The Five Families: How New York’s Mafia Carved Up the City Like Kings

The Birth of the Commission

Before the Mafia ruled New York with structure and hierarchy, it was chaos. Bosses were at war, loyalty was fluid, and every mobster wanted the crown. The early 1930s were soaked in blood thanks to the Castellammarese War, a brutal power struggle between Joe “The Boss” Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano for control over the city’s criminal empire.

Masseria ran his outfit like a king — greedy, loud, and outdated. Maranzano was smarter, more organized, and ruthless in a quiet, Roman way. But the war didn’t end because one beat the other. It ended because someone smarter than both of them played them against each other — that man was Lucky Luciano.

Luciano understood the old ways were holding them back. The constant infighting was bad for business. He pretended to side with Masseria, then had him gunned down. He did the same with Maranzano weeks later, having him assassinated in his own office. Just like that, the old world was gone.

And what replaced it was The Commission — a governing body of the Mafia, made up of the most powerful families in New York. Luciano didn’t want a dictator. He wanted a boardroom. A council of bosses who could settle beefs, split profits, and keep order without constant war.

Out of that came the legendary Five Families:

• Gambino

• Genovese

• Lucchese

• Bonanno

• Colombo (originally Profaci)

Each controlled different parts of New York and had their own soldiers, rackets, and crews. Together, they ran everything: gambling, loan sharking, unions, drugs, extortion, hits. They taxed the streets. They infiltrated legit businesses. And when a new player showed up, they had to pay respect — or pay the price.

The Commission wasn’t a myth. It was real. And for decades, it kept the peace between families — until greed, power, and ego eventually tore it all apart.

The Five Families, One by One

They weren’t just five names on paper — they were empires, each with their own personality, style, and bloodlines. Some families ran like corporations. Others like war camps. Here’s how they broke down:

1. Gambino Family – The Boss of Bosses
Arguably the most powerful and feared family in NYC history. Started under Vincent Mangano, but rose to national dominance under Carlo Gambino, who ruled like a ghost — low profile, maximum power. Later came Paul Castellano, and of course, John Gotti — the flashy, media-loving “Teflon Don” who brought heat and headlines. Brutal when necessary, business-minded when possible, the Gambinos were the crown jewel.

2. Genovese Family – The Ivy League of Organized Crime
The smartest, quietest, and most calculating of the Five. Known for influence over unions and politics. Originally run by Lucky Luciano, then Vito Genovese, and later Vincent “Chin” Gigante, the robe-wearing lunatic who faked mental illness for years to avoid prosecution. If Gambino was muscle, Genovese was the brain.

3. Lucchese Family – The Money Machine
Ruthless, organized, and financially focused. Under Tommy Lucchese, they infiltrated garment, airport, and trucking industries. Later made headlines for the Lufthansa Heist, pulled off by Jimmy Burke and immortalized in Goodfellas. When they weren’t printing money, they were eliminating threats.

4. Bonanno Family – The Rogue Bloodline
Founded by Joe Bonanno, this family was both respected and unstable. Internal wars, betrayals, and power grabs plagued them for decades. Bonanno was even kidnapped in a bizarre power struggle. They were later infiltrated by Donnie Brasco — an undercover FBI agent who nearly destroyed the family from the inside.

5. Colombo Family – The Civil War Kings
Started by Joe Profaci, rebranded as Colombo under Joe Colombo. Known more for internal beef than external dominance. Infighting led to multiple wars and multiple leaders getting shot — including Colombo himself, during an Italian-American unity rally. It was chaos under the banner of Cosa Nostra.

Each family had its strengths. Each had its flaws. But together, they built the greatest organized crime machine in U.S. history — and made New York theirs.

Wars, Hits & Betrayals

Peace never lasts forever — not in the Mafia. And especially not in New York. The Commission might’ve been built to prevent bloodshed, but blood was still the currency of power. When greed, pride, or paranoia got involved, truces shattered, and bullets flew.

The Gambino Civil War kicked off in the mid-1980s when Paul Castellano — more of a white-collar boss — took heat from the street-level soldiers for being too soft, too disconnected. Enter John Gotti, who ordered Castellano’s assassination in front of Sparks Steak House in 1985. It was one of the most brazen hits in mob history — broad daylight, Midtown Manhattan. It made Gotti a legend, but it also brought heat that would never go away.

The Colombo Family imploded — not once, but three times. Their first internal war came when Joe Gallo rebelled against boss Joe Profaci in the 1960s. Then in the ‘70s, the Gallo crew reignited violence. And finally, in the early ‘90s, Carmine Persico and Victor Orena went to war over control, leading to another bloody civil war with bodies dropping in Brooklyn.

The Bonannos faced their own implosion. Joe Bonanno’s strange disappearance in the ‘60s left a leadership void, and decades later, the Donnie Brasco infiltration by FBI agent Joseph Pistone humiliated the family. For a time, they were kicked off the Commission — a Mafia family disowned by its own kind.

Lucchese wars were quieter but just as ruthless. Power struggles in the late 1980s and early ‘90s led to silent but deadly eliminations. And Gaspipe Casso, one of their most feared underbosses, had a reputation for murdering his enemies — and sometimes his own men — without hesitation.

The Genovese family avoided most of the chaos — but not because they were weaker. They were smarter. Bosses like Chin Gigante kept power through misdirection, using front bosses to shield themselves and faking insanity to avoid prosecution. But even they had internal betrayals, including turncoats like Vincent “Fish” Cafaro who gave the feds everything.

From car bombs to close-range ambushes, betrayal was always just one meeting away. Lie once, hesitate once, or disrespect the wrong guy — and you were a memory. These weren’t boardroom beefs. These were wars in the streets, and they reshaped the Mafia every time.

The Five Families didn’t just rule New York — they constantly tried to outmaneuver, outkill, and outlast each other. And every betrayal left a trail of bodies.

The Fall, The Rats & What’s Left Today

The Mafia’s golden era didn’t end with a bang — it ended with microphones, courtrooms, and betrayal. The same code that built the Five Families — omertà, silence, loyalty — collapsed from the inside. And when it did, the whole structure crumbled.

In the 1980s and 90s, the U.S. government came down hard. RICO charges allowed prosecutors to go after bosses for the crimes of their underlings. It meant you didn’t have to pull the trigger to get life — you just had to give the order. That changed everything.

Wiretaps, informants, undercover agents — they didn’t just hit the streets. They hit the homes, the clubs, the meeting spots. And when one guy flipped, it opened the floodgates. Sammy “The Bull” Gravano flipped on Gotti. Joe Massino flipped on the Bonannos. Even Gaspipe Casso, one of the most feared men in Mafia history, turned government witness.

The old-school guys couldn’t believe it. But the world had changed. There was no more honor among thieves. Only self-preservation.

The Five Families weren’t wiped out overnight. They still exist today — just smaller, quieter, less flashy. They’ve gone underground. No more public executions. No more high-profile dons in $3,000 suits walking out of court with a smirk.

But make no mistake: they’re still there.

Loan sharking. Gambling. Construction rackets. Union corruption. They’re just smarter about it now. Fewer phones. More whispers. Less blood, more business.

The Mafia didn’t die. It adapted.

But something was lost in the fall. The larger-than-life bosses. The street code. The twisted sense of loyalty and order. What’s left now is a shadow — a ghost of what was once the most feared underworld force in America.

The Five Families may not rule the city anymore.

But their fingerprints are still on every corner of it.