The Five Families of the New York Mafia

Since the1920’s the five Italian/Sicilian-American crime families which include the Colombo’s, the Genovese’s, the Bonanno’s, the Gambino’s, and the Lucchese’s have been dominating New York’s organized crime. Each family has their own unique story about how each family made its way to becoming one of the top Five Families in the mafia. We will be taking a journey and learning the history behind each crime family, from what part of New York they controlled to who controlled each family during that time period, and who currently runs the mafia present day.

Before going into the histories of each of these families, below is a hierarchy chart of the organized crime. You will need this to understand how the families were structured, and names that were associated with their titles.

Boss: Also known as the “Don”. Has total control over the entire family.

Underboss: They are second in command of the family; they give orders usually that comes from the Boss.

Consigliere: The family advisor, sometimes they’re professional attorneys.

Capo: They are captains or lieutenants; they are in charge of the soldiers and associates.

Soldiers: They are the ones that do all the dirty work; they take orders from the Capo’s, and sometimes the Underboss.

Associates: Are soldiers who haven’t been a “made man” yet.

The Colombo Crime Family

The Colombo crime family was formerly known as the Profaci crime family, originally formed by Joe “The Olive Oil King” Profaci in 1928. Joe controlled the family with a rigid tight fist, and he was loathed by his men in the family. This crime family experienced three family wars. The first war was initiated in the 1950’s when a family member Crazy Joe Gallo began rebelling against Profaci for demanding too much tribute. In the early 1960’s the war began to die down when Crazy Joe was arrested and Profaci died of cancer. Then control was passed to Joseph “Joe C.” Colombo’s command; the family then changed to name to the Colombo crime family, to rid the memory of their former boss Joe Profaci. A few years later the second war began to brew when Crazy Joe Gallo was released from prison, and had a hit put on Colombo. Carmine “Junior” Persico helped win the war against Crazy Joe when he had him murdered in a Little Italy restaurant in in 1972. Decades later the third war was born, and this war had more bloodshed than the two previous wars. In 1991 Carmine “Junior” Persico was now boss of the Colombo family, but he was imprisoned. Family member Victor Orena undermined Persico, and the family divided into two factions.