaughter, and Grisha Volkov.

Despite their collective name, the Six Families are not a united front; relatives such as Peter Choy and Rosaria Sanchez are discouraged from interacting with one another, and even when every head (and Jack Dane, representing Brod's interests following his arrest) expressed apprehension of Dino's pending release from Sing Sing, such efforts ultimately devolved into further infighting. ("Miracle Child", "Render Unto Caesar", "Underwater")

Following the apparent death of Dino Dracon, the turf wars ended with the Six Families putting aside their disputes for the good of their businesses. The Dracons ceded territory to Brod in exchange for a ten percent tithe from the other Families. Antoinette Dracon maneuvered her grandfather (whom was still respected by all) into once more becoming Pater Familias of all Six Families; but this time, with both her brother and uncle out of the way, she alone influenced her aging grandfather. But Antoinette's motives remained cryptic to the human gangs; she had, in fact, pledged her loyalty and true control of the Six Families to the gargoyle Demona. ("Cold Comfort")

Real World Background

The Five Families have historically referred to various New York-based families since the 1930s. The term is also a reference to the crime families featured in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film, The Godfather (based on Mario Puzo's crime novel). The historical Five Families were organized by Salvatore Maranzano who intended each family's boss to report to him as the capo dei capi ("boss of all the bosses") in 1931. This led to his assassination that September, and that role was abolished for the Commission, a ruling committee established by Charlie "Lucky" Luciano to oversee all Mafia activities in the United States and to mediate conflicts between families.

See Also

• Six Families at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia