There are alot of Dons at the table and anyone of them could have been a Bocch, but I don't think so. I see them as a family that simply provided a service to other Mafia families and that they made their living primarily from that without engaging in actual crime. Possibly they werethere as an observor, but I doubt it.

Why not?

Roth is Myer Lansky who was a financial and strategic advisor to the mob. He did not command troops. He had no family. Moe Green is Bugsey Siegal who was a Murder Inc. hood who found his niche in Las Vegas. He had ties to the Mafia and Jewish hoods, but he did not have a family either.

I just posted on Murder Inc. and Siegel's brush with them in the Mob Myths vs. Reality thread:


http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=421421&page=0#Post421421

Hello,

I'm new to this forum. I'm really enjoying all of your insights, and all of the different ideas and interpretations.

I don't think the Bocchiccio's would have been considered one of the "Five Families." They didn't have any operational function. They merely provided a hostage service to the mafiosi. They would provide a hostage while two or more parties had a truce and negotiated. If anything happened to cause their hostage to be harmed, they would extract their revenge on whichever party caused the break in the truce.

I think of the "Five Families" as a group name like the singing group "The Five Satins." If I were a member of "The Five Satins" and I left the group, I would say I left "The Five Satins" not "The Four Satins."

Welcome, FreddoN!
"How many Families" is one of the all-time durable topics on this board. I agree with you about the Bocchicchios--they were a "service" outfit for the Five Families, and anyway, no real major family would hire its people out as hostages. I also agree that "Five Families" was used generically by the Corleones, even though they were one of the Five. Puzo's sloppy writing in the novel has given many here the impression that there were five in addition to Corleone.

If you were a member of the Five Satins, you'd be leaving the group because, after 51 years, you could no longer abide singing "In the Still of the Night" and "To the Aisle."

Corleone
Cuneo
Stracci
Tattaaglia
Barzini

Thats the five imho

"... could no longer abide singing "In the Still of the Night" and "To the Aisle." Madonne!