Barzini family

Barzini crime family

Founded by	Giuseppe Mariposa
Founding location	New York City, New York
Years active	1920s-Present
Territory	Various neighborhoods in New York City, including Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens and Staten Island; Long Island in New York; North Jersey and Atlantic City in New Jersey; Reno and Las Vegas in Nevada; Miami in Florida and Los Angeles in California
Ethnicity	"Made men" are Italians, Italian-Americans, the associates are of other ethnicities
Criminal activities	Racketeering, bookmaking, counterfeiting, narcotics trafficking, murder, corruption, gambling, labor unions, fraud, extortion, loan-sharking, labor unions, money laundering, robbery, bootlegging, prostitution, thief, skimming, fencing and weapons trafficking
Allies	Corleone, Stracci, Cuneo, Tattaglia, Forlenza, Chicago, Falcone and Drago crime families
Rivals	Some street gang in New York City, and sometimes their allies

The Barzini crime family is one of the fictional New York 'Five Families' created by Mario Puzo in his novel The Godfather and featuring in the film of the same name.

History

Early history

The Barzini family was founded by Giuseppe Mariposa in the 1920s and replaced by Emilio Barzini in 1934, who expanded his territories beyond Brooklyn to include areas of Manhattan and Queens, while completely controlling Staten Island. The family had business interests in Sicily, Cleveland, Miami, Cuba, Las Vegas, Reno and Hollywood. In New York, the Barzini family ran some of the gambling, sports betting, drug trafficking and prostitution. They were even rumored to have a toehold in Wall Street.

The slaying of Sonny Corleone

Barzini lures Sonny Corleone into an ambush with help from Sonny's shifty brother-in-law, Carlo Rizzi. Sonny is racing to his sister, Connie's apartment after Carlo, Connie's husband has beaten her. Sonny had previously beaten Carlo for his abusing Connie. Sonny has to stop at the Long Island Parkway toll booth where Barzini hitmen are hiding and shoot him more than 90 times with Tommy Guns. Carlo had staged the fight with Connie solely to get Sonny to the toll booth. Sonny's death does not go unavenged. During a meeting with the heads of the other New York crime families, Vito Corleone realizes that Barzini was responsible for the murder. Following Michael's ascension to power, Michael orders the deaths of the other Mafia dons to cement his position as the most powerful Mafia don in New York. Pete Clemenza executes Carlo after Michael gets his confession for his part in Sonny's death.

Don Barzini death

Corleone enforcer Al Neri, disguised as a police officer, shoots and kills Barzini, his bodyguard, and his driver on the steps of the New York Supreme Court courthouse at Foley Square, crippling the Barzini family.

Historical leadership

Bosses (official and acting)

• 1920-1934 - Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Mariposa (murdered)
• 1934-1955 - Emilio "The Wolf" Barzini (murdered)
• 1955-unknown - Paul "Fat Paulie" Fortunato

Underbosses (official and acting)

• 1920-1934 - Tomasino "Five Hands" Cinquemani (degraded to capo)
• 1934-195? - Ettore Barzini (probably deceased)
• 195?-1955 - Paul "Fat Paulie" Fortunato (became boss)

Consiglieres (official and acting)

• 1934-unknown - Unnamed consigliere (seen in the film)