Originally posted by plawrence:
My theory is that since there actually were (and are) five NY families, by including the Corleones as one of them, Puzo felt that he would be inviting too much comparison and speculation as to which of the five the Corleone family was meant to represent. Since the Corleones were the main characters, I believe that would have been the case. No one would have cared, for example, who Cuneo or Stracci was supposed to be modeled after, but everyone would have been trying to figure out which family head Don Corleone was supposed to be.
I believe Puzo simply erred in not naming the sixth family the one time he had the opportunity to do so.
Interesting theory, plawrence! But Puzo didn't hesitate to invite the closest possible comparison of Johnny Fontaine with Frank Sinatra, and Moe Green with Bugsy Siegel (and a notoriously violent but unnamed Don with Albert Anastasia).
I believe sloppy writing is the villain.
