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Trapani

Corleone emblem

The Corleone crime family is an Italian and Italian-American organized crime syndicate that was founded in 1920 by Vito Corleone, a Sicilian immigrant, who had seized power by killing the Padrone of Little Italy, Massimo Fanucci, and later pacified the rest of Manhattan. It was involved in the Five Families War against the other of New York City's Five Families over political protection, and eliminated the opposing families, having supreme control over New York, as well as having a large collection of Las Vegas and Havana casinos and also having connections in Miami. It sold all of these by 1979 when Don Michael Corleone made moves to make the family more legitimate, but there were still criminal conspiracies and violent acts then, such as the Atlantic City Massacre. They are allies with the Tommasino crime family, Roth Syndicate, Molinari crime family, Zaluchi crime family, Clemenza crime family, Tessio crime family, and Bocchicchio crime family, while they were enemies with the Barzini crime family, Tattaglia crime family, Stracci crime family, Cuneo crime family and the O'Rourke Brothers, Black Hand.

History[]

Founding[]

The family was founded by Vito Corleone who had gunned down Don Massimo Fanucci and taken over Little Italy with their gang. The Corleones' first front was Genco Olive Oil, named for Vito's Consigliere Genco Abbandando, and they were one of the largest exporters of olive oil in New York. Corleone established business relationships with Don Lionele Tommassino when he took over the Francesco Sciacca's clan after they both took down Don Ciccio in 1923. Corleone also took over most of Brooklyn after the Olive Oil War with the Mariposa crime family, riddling boss Giuseppe Mariposa with bullets while they were at a peace meeting, and also took over Manhattan from the O'Rourke Brothers Gang in the 1930s, although he was nearly killed in 1934 in a foiled assassination attempt.

Move to Long Beach[]

Corleone later recruited Luca Brasi and his gang into his family and Corleone made several business partners in politicians, staying away from drugs so that he would not scare off his friends, and resorted to Las Vegas gambling, prostitution, and other businesses. Corleone moved to Long Beach in 1939 and established the Corleone Compound there, where he lived with his large family. By then, he had given Pete Clemenza and Sal Tessio territories in The Bronx and Brooklyn, respectively, and had gotten to terms with the other of New York's Five Families: Barzini, Tattaglia, Cuneo, and Stracci.

Five Families War[]

Peter Clemenza and Aldo Trapani

Peter Clemenza talks with Aldo Trapani

In 1945, narcotics dealer Virgil Sollozzo moved his base of operations to New York, protected by the Tattaglia crime family. Sollozzo approached every one of the Five Families, and Corleone was the only to refuse his offers, as he did not want his politicians and corrupt officials abandoning him. After Sollozzo got some Tattaglia gunmen to attack Vito and wound him in a market on Mott Street, the Corleones and Tattaglias were at odds, and it ended with the bombing of Sollozzo's drug fronts and Sollozzo's murder. 

His murder caused the other Five Families to lose their money that they invested in the drug trade, so they all swamped down on the Corleones to hope to regain their rackets and get politicians as their friends. Caporegimes from the Barzini Alliance gunned down Corleone soldati in the streets, but Aldo Trapani, a young Soldato, did a string of hit jobs that whittled down rival family made men and increased the body count on both sides. He also took over rival rackets and hijacked racket trucks, before bombing every family's compounds. The Corleones were eventually weakened by the murder of Sonny Corleone in 1951 and they arranged a treaty that ended the war, but extortions continued on both sides, hardly war criteria. When Vito Corleone died in 1953, his son Michael Corleone let his ambitions take control. He murdered Moe Greene and took over Las Vegas, and told his Caporegimes to allow the Barzinis to chisel on their territory to lure him into a false sense of security, but Tessio refused and plotted to have him murdered, but Aldo Trapani arrived at his bar and shot Tessio and every Barzini enforcer there, foiling the attempt. Corleone then proceeded to kill every rival Don in the "Baptism of Fire", while at Michael Francis Rizzi's baptism, avoiding NYPD suspicion in the August 1, 1955 mass killings across New York that were carried out by Aldo Trapani, Clemenza, Willie Cicci, and Al Neri

Roth Conspiracy[]

Because of the murder of his old friend Moe Greene, Jewish mob boss Hyman Roth, who had pulled all of the Italians together by promising them casinos in Havana, plotted against Michael Corleone. He planned to pull the trigger on the Corleone Family, wanting to destroy his betrayers. Roth started out by sending gunmen to the Lake Tahoe Compound of Michael Corleone in 1958, but these gunmen were all killed and Corleone suspected his Capo Frank Pentangeli, who was mad because he wanted permission to ice the Rosato Brothers, who had taken over all of Michael's interests in Queens and Miami. However, he found out that it was Roth after meeting with him at his Florida home, and wanted to fight back. 

