Its a good thing that Turnbull and I are much too old to fight. After we both mised our first punch, we'd probably fall flat on our respective faces.

However, if we were still in the days of our hale and hearty youthfulness, this would certainly be something we'd be fighting over.

Sloppy, to me, means that Puzo left something out. Like the description of the head of the fifth family. That's sloppy writing. Omission.

And the fact that he did it only once - got sloppy on the one occasion when it would have ben suitable to describe the family head - convinces me even more that it's sloppiness we're talking about here.

It's not sloppy to write something in. That, I believe, is intentional.

So take that one occasion of sloppiness, and stack it up against the several examples in which Puzo wrote that there were six families in total...

"Of the five New York Families opposing the Corleones his was the least powerful but the most well disposed."

"For the last year the Corleone Family had waged war against the five great Mafia Families of New York."

"The representatives of the Five families of New York were the last to arrive, and Tom Hagen was struck by home much more imposing, impressive these five men were than the out-of-towners. For one thing, the five New York Dons......"

Those phrases are written intentionally, I believe. They are not sloppy omissions, nor are they references made to the other families by Sonny and Tom in conversation, in which they might refer to Five Families in a generic sense.

That, along with my argument that the Corleones are meant to be a fictional sixth family, given that the novel is set against a somewhat historical backround of mafia history in NYC, has convinced me beyond any doubt.

Turnbull, put up you dukes.