His Capo Dominic recaptured all of Queens and later expanded his territory in Miami against Tony Rosato's Gang and the Granados crime family, and was the street boss while Corleone was under a senate investigation and Pentangeli was supposedly killed, stopped short of dying by a policeman sent by Hyman Roth in order to make him be able to testify against Corleone, whom he thought was the master of the hitmen. 

Dominic was duped into waging war against the Mangano crime family upon their arrival when Roth sent gunmen to his Florida Safehouse and Fredo Corleone told him that they were the men of Samuele Mangano. He was also put into war with the Almeida crime family by Roth tipping Cuban police off about a failed assassination attempt on Fidel Castro carried out by Dominic; Esteban Almeida was also a loyal Cuban general who also sought revenge for Alejandro Almeida's murder by Dominic earlier in 1959, not knowing who he really was. 

After the senate investigation subsided, Corleone told Dominic about Roth's plots, and Dominic eliminated all of the rival families and shot CIA agent Henry Mitchell in Havana. Roth was shot dead at the Miami International Airport in a shootout between his bodyguards and police versus Dominic and his crew, and Fredo Corleone was shot in the back of the head while on a fishing boat in Lake Tahoe. 

Decline[]

After Fredo Corleone's death, Michael planned to legitimatize the family, as he had promised his now-divorced wife Kay Adams. He sold all of his casinos and created the Vito Corleone Foundation, a charity organization. He also donated money to the restoration of Sicily from floods, and was given the Order of St. Michael by Archbishop Liam Gilday for his nobility in his donations in 1979. By this time, he had given control of his criminal operations to Capo Joey Zasa, head of the Clemenza crime family. The Corleones were no longer a strong crime family, and Licio Lucchesi conspired against Corleone in order to get complete domination of Immobiliare, the world's largest real estate company. His illegitimate nephew Vincent Mancini was adopted as Vincent Corleone and made Don, and he assassinated all of the conspirators, and Michael lost his daughter in 1980 in an assassination attempt on him by Osvaldo Altobello. He died alone and blind in Corleone.

Family Structure[]

1937[]

Don: Vito Corleone

Consigliere: Genco Abbandando

Underboss: Sonny Corleone

Caporegimes: Salvatore Tessio and Peter Clemenza

Soldiers: Luca Brasi

1945-1950[]

Don: Vito Corleone

Consigliere: Tom Hagen

Underbosses: Sonny Corleone, Fredo Corleone, Michael Corleone, Raphael Marciano, Eterie Porchia, Doroteo Penso, Abibo Alessio, Cristaldo Scire, Glauco Arace, Guglielmo Cammarota, Ciriaco Vultaggio, Giobbe Mauceri, Ernesto Notaro, Vasco Pecchia, Ezio Caccamo

Caporegimes: Salvatore Tessio, Peter Clemenza, Indro Mantini, Raimondo Audino, Lazzaro Petriello

Soldati: Luca Brasi, Aldo Trapani, Rocco Lampone, Willie Cicci, Al Neri and Johnny Trapani

1950-1952[]

Don: Michael Corleone

Consigliere: Vito Corleone

Underbosses: Fredo Corleone, Raphael Marciano, Eterie Porchia, Doroteo Penso,

Caporegimes: Salvatore Tessio, Peter Clemenza, and Aldo Trapani

Soldati: Rocco Lampone, Willie Cicci, Al Neri, Angelo Granelli

1952-1955[]

Don: Michael Corleone

Consigliere: Tom Hagen

Underbosses: Fredo Corleone, Raphael Marciano, Eterie Porchia, Doroteo Penso, Aldo Trapani

Caporegimes: Al Neri, Peter Clemenza, Vasco Gabriele, and Rocco Lampone

Soldati: Willie Cicci, Angelo Granelli

1955-1960[]

Don: Michael Corleone

Consigliere: Tom Hagen

Underboss: Fredo Corleone

Caporegimes: Rocco Lampone, Frank Pentangeli and Al Neri

1960-1964[]

Don: Michael Corleone

Consigliere: Tom Hagen

Caporegime: Al Neri

1964-1979[]

Don: Michael Corleone

Consigliere (acting): Connie Corleone

Caporegimes: Joey Zasa and Al Neri

Soldati: Vincent Mancini

1979-present[]

Don: Vincent Mancini (Vincent Corleone)

Consigliere: Michael Corleone

Underboss: Al Neri

Caporegime: Lou Pennino

